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+The Project Gutenberg eBook, Lord John Russell, by Stuart J. Reid
+
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+
+
+
+Title: Lord John Russell
+
+
+Author: Stuart J. Reid
+
+
+
+Release Date: December 17, 2008  [eBook #27553]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LORD JOHN RUSSELL***
+
+
+E-text prepared by Susan Skinner, Emanuela Piasentini, and the Project
+Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team (https://www.pgdp.net)
+
+
+
+Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this
+      file which includes the original illustrations.
+      See 27553-h.htm or 27553-h.zip:
+      (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/7/5/5/27553/27553-h/27553-h.htm)
+      or
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+
+
+
+
+
+The Prime Ministers of Queen Victoria
+
+Edited by Stuart J. Reid
+
+LORD JOHN RUSSELL
+
+[Illustration: _Reproduced by permission from an unpublished picture by
+G. F. Watts, R. A. in the possession of the Dowager Countess Russell at
+Pembroke Lodge, Richmond_
+
+_Photogravure by Annan & Swan._]
+
+
+The Queen's Prime Ministers
+
+A Series of Political Biographies.
+
+Edited by Stuart J. Reid
+
+Author of 'The Life and Times of Sydney Smith.'
+
+_The volumes contain Photogravure Portraits, also copies of
+Autographs._
+
+I.
+
+THE EARL OF BEACONSFIELD, K.G. By J. A. FROUDE, D.C.L. (Seventh
+Edition.)
+
+II.
+
+VISCOUNT MELBOURNE. By HENRY DUNCKLEY, LL.D. ('Verax.')
+
+III.
+
+SIR ROBERT PEEL. By JUSTIN MCCARTHY, M.P.
+
+IV.
+
+THE RIGHT HON. W. E. GLADSTONE, M.P. By G. W. E. RUSSELL. (Twelfth
+Thousand.)
+
+V.
+
+THE MARQUIS OF SALISBURY. By H. D. TRAILL, D.C.L. (Second Edition.)
+
+VI.
+
+VISCOUNT PALMERSTON. By the MARQUIS OF LORNE. (Second Edition.)
+
+VII.
+
+THE EARL OF DERBY. By GEORGE SAINTSBURY.
+
+VIII.
+
+THE EARL OF ABERDEEN. By LORD STANMORE.
+
+IX.
+
+LORD JOHN RUSSELL. By STUART J. REID.
+
+* *
+*  A Limited Library Edition of TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY COPIES, each
+numbered, printed on hand-made paper, parchment binding, gilt top,
+with facsimile reproductions, in some cases of characteristic notes of
+Speeches and Letters, which are not included in the ordinary edition,
+and some additional Portraits. Price for the Complete Set of Nine
+Volumes, Four Guineas net. No Volumes of this Edition sold
+separately.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+London:
+Sampson Low, Marston & Company, Limited,
+St. Dunstan's House, Fetter Lane, Fleet Street, E.C.
+
+
+
+
+LORD JOHN RUSSELL
+
+by
+
+STUART J. REID
+
+
+    I have looked to the happiness of my countrymen as the object to
+    which my efforts ought to be directed
+
+                                   _Recollections and Suggestions_
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+London
+Sampson Low, Marston & Company
+_Limited_
+St. Dunstan's House
+Fetter Lane, Fleet Street, E.C.
+1895
+[All rights reserved]
+
+
+
+
+           TO THE
+
+  LADY MARY AGATHA RUSSELL
+
+        THIS RECORD
+
+            OF
+
+    HER FATHER'S CAREER
+
+            IS
+
+      WITH TRUE REGARD
+
+        DEDICATED
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE
+
+
+THIS monograph could not have been written--in the intimate sense--if
+the Dowager Countess Russell had not extended a confidence which, I
+trust, has in no direction been abused. Lady Russell has not only
+granted me access to her journal and papers as well as the early
+note-books of her husband, but in many conversations has added the
+advantage of her own reminiscences.
+
+I am also indebted in greater or less degree to Mrs. Warburton, Lady
+Georgiana Peel, Lady Agatha Russell, the Hon. Rollo Russell, Mr. G. W.
+E. Russell, and the Hon. George Elliot. Mr. Elliot's knowledge, as
+brother-in-law, and for many years as private secretary, touches both
+the personal and official aspects of Lord John's career, and it has been
+freely placed at my disposal. Outside the circle of Lord John's
+relatives I have received hints from the Hon. Charles Gore and Sir
+Villiers Lister, both of whom, at one period or another in his public
+life, also served him in the capacity of secretary.
+
+I have received some details of Lord John's official life from one who
+served under him in a more public capacity--not, however, I hasten to
+add, as Chancellor of the Exchequer--but I am scarcely at liberty in
+this instance to mention my authority.
+
+My thanks are due, in an emphatic sense, to my friend Mr. Spencer
+Walpole, who, with a generosity rare at all times, has not only allowed
+me to avail myself of facts contained in his authoritative biography of
+Lord John Russell, but has also glanced at the proof sheets of these
+pages, and has given me, in frank comment, the benefit of his own
+singularly wide and accurate knowledge of the historical and political
+annals of the reign. It is only right to add that Mr. Walpole is not in
+any sense responsible for the opinions expressed in a book which is only
+partially based on his own, is not always in agreement with his
+conclusions, and which follows independent lines.
+
+The letter which the Queen wrote to the Countess Russell immediately
+after the death of one of her 'first and most distinguished Ministers'
+is now printed with her Majesty's permission.
+
+The late Earl of Selborne and Mr. Lecky were sufficiently interested in
+my task to place on record for the volume some personal and political
+reminiscences which speak for themselves, and do so with authority.
+
+I am also under obligations of various kinds to the Marquis of Dufferin
+and Ava, the Earl of Durham, Lord Stanmore, Dr. Anderson of Richmond,
+and the Rev. James Andrews of Woburn. I desire also to acknowledge the
+courtesy of Mr. Gladstone, Mr. Andrew Lang, Mr. James Knowles, Mr. Percy
+Bunting, Mr. Edwin Hodder, Messrs. Longmans, and the proprietors of
+'Punch,' for liberty to quote from published books and journals.
+
+In Montaigne's words, 'The tales I borrow, I charge upon the consciences
+of those from whom I have them.' I have gathered cues from all quarters,
+but in almost every case my indebtedness stands recorded on the passing
+page.
+
+The portrait which forms the frontispiece is for the first time
+reproduced, with the sanction of the Countess Russell and Mr. G. F.
+Watts, from an original crayon drawing which hangs on the walls at
+Pembroke Lodge.
+
+It may be as well to anticipate an obvious criticism by stating that the
+earlier title of the subject of this memoir is retained, not only in
+deference to the strongly expressed wish of the family at Pembroke
+Lodge, but also because it suggests nearly half a century spent in the
+House of Commons in pursuit of liberty. In the closing days of Earl
+Russell's life his eye was accustomed to brighten, and his manner to
+relax, when some new acquaintance, in the eagerness of conversation,
+took the liberty of familiar friendship by addressing the old statesman
+as 'Lord John.'
+
+  STUART J. REID.
+
+  CHISLEHURST: _June 4, 1895_.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+EARLY YEARS, EDUCATION, AND TRAVEL
+
+1792-1813
+                                                                    PAGE
+  Rise of the Russells under the Tudors--Childhood and early
+  surroundings of Lord John--Schooldays at Westminster--First
+  journey abroad with Lord Holland--Wellington and the Peninsular
+  campaign--Student days in Edinburgh and speeches at the
+  Speculative Society--Early leanings in politics and
+  literature--Enters the House of Commons as member for Tavistock      1
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+IN PARLIAMENT AND FOR THE PEOPLE
+
+1813-1826
+
+  The political outlook when Lord John entered the House of
+  Commons--The 'Condition of England' question--The struggle for
+  Parliamentary Reform--Side-lights on Napoleon Bonaparte--The
+  Liverpool Administration in a panic--Lord John comes to the aid
+  of Sir Francis Burdett--Foreign travel--First motion in favour
+  of Reform--Making headway                                           21
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+WINNING HIS SPURS
+
+1826-1830
+
+  Defeated and out of harness--Journey to Italy--Back in
+  Parliament--Canning's accession to power--Bribery and
+  corruption--The repeal of the Test and Corporation Acts--The
+  struggle between the Court and the Cabinet over Catholic
+  Emancipation--Defeat of Wellington at the polls--Lord John
+  appointed Paymaster-General                                         47
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+A FIGHT FOR LIBERTY
+
+1830-1832
+
+  Lord Grey and the cause of Reform--Lord Durham's share in
+  the Reform Bill--The voice of the people--Lord John introduces
+  the bill and explains its provisions--The surprise of the
+  Tories--Reform, 'Aye' or 'No'--Lord John in the Cabinet--The
+  bill thrown out--The indignation of the country--Proposed
+  creation of Peers--Wellington and Sidmouth in despair--The
+  bill carried--Lord John's tribute to Althorp                        63
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+THE DAWN OF A NEW ERA
+
+1833-1838
+
+  The turn of the tide with the Whigs--The two voices in the
+  Cabinet--Lord John and Ireland--Althorp and the Poor Law--The
+  Melbourne Administration on the rocks--Peel in power--The
+  question of Irish tithes--Marriage of Lord John--Grievances
+  of Nonconformists--Lord Melbourne's influence over the
+  Queen--Lord Durham's mission to Canada--Personal sorrow             88
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+THE TWO FRONT BENCHES
+
+1840-1845
+
+  Lord John's position in the Cabinet and in the Commons--His
+  services to Education--Joseph Lancaster--Lord John's
+  Colonial Policy--Mr. Gladstone's opinion--Lord Stanmore's
+  recollections--The mistakes of the Melbourne Cabinet--The Duke
+  of Wellington's opinion of Lord John--The agitation against the
+  Corn Laws--Lord John's view of Sir Robert Peel--The Edinburgh
+  letter--Peel's dilemma--Lord John's comment on the situation       113
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+FACTION AND FAMINE
+
+1846-1847
+
+  Peel and Free Trade--Disraeli and Lord George Bentinck
+  lead the attack--Russell to the rescue--Fall of Peel--Lord
+  John summoned to power--Lord John's position in the
+  Commons and in the country--The Condition of Ireland
+  question--Famine and its deadly work--The Russell Government
+  and measures of relief--Crime and coercion--The Whigs
+  and Education--Factory Bill--The case of Dr. Hampden               136
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+IN ROUGH WATERS
+
+1848-1852
+
+  The People's Charter--Feargus O'Connor and the crowd--Lord
+  Palmerston strikes from his own bat--Lord John's view of the
+  political situation--Death of Peel--Palmerston and the
+  Court--'No Popery'--The Durham Letter--The invasion scare--Lord
+  John's remark about Palmerston--Fall of the Russell
+  Administration                                                     163
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+COALITION BUT NOT UNION
+
+1852-1853
+
+  The Aberdeen Ministry--Warring elements--Mr. Gladstone's
+  position--Lord John at the Foreign Office and Leader of the
+  House--Lady Russell's criticisms of Lord Macaulay's
+  statement--A small cloud in the East--Lord Shaftesbury has
+  his doubts                                                         199
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+DOWNING STREET AND CONSTANTINOPLE
+
+1853
+
+  Causes of the Crimean War--Nicholas seizes his opportunity--The
+  Secret Memorandum--Napoleon and the susceptibilities of the
+  Vatican--Lord Stratford de Redcliffe and the Porte--Prince
+  Menschikoff shows his hand--Lord Aberdeen hopes against
+  hope--Lord Palmerston's opinion of the crisis--The Vienna
+  Note--Lord John grows restive--Sinope arouses England--The
+  deadlock in the Cabinet                                            213
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+WAR HINDERS REFORM
+
+1854-1855
+
+  A Scheme of Reform--Palmerston's attitude--Lord John sore
+  let and hindered--Lord Stratford's diplomatic triumph--The
+  Duke of Newcastle and the War Office--The dash for
+  Sebastopol--Procrastination and its deadly work--The
+  Alma--Inkerman--The Duke's blunder--Famine and frost in the
+  trenches                                                           236
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+THE VIENNA DIFFICULTY
+
+1855
+
+  Blunders at home and abroad--Roebuck's motion--'General
+  Février' turns traitor--France and the Crimea--Lord John at
+  Vienna--The pride of the nation is touched--Napoleon's visit
+  to Windsor--Lord John's retirement--The fall of Sebastopol--The
+  treaty of Paris                                                 254
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+LITERATURE AND EDUCATION
+
+  Lord John's position in 1855--His constituency in the
+  City--Survey of his work in literature--As man of letters--His
+  historical writings--Hero-worship of Fox--Friendship with
+  Moore--Writes the biography of the poet--'Don Carlos'--A
+  book wrongly attributed to him--Publishes his 'Recollections
+  and Suggestions'--An opinion of Kinglake's--Lord John on
+  his own career--Lord John and National Schools--Joseph
+  Lancaster's tentative efforts--The formation of the Council of
+  Education--Prejudice blocks the way--Mr. Forster's tribute         270
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+COMING BACK TO POWER
+
+1857-1861
+
+  Lord John as an Independent Member--His chance in the
+  City--The Indian Mutiny--Orsini's attempt on the life of
+  Napoleon--The Conspiracy Bill--Lord John and the Jewish
+  Relief Act--Palmerston in power--Lord John at the Foreign
+  Office--Cobden and Bright--Quits the Commons with a
+  Peerage                                                            286
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+UNITED ITALY AND THE DIS-UNITED STATES
+
+1861-1865
+
+  Lord John at the Foreign Office--Austria and Italy--Victor
+  Emmanuel and Mazzini--Cavour and Napoleon III.--Lord
+  John's energetic protest--His sympathy with Garibaldi and
+  the struggle for freedom--The gratitude of the Italians--Death
+  of the Prince Consort--The 'Trent' affair--Lord John's
+  remonstrance--The 'Alabama' difficulty--Lord Selborne's
+  statement--The Cotton Famine                                       299
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+SECOND PREMIERSHIP
+
+1865-1866
+
+  The Polish Revolt--Bismarck's bid for power--The
+  Schleswig-Holstein difficulty--Death of Lord Palmerston--The
+  Queen summons Lord John--The second Russell Administration--Lord
+  John's tribute to Palmerston--Mr. Gladstone introduces
+  Reform--The 'Cave of Adullam'--Defeat of the Russell
+  Government--The people accept Lowe's challenge--The
+  feeling in the country                                             320
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+OUT OF HARNESS
+
+1867-1874
+
+  Speeches in the House of Lords--Leisured years--Mr. Lecky's
+  reminiscences--The question of the Irish Church--The
+  Independence of Belgium--Lord John on the claims of the
+  Vatican--Letters to Mr. Chichester Fortescue--His scheme
+  for the better government of Ireland--Lord Selborne's estimate
+  of Lord John's public career--Frank admissions--As his
+  private secretaries saw him                                        334
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+PEMBROKE LODGE
+
+1847-1878
+
+  Looking back--Society at Pembroke Lodge--Home life--The house
+  and its memories--Charles Dickens's speech at Liverpool--Literary
+  friendships--Lady Russell's description of her husband--A packet
+  of letters--His children's recollections--A glimpse of
+  Carlyle--A witty impromptu--Closing days--Mr. and Mrs.
+  Gladstone--The jubilee of the Repeal of the Test and Corporation
+  Acts--'Punch' on the 'Golden Wedding'--Death--The Queen's
+  letter--Lord Shaftesbury's estimate of Lord John's career--His
+  great qualities                                                    349
+
+
+INDEX                                                                371
+
+
+
+
+LORD JOHN RUSSELL
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+EARLY YEARS, EDUCATION, AND TRAVEL
+
+1792-1813
+
+     Rise of the Russells under the Tudors--Childhood and early
+     surroundings of Lord John--Schooldays at Westminster--First journey
+     abroad with Lord Holland--Wellington and the Peninsular
+     campaign--Student days in Edinburgh and speeches at the Speculative
+     Society--Early leanings in Politics and Literature--Enters the
+     House of Commons as member for Tavistock.
+
+
+GOVERNMENT by great families was once a reality in England, and when
+Lord John Russell's long career began the old tradition had not yet lost
+its ascendency. The ranks of privilege can at least claim to have given
+at more than one great crisis in the national annals leaders to the
+cause of progress. It is not necessary in this connection to seek
+examples outside the House of Bedford, since the name of Lord William
+Russell in the seventeenth century and that of Lord John in the
+nineteenth stand foremost amongst the champions of civil and religious
+liberty. Hugh du Rozel, according to the Battle Roll, crossed from
+Normandy in the train of the Conqueror. In the reign of Henry III. the
+first John Russell of note was a small landed proprietor in Dorset, and
+held the post of Constable of Corfe Castle. William Russell, in the year
+of Edward II.'s accession, was returned to Parliament, and his lineal
+descendant, Sir John Russell, was Speaker of the House of Commons in the
+days of Henry VI. The real founder, however, of the fortunes of the
+family was the third John Russell who is known to history. He was the
+son of the Speaker, and came to honour and affluence by a happy chance.
+Stress of weather drove Philip, Archduke of Austria and, in right of his
+wife, King of Castile, during a voyage from Flanders to Spain in the
+year 1506, to take refuge at Weymouth. Sir Thomas Trenchard, Sheriff of
+Dorset, entertained the unexpected guest, but he knew no Spanish, and
+Philip of Castile knew no English. In this emergency Sir Thomas sent in
+hot haste for his cousin, Squire Russell, of Barwick, who had travelled
+abroad and was able to talk Spanish fluently. The Archduke, greatly
+pleased with the sense and sensibility of his interpreter, insisted that
+John Russell must accompany him to the English Court, and Henry VII., no
+mean judge of men, was in turn impressed with his ability. The result
+was that, after many important services to the Crown, John Russell
+became first Earl of Bedford, and, under grants from Henry VIII. and
+Edward VI., the rich monastic lands of Tavistock and Woburn passed into
+his possession. The part which the Russells as a family have played in
+history of course lies outside the province of this volume, which is
+exclusively concerned with the character and career in recent times of
+one of the most distinguished statesmen of the present century.
+
+Lord John Russell was born on August 18, 1792, at Hertford Street,
+Mayfair. His father, who was second son of Lord Tavistock, and grandson
+of the fourth Duke of Bedford, succeeded his brother Francis, as sixth
+Duke, in 1802, at the age of thirty-six, when his youngest and most
+famous son was ten years old. Long before his accession to the title,
+which was, indeed, quite unexpected, the sixth Duke had married the Hon.
+Georgiana Byng, daughter of Viscount Torrington, and the statesman with
+whose career these pages are concerned was the third son of this union.
+He spent his early childhood at Stratton Park, Hampshire. When he was a
+child of eight, Stratton Park was sold by the Duke of Bedford, and
+Oakley House, which he never liked so well, became the residence of his
+father. Although a shy, delicate child, he was sent in the spring of
+1800, when only eight, to a private school at Sunbury--only a mile or
+two away from Richmond, where nearly eighty years later he died. In the
+autumn of 1801 he lost his mother, to whom he was deeply attached, and
+almost before the bewildered child had time to realise his loss, his
+uncle Francis also died, and his father, in consequence, became Duke of
+Bedford.
+
+    [Sidenote: SCHOOLDAYS AT WESTMINSTER]
+
+From Sunbury the motherless boy was sent with his elder brother to
+Westminster, in 1803, and the same year the Duke married Lady Georgiana
+Gordon, a daughter of the fourth Duke of Gordon, and her kindness to her
+stepchildren was marked and constant. Westminster School at the
+beginning of the century was an ill-disciplined place, in which fighting
+and fagging prevailed, and its rough and boisterous life taxed to the
+utmost the mettle of the plucky little fellow. He seems to have made no
+complaint, but to have taken his full share in the rough-and-tumble
+sports of his comrades in a school which has given many distinguished
+men to the literature and public life of England: as, for instance, the
+younger Vane--whom Milton extolled--Ben Jonson and Dryden, Prior and
+Locke, Cowper and Southey, Gibbon and Warren Hastings.
+
+He learnt Latin at Westminster, and was kept to the work of translation,
+but he used to declare somewhat ruefully in after-days that he had as a
+schoolboy to devote the half-holidays to learning arithmetic and
+writing, and these homely arts were taught him by a pedagogue who seems
+to have kept a private school in Great Dean's Yard. Many years later
+Earl Russell dictated to the Countess some reminiscences of his early
+days, and since Lady Russell has granted access to them, the following
+passages transcribed from her own manuscript will be read with
+interest:--'My education, for various reasons, was not a very regular
+one. It began, indeed, in the usual English way by my going to a very
+bad private school at Sunbury, and my being transferred to a public
+school at Westminster at ten or eleven. But I never entered the upper
+school. The hard life of a fag--for in those days it was a hard
+life--and the unwholesome food disagreed with me so much that my
+stepmother, the Duchess of Bedford, insisted that I should be taken away
+and sent to a private tutor.' At Westminster School physical hardihood
+was always encouraged. 'If two boys were engaged to fight during the
+time of school, those boys who wanted to see the fight had to leave
+school for the purpose.' At this early period a passion for the theatre
+possessed him, drawing him to Drury Lane or Covent Garden whenever an
+opportunity occurred; and this kind of relaxation retained a
+considerable hold upon him throughout the greater portion of his life.
+Even as a child he was a bit of a philosopher. In the journal which he
+began to keep in the year he went to Westminster School is the
+following entry:--'October 28, 1803.--Very great mist in the morning,
+but afternoon very fine. There was a grand review to-day by the King in
+Hyde Park of the Volunteers. I did not go, as there was such a quantity
+of people that I should have seen nothing, and should have been knocked
+down.' Most of the entries in the boy's journal are pithy statements of
+matter of fact, as, for instance:--'Westminster, Monday, October 10.--I
+was flogged to-day for the first time.' A few days later the young
+diarist places on record what he calls some of the rules of the school.
+He states that lessons began every morning at eight, and that usually
+work was continued till noon, with an interval at nine for breakfast.
+Lessons were resumed at two on ordinary days, and finished for the day
+at five. 'All the fellows have verses on Thursdays and Saturdays. We go
+on Sundays to church in the morning in Henry VII.'s Chapel, and in the
+evening have prayers in the school.'
+
+    [Sidenote: DR. CARTWRIGHT AND WOBURN]
+
+His 'broken and disturbed' education was next resumed at Woburn Abbey
+under Dr. Cartwright; the Duke's domestic chaplain, and brother to Major
+Cartwright, the well-known political reformer. The chaplain at Woburn
+was a many-sided man. He was not only a scholar and a poet, but also
+possessed distinct mechanical skill, and afterwards won fame as the
+inventor of the power-loom. He was quick-witted and accomplished, and it
+was a happy circumstance that the high-spirited, impressionable lad, who
+by this time was full of dreams of literary distinction, came under his
+influence. 'I acquired from Dr. Cartwright,' declared Lord John, 'a
+taste for Latin poetry which has never left me.' Not merely at work but
+at play, his new friend came to his rescue. 'He invented the model of a
+boat which was moved by clockwork and acted upon the water by a paddle
+underneath. He gave me the model, and I used to make it go across the
+ponds in the park.' Meanwhile literature was not forgotten, and before
+long the boy's juvenile effusions filled a manuscript book, which with
+an amusing flourish of trumpets was dedicated to 'the Right Hon. William
+Pitt, Chancellor of the Exchequer.' A couple of sentences will reveal
+its character, and the dawning humour of the youthful scribe:--'This
+little volume, being graced with your name, will prosper; without it my
+labour would be all in vain. May you remain at the Helm of State long
+enough to bestow a pension on your very humble and obedient servant,
+John Russell.'
+
+Between the years 1805 and 1808 Lord John pursued his education under a
+country parson in Kent. He was placed under the care of Mr. Smith, Vicar
+of Woodnesborough, near Sandwich, an ardent Whig, who taught a select
+number of pupils, amongst whom were several cadets of the aristocracy;
+and to this seminary Lord John now followed his brothers, Lord Tavistock
+and Lord William Russell. Amongst his schoolfellows at Woodnesborough
+was the Lord Hartington of that generation, Lord Clare, Lord William
+Fitzgerald, and a future Duke of Leinster. The vicar in question, worthy
+Mr. Smith, was nicknamed 'Dean Smigo' by his pupils, but Lord John,
+looking back in after-years, declared that he was an excellent man, well
+acquainted with classical authors, both Greek and Latin, though 'without
+any remarkable qualities either of character or understanding.' He
+evidently won popularity amongst the boys by joining in their indoor
+amusements and granting frequent holidays, particularly on occasions
+when the Whig cause was triumphant in the locality or in Parliament.
+
+    [Sidenote: SMALL GAME]
+
+Rambles inland and on the seashore, pony riding, shooting small birds,
+cricket, and other sports, as well as winter evening games, filled up
+the ample leisure from the duties of the schoolroom. One or two extracts
+from his journal are sufficient to show that, although still weakly, he
+was not lacking in boyish vivacity and in a healthy desire to emulate
+his elders. When Grenville and Fox joined their forces and so brought
+about the Ministry of 'All the Talents' the lads obtained a holiday--a
+fact which is thus recorded in sprawling schoolboy hand by Lord John in
+his diary. 'Saturday, February 8, 1806.--... We did no business on Mr.
+Fox's coming into the Ministry. I shot a couple of larks beyond
+Southerden.... I went out shooting for the first time with Mr. Smith's
+gun. I got eight shots at little birds and killed four of them.' On
+November 5 in the same year we find him writing:--'Eliza's [Miss
+Smith's] birthday. No business. I went out shooting, but only killed
+some little birds. I used to shoot much better than I do at present.
+Always miss now; have not killed a partridge yet.' Poor boy! But he
+lived to kill two deer and a wild boar. 'Similarity of age led me,'
+states Lord John, in one of his unpublished notes, 'to form a more
+intimate friendship with Clare than with any of the others, and our
+mutual liking grew into a strong attachment on both sides. I only remark
+this fact as Lord Byron, who had been a friend of Clare's at Harrow,
+appears to have shown some boyish jealousy when the latter expressed his
+sorrow at my departure for Spain.'
+
+Now and then he turned his gift for composing verses in the direction of
+a satire on some political celebrity. He also wrote and spoke the
+prologue at private dramatic performances at Woburn during the holiday
+season, and took the part of 'Lucy' in 'The Rivals.' A little later, in
+the brief period of his father's viceroyalty, he wrote another prologue,
+and on this occasion amused an Irish audience by his assumption of the
+part of an old woman.
+
+The political atmosphere of Woburn and Woodnesborough as well as his
+father's official position, led the boy of fourteen to take a keen
+interest in public affairs. His satirical verses on Melville, Pitt,
+Hawkesbury, and others, together with many passages in his journal,
+showed that his attention was frequently diverted from grammar and
+lexicon, field sports and footlights, to politics and Parliament, and
+the struggle amongst statesmen for place and power. Although little is
+known of the actual incidents of Lord John's boyhood, such straws at
+least show the direction in which the current of his life was setting.
+
+Whilst Lord John was the guest of Mr. Fox at Stable Yard, the subject of
+Lord Melville's acquittal by the Peers came up for discussion. Next day
+the shrewd young critic wrote the following characteristic remark in his
+journal: 'What a pity that he who steals a penny loaf should be hung,
+whilst he who steals thousands of the public money should be acquitted!'
+The brilliant qualities of Fox made a great impression on the lad, and
+there can be little doubt that his intercourse with the great statesman,
+slight and passing though it was, did much to awaken political ambition.
+He also crossed the path of other men of light and leading in the
+political world, and in this way, boy though he was, he grew familiar
+with the strife of parties and the great questions of the hour. Holland
+House opened its hospitable gates to him, and there he met a young
+clergyman of an unconventional type--the Rev. Sydney Smith--with whom he
+struck up a friendship that was destined to endure. The young schoolboy
+has left it on record in that inevitable 'journal' that he found his odd
+clerical acquaintance 'very amusing.'
+
+    [Sidenote: WITH LORD HOLLAND IN SPAIN]
+
+In the summer of 1807 we learn from his journal that he passed three
+months with his father and stepmother at the English lakes and in the
+West of Scotland. With boyish glee he recounts the incidents of the
+journey, and his delight in visiting Inverary, Edinburgh, and Melrose.
+Yet it was his rambles and talks with Sir Walter Scott, whom he
+afterwards described as one of the wonders of the age, that left the
+most abiding impression upon him. On his way back to Woodnesborough he
+paid his first visit to the House of Lords, and heard a debate on the
+Copenhagen expedition, an affair in which, he considered, 'Ministers cut
+a most despicable figure.' On quitting school life at Woodnesborough, an
+experience was in store for him which enlarged his mental horizon, and
+drew out his sympathies for the weak and oppressed. Lord and Lady
+Holland had taken a fancy to the lad, and the Duke of Bedford consented
+to their proposal that he should accompany them on their visit to the
+Peninsula, then the scene of hostilities between the French and the
+allied armies of England and Spain. The account of this journey is best
+told in Lord John's own words:--
+
+'In the autumn of 1808, when only sixteen years of age, I accompanied
+Lord and Lady Holland to Corunna, and afterwards to Lisbon, Seville, and
+Cadiz, returning by Lisbon to England in the summer of 1809. They were
+eager for the success of the Spanish cause, and I joined to sympathy for
+Spain a boyish hatred of Napoleon, who had treacherously obtained
+possession of an independent country by force and fraud--force of
+immense armies, fraud of the lowest kind.' There is in existence at
+Pembroke Lodge a small parchment-bound volume marked 'Diary, 1808,'
+which records in his own handwriting Lord John's first impressions of
+foreign travel. The notes are brief, but they show that the writer even
+then was keenly alive to the picturesque. The journal ends somewhat
+abruptly, and Lord John confesses in so many words that he gave up this
+journal in despair, a statement which is followed by the assertion that
+the record at least possesses the 'merit of brevity.'
+
+Spain was in such a disturbed condition that the tour was full of
+excitement. War and rumours of war filled the air, and sudden changes of
+route were often necessary in order to avoid perilous encounters with
+the French. The travellers were sometimes accompanied by a military
+escort, but were more frequently left to their devices, and evil tidings
+of disaster to the Allies--often groundless, but not less alarming--kept
+the whole party on the alert, and proved, naturally, very exciting to
+the lad, who under such strange and dramatic circumstances gained his
+first experience of life abroad. Lord John had, however, taken with him
+his Virgil, Tacitus, and Cicero, and now and then, forgetful of the
+turmoil around him, he improved his acquaintance with the classics. He
+also studied the Spanish language, with the result that he acquired an
+excellent conversational knowledge of it. The lad had opinions and the
+courage of them, and when he saw the cause of the Spanish beginning to
+fail he was exasperated by the apathy of the Whigs at home, and
+accordingly, with the audacity of youth, wrote to his father:--
+
+'I take the liberty of informing you and your Opposition friends that
+the French have not conquered the whole of Spain.... Lord Grey's speech
+appears to me either a mere attempt to plague Ministers for a few hours
+or a declaration against the principle of the people's right to depose
+an infamous despot.... It seems to be the object of the Opposition to
+prove that Spain is conquered, and that the Spaniards like being robbed
+and murdered.' It seems, therefore, that Lord John, even in his teens,
+was inclined to be dogmatic and oracular, but the soundness of his
+judgment, in this particular instance at least, is not less remarkable
+than his sturdy mental independence. Like his friend Sydney Smith, he
+was already becoming a lover of justice and of sympathy towards the
+oppressed.
+
+    [Sidenote: THE QUESTION OF A UNIVERSITY]
+
+In the summer of 1809, after a short journey to Cadiz, Lord Holland and
+his party crossed the plains of Estremadura on mules to Lisbon and
+embarked for England, though not without an unexpected delay caused by a
+slight attack of fever on the part of Lord John. On the voyage back Lord
+Holland and his secretary, Mr. Allen, pointed out to him the advantages
+of going to Edinburgh for the next winter, and in a letter to his
+father, dated Spithead, August 10, 1809, he adds: 'They say that I am
+yet too young to go to an English university; that I should learn more
+there [Edinburgh] in the meantime than I should anywhere else.'
+
+He goes on to state that he is convinced by their arguments, in spite of
+the fact that he had previously expressed 'so much dislike to an
+academical career in Edinburgh.' The truth is, Lord John wished to
+follow his elder brother, Lord Tavistock, to Cambridge; but the Duke
+would not hear of the idea, and bluntly declared that nothing at that
+time was to be learnt at the English universities.
+
+On his return to England it was decided to send Lord John to continue
+his studies at Edinburgh University. The Northern Athens at that time
+was full of keen and varied intellectual life, and the young student
+could scarcely have set foot in it at a more auspicious moment. Other
+cadets of the English aristocracy, such as Lord Webb Seymour and Lord
+Henry Petty, were attracted at this period to the Northern university,
+partly by the restrictive statutes of Oxford and Cambridge, but still
+more by the genius and learning of men like Dugald Stewart and John
+Playfair.
+
+The Duke of Bedford placed his son under the roof of the latter, who at
+that time held the chair of mathematics in the university, with the
+request that he would take a general oversight of his studies. Professor
+Playfair was a teacher who quickened to a remarkable extent the powers
+of his pupils, and at the same time by his own estimable qualities won
+their affection. Looking back in after-years, Lord John declared that
+'Professor Playfair was one of the most delightful of men and very
+zealous lover of liberty.' He adds that the simplicity of the
+distinguished mathematician, as well as the elevation of his sentiments,
+was remarkable.
+
+It is interesting to learn from Professor Playfair's own statement that
+he was quickly impressed with the ability of Lord John. Ambition was
+stirring in the breast of the young Whig, and though he could be idle
+enough at times, he seems on the whole to have lent his mind with
+increasing earnestness to the tasks of the hour. He also attended the
+classes of Professor Dugald Stewart during the three years he spent in
+the grey metropolis of the North, and the influence of that remarkable
+man was not merely stimulating at the time, but materially helped to
+shape his whole philosophy of life. After he had left Edinburgh, Lord
+John wrote some glowing lines about Dugald Stewart, which follow--afar
+off, it must be admitted--the style of Pope. We have only space to quote
+a snatch:
+
+    'Twas he gave laws to fancy, grace to thought,
+    Taught virtue's laws, and practised what he taught.
+
+    [Sidenote: LIFE IN EDINBURGH]
+
+Intellectual stimulus came to him through another channel. He was
+elected in the spring of 1810 a member of the Edinburgh Speculative
+Society, and during that and the two following years he was zealous in
+his attendance at its weekly meetings. The Speculative Society was
+founded early in the reign of George III., and no less distinguished a
+man than Sir Walter Scott acted for a term of years as its secretary. It
+sought to unite men of different classes and pursuits, and to bring
+young students and more experienced thinkers and men of affairs together
+in friendly but keen debate on historical, philosophical, literary, and
+political questions.
+
+It is certain that Lord John first discovered his powers of debate in
+the years when he took a prominent part in the Tuesday night discussions
+in the hall which had been erected for the Speculative Society in 1769
+in the grounds of the university. The subjects about which he spoke are
+at least of passing interest even now as a revelation of character, for
+they show the drift of his thoughts. He was not content with merely
+academic themes, such as Queen Elizabeth's treatment of Mary Queen of
+Scots, or the policy of Alcibiades. Topics of more urgent moment, like
+the war of 1793, the proceedings of the Spanish Cortes in 1810, the
+education of the poor, the value of Canada to Great Britain, and one at
+least of the burning subjects of the day--the imprisonment of Gale Jones
+in Newgate by order of the House of Commons--claimed his attention and
+drew forth his powers of argument and oratory. His mind was already
+turning in the direction of the subject of Parliamentary Reform, and
+from Edinburgh he forwarded to his father an essay on that subject,
+which still exists among the family papers. It shows that he was
+preparing to vindicate even then on a new field the liberal and
+progressive traditions of the Russells.
+
+The Duke of Bedford was never too busy or preoccupied to enter into his
+son's political speculations. He encouraged him to continue the habit of
+reasoning and writing on the great questions of the day, and Lord John,
+who in spite of uncertain health had no lack of energy, cheered by such
+kindly recognition, was not slow to respond to his father's sensible
+advice.
+
+    [Sidenote: WELLINGTON AND THE WAR]
+
+Meanwhile the war in the Peninsula was progressing, and it appealed to
+the Edinburgh undergraduate now with new and even painful interest. His
+brother, Lord William Russell, had accompanied his regiment to Spain in
+the summer of 1809, and had been wounded at the battle of Talavera. In
+the course of the following summer, Lord John states, in a manuscript
+which is in Lady Russell's possession: 'I went to Cadiz to see my
+brother William, who was then serving on the staff of Sir Thomas Graham.
+The head-quarters was in a small town on the Isle of Leon, and the
+General, who was one of the kindest of men, gave me a bed in his house
+during the time that I remained there.' Cadiz was at the moment besieged
+by the French, and Lord John proceeds to describe the strategical points
+in its defence. Afterwards he accompanied Colonel Stanhope, a member of
+General Graham's staff, to the head-quarters of Lord Wellington, who had
+just occupied with his army the lines of Torres Vedras. He thus records
+his impressions of the great soldier, and of the spectacle which lay
+before him:--'Standing on the highest point, and looking around him on
+every side, was the English General, his eyes bright and searching as
+those of an eagle, his countenance full of hope, beaming with
+intelligence as he marked with quick perception every movement of troops
+and every change of circumstance within the sweep of the horizon. On
+each side of the fort of Sobral rose the entrenchments of the Allies,
+bristling with guns and alive with the troops who formed the garrison of
+this fortified position. Far off, on the left, the cliffs rose to a
+moderate elevation, and the lines of Torres Vedras were prominent in the
+distance.... There stood the advanced guard of the conquering legions of
+France; here was the living barrier of England, Spain, and Portugal,
+prepared to stay the destructive flood, and to preserve from the deluge
+the liberty and independence of three armed nations. The sight filled me
+with admiration, with confidence, and with hope.'
+
+Wellington told Colonel Stanhope that there was nothing he should like
+better than to attack the enemy, but since the force which he commanded
+was England's only army, he did not care to risk a battle. 'In fact, a
+defeat would have been most disastrous, for the English would have been
+obliged to retreat upon Lisbon and embark for England, probably after
+suffering great losses.' Within a fortnight Lord John was back again in
+London, and over the dinner table at Holland House the enterprising lad
+of eighteen was able to give Lord Grey an animated account of the
+prospects of the campaign, and of the appearance of Wellington's
+soldiers. The desire for Cambridge revived in Lord John with the
+conclusion of his Edinburgh course. His wishes were, however, overruled
+by his father, who, as already hinted, held extremely unfavourable views
+in regard to the characteristics at that period of undergraduate life
+in the English universities. The 'sciences of horse-racing, fox-hunting,
+and giving extravagant entertainments' the Duke regarded as the 'chief
+studies of our youths at Cambridge,' and he made no secret of his
+opinion that his promising son was better without them. Lord John's
+father is described by those who knew him as a plain, unpretending man,
+who talked well in private life, but was reserved in society. He was a
+great patron of the fine arts, and one of the best farmers in England,
+and was, moreover, able to hold his own in the debates of the House of
+Lords.
+
+    [Sidenote: THE FIELD OF SALAMANCA]
+
+Meanwhile, at Woburn, Lord John's military ardour, which at this time
+was great, found an outlet in the command of a company of the
+Bedfordshire Militia. But the life of a country gentleman, even when it
+was varied by military drill, was not to the taste of this roving young
+Englishman. The passion for foreign travel, which he never afterwards
+wholly lost, asserted itself, and led him to cast about for congenial
+companions to accompany him abroad. Mr. George Bridgeman, afterwards
+Earl of Bradford, and Mr. Robert Clive, the second son of Earl Powis,
+agreed to accompany him, and with light hearts the three friends started
+in August 1812, with the intention of travelling through Sicily, Greece,
+Egypt, and Syria. They had not proceeded far, however, on their way to
+Southern Italy when tidings reached them that the battle of Salamanca
+had been fought and that Wellington had entered Madrid. The plans for
+exploring Sicily, Egypt, and Syria were instantly thrown to the winds,
+and the young enthusiasts at once bent their steps to the Spanish
+capital, in order to take part in the rejoicings of the populace at the
+victory of the Allies. They made the best of their way to Oporto, but
+were chagrined to find on arriving there that although Salamanca had
+been added to the list of Wellington's triumphs, the victor had not
+pushed on to the capital. Under these circumstances, Lord John and his
+companions determined to make a short tour in the northern part of
+Portugal before proceeding to Wellington's head-quarters at Burgos. They
+met with a few mild adventures on the road, and afterwards crossed the
+frontier and reached the field of Salamanca. The dead still lay
+unburied, and flocks of vultures rose sullenly as the travellers
+threaded their way across that terrible scene of carnage. However,
+neither Lord John's phlegm nor his philosophy deserted him, though the
+awfulness of the spectacle was not lost upon him. 'The blood spilt on
+that day will become a real saving of life if it become the means of
+delivering Spain from French dominion,' was his remark.
+
+At Burgos the young civilian renewed his acquaintance with the
+Commander-in-Chief, and added to his experience of war by being for a
+short time under fire from the French, who held the neighbouring
+fortress. Wellington, however, like other good soldiers, did not care
+for non-combatants at the front, and accordingly the youths started for
+Madrid. Finding that the French were in possession, they pushed
+southwards, and spent Christmas at Cadiz. The prolonged campaign decided
+them to carry out their original scheme. Leaving Cadiz at the end of
+January they set off, _via_ Gibraltar, Cordova, and Cartagena, for
+Alicante, where they proposed to embark for Sicily. But on the way
+reports reached them of French reverses, and they were emboldened once
+more to move towards Madrid. They had hardly started when other and less
+reassuring rumours reached them, and Lord John's two companions resolved
+to return to Alicante; but he himself determined to ride across the
+country to the head-quarters of the army, at Frenida, a distance of 150
+miles. We are indebted to Mr. Bridgeman's published letters for the
+following account of Lord John's plucky ride:--'Finding the French did
+not continue the retreat, John Russell, my strange cousin and your
+ladyship's mad nephew, determined to execute a plan which he had often
+threatened, but it appeared to Clive and me so very injudicious a one
+that we never had an idea of his putting it into execution. However, the
+evening previous to our leaving Almaden, he said, "Well, I shall go to
+the army and see William, and I will meet you either at Madrid or
+Alicante." We found he was quite serious, and he then informed us of his
+intentions.... He would not take his servant, but ordered him to leave
+out half-a-dozen changes of linen, and his gun loaded. He was dressed in
+a blue greatcoat, overalls, and sword, and literally took nothing else
+except his dressing-case, a pair of pantaloons and shoes, a journal and
+an account book, pens and ink, and a bag of money. He would not carry
+anything to reload his gun, which he said his principal reason for
+taking was to sell, should he be short of money, for we had too little
+to spare him any. The next morning he sold his pony, bought a young
+horse, and rode the first league with us. Here we parted with each other
+with much regret, and poor John seemed rather forlorn. God grant he may
+have reached head-quarters in safety and health, for he had been far
+from well the last few days he was with us.... Clive and I feel fully
+persuaded that we shall see him no more till we return to England.'
+
+    [Sidenote: A SENTIMENTAL JOURNEY]
+
+The fears entertained for Lord John's safety were well founded.
+Difficulties of many kinds had to be encountered on the journey, and
+there was always the risk of being arrested and detained by French
+piquets. But the 150 miles were traversed without mishap, and in twelve
+days the 'mad nephew' entered the English quarters. He stayed at Frenida
+more than a month, probably waiting for an opportunity to see a great
+battle. But the wish was not gratified. Dictating to Lady Russell in his
+later life the narrative of his journey in Spain, he said: 'When Lord
+Wellington left his head-quarters on the frontier of Spain and Portugal
+for his memorable campaign of Vittoria, I thought that as I was not a
+soldier I might as well leave Lord Wellington and proceed on a journey
+of amusement to Madrid.'
+
+General Alava gave him introductions, and in the course of his journey
+he was entertained at dinner by a merry canon at Plasencia, who pressed
+upon him a liberal supply of wine. When Lord John declined taking any
+more, his host exclaimed: 'Do you not know the syllogism, "Qui bene
+bibit, bene dormit; qui bene dormit, non peccat; qui non peccat,
+salvatus erit"?' At this stage Lord John found it necessary to hire a
+servant who was capable of acting as guide. He used to say that his
+whole appearance on these journeys was somewhat grotesque, and in proof
+of this assertion he was accustomed in relating his adventures to add
+the following description:--'I wore a blue military cloak and a military
+cocked hat; I had a sword by my side; my whole luggage was carried in
+two bags, one on each side of the horse. In one of these I usually
+carried a leg of mutton, from which I cut two or three slices when I
+wished to prepare my dinner. My servant had a suit of clothes which had
+never been of the best, and was then mostly in rags. He, too, wore a
+cocked hat, and, being tall and thin, stalked before me with great
+dignity.' Such a description reads almost like a page from Cervantes.
+
+Thus attended, Lord John visited the scene of the battle of Talavera,
+in which his brother had been wounded, and on June 5, two days after the
+departure of the French, entered Madrid. Before the end of the month
+news arrived of the battle of Vittoria; and the young Englishman shared
+in the public rejoicings which greeted the announcement. 'From
+Talavera,' adds Lord John, 'I proceeded to Madrid, where I met my
+friends George Bridgeman and Robert Clive. With them I travelled to
+Valencia, and with them in a ship laden with salt fish to Majorca.'
+
+At Palma the travellers found hospitable quarters at the Bishop's
+palace, and after a brief stay crossed in an open boat to Port Mahon in
+Minorca--a rather risky trip, as the youths, with their love of
+adventure, made it by night, and were overtaken on the way by an
+alarming thunderstorm. Whilst in Minorca Lord John received a letter
+from his father, informing him of the death of his old friend General
+Fitzpatrick, and also stating that the Duke meant to use his influence
+at Tavistock to obtain for his son a seat in the House of Commons. 'He
+immediately flew home,' remarks his friend Mr. Bridgeman, 'on what wings
+I know not, but I suppose on those of political ambition.'
+
+The Duke's nomination rendered his election in those days of
+pocket-boroughs a foregone conclusion. As soon as Lord John set foot in
+England he was greeted with the tidings that he had already been elected
+member for Tavistock, and so began, at the age of one-and-twenty, a
+career in the House of Commons which was destined to last for nearly
+fifty years.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+IN PARLIAMENT AND FOR THE PEOPLE
+
+1813-1826
+
+     The political outlook when Lord John entered the House of
+     Commons--The 'Condition of England' question--The struggle for
+     Parliamentary Reform--Side-lights on Napoleon Bonaparte--The
+     Liverpool Administration in a panic--Lord John comes to the aid of
+     Sir Francis Burdett--Foreign travel--First motion in favour of
+     Reform--Making headway
+
+
+LORD LIVERPOOL was at the head of affairs when Lord John Russell entered
+Parliament. His long tenure of power had commenced in the previous
+summer, and it lasted until the Premier was struck down by serious
+illness in the opening weeks of 1827. In Lord John's opinion, Lord
+Liverpool was a 'man of honest but narrow views,' and he probably would
+have endorsed the cynical description of him as the 'keystone rather
+than the capital' of his own Cabinet. Lord Castlereagh was at the
+Foreign Office, Lord Sidmouth was Home Secretary, Mr. Vansittart
+Chancellor of the Exchequer, Lord Palmerston Secretary at War, and Mr.
+Peel Secretary for Ireland. The political outlook on all sides was
+gloomy and menacing. The absorbing subject in Parliament was war and the
+sinews of war; whilst outside its walls hard-pressed taxpayers were
+moodily speculating on the probable figures in the nation's 'glory
+bill.' The two years' war with America was in progress. The battle
+between the _Shannon_ and the _Chesapeake_ was still the talk of the
+hour; but there seemed just then no prospect of peace. Napoleon still
+struggled for the dictatorship of Europe, and Englishmen were wondering
+to what extent they would have to share in the attempt to foil his
+ambition. The Peninsular campaign was costly enough to the British
+taxpayer; but his chagrin vanished--for the moment, at least--when
+Wellington's victories appealed to his pride. Since the beginning of the
+century the attention of Parliament and people had been directed mainly
+to foreign affairs. Domestic legislation was at a standstill. With one
+important exception--an Act for the Abolition of the Slave
+Trade--scarcely any measure of note, apart from military matters and
+international questions, had passed the House of Commons.
+
+Parliamentary government, so far as it was supposed to be representative
+of the people, was a delusion. The number of members returned by private
+patronage for England and Wales amounted to more than three hundred. It
+was publicly asserted, and not without an appeal to statistics, that one
+hundred and fifty-four persons, great and small, actually returned no
+less than three hundred and seven members to the House of Commons.
+Representation in the boroughs was on a less worthy scale in the reign
+of George III. than it had been in the days of the Plantagenets, and
+whatever changes had been made in the franchise since the Tudors had
+been to the advantage of the privileged rather than to that of the
+people.
+
+    [Sidenote: FALLEN BOROUGHS AND FANCY PRICES]
+
+Parliament was little more than an assembly of delegates sent by large
+landowners. Ninety members were returned by forty-six places in which
+there were less than fifty electors; and seventy members were returned
+by thirty-five places containing scarcely any electors at all. Places
+such as Old Sarum--consisting of a mound and a few ruins--returned two
+members; whilst Manchester, Leeds, and Birmingham, in spite of their
+great populations, and in spite, too, of keen political intelligence and
+far-reaching commercial activity, were not yet judged worthy of the
+least voice in affairs. At Gatton the right of election lay in the hands
+of freeholders and householders paying scot and lot; but the only
+elector was Lord Monson, who returned two members. Many of the boroughs
+were bought at a fancy price by men ambitious to enter Parliament--a
+method which seems, however, to have had the advantage of economy when
+the cost of some of the elections is taken into account. An election for
+Northampton cost the two candidates 30,000_l._ each, whilst Lord Milton
+and Mr. Lascelles, in 1807, spent between them 200,000_l._ at a
+contested election for the county of York.
+
+Bribery and corruption were of course practised wholesale, and publicans
+fleeced politicians and made fortunes out of the pockets of aspirants
+for Westminster. In the 'People's Book' an instance is cited of the way
+some borough elections were 'managed.' 'The patron of a large town in
+Ireland, finding, on the approach of an election, that opposition was to
+be made to his interest, marched a regiment of soldiers into the place
+from Loughrea, where they were quartered, and caused them to be elected
+freemen. These military freemen then voted for his friend, who was, of
+course, returned!' Inequality, inadequacy, unreality, corruption--these
+were the leading traits of the House of Commons. The House of Commons no
+more represented the people of the United Kingdom than the parish
+council of Little Peddleton mirrors the mind of Europe.
+
+The statute-book was disfigured by excessive penalities. Men were put in
+the pillory for perjury, libel, and the like. Forgers, robbers,
+incendiaries, poachers, and mutilators of cattle were sent to the
+gallows. Ignorance and brutality prevailed amongst large sections of the
+people both in town and country, and the privileged classes, in spite of
+vulgar ostentation and the parade of fine manners, set them an evil
+example in both directions. Yet, though the Church of England had no
+vision of the needs of the people and no voice for their wrongs, the
+great wave of religious life which had followed the preaching of
+Whitfield and Wesley had not spent its force, nor was it destined to do
+so before it had awakened in the multitude a spirit of quickened
+intelligence and self-respect which made them restive under political
+servitude and in the presence of acknowledged but unredressed
+grievances. Education, through the disinterested efforts of a group of
+philanthropists, was, moreover, beginning--in some slight degree, at
+least--to leaven the mass of ignorance in the country, the power of the
+press was making itself felt, and other agencies were also beginning to
+dispel the old apathy born of despair.
+
+The French Revolution, with its dramatic overthrow of tyranny and its
+splendid watchword, 'Liberty, Equality, Fraternity,' made its own appeal
+to the hope as well as the imagination of the English people, although
+the sanguinary incidents which marked it retarded the movement for
+Reform in England, and as a matter of fact sent the Reformers into the
+wilderness for the space of forty years.
+
+More than a quarter of a century before the birth of Lord John Russell,
+who was destined to carry the first Reform Bill through the House of
+Commons, Lord Chatham had not hesitated to denounce the borough
+representation of the country as the 'rotten part of our constitution,'
+which, he said, resembled a mortified limb; and he had added the
+significant words, 'If it does not drop, it must be amputated.' He held
+that it was useless to look for the strength and vigour of the
+constitution in little pocket-boroughs, and that the nation ought rather
+to rely on the 'great cities and counties.' Fox, in a debate in 1796,
+declared that peace could never be secured until the Constitution was
+amended. He added: 'The voice of the representatives of the people must
+prevail over the executive ministers of the Crown; the people must be
+restored to their just rights.' These warnings fell unheeded, until the
+strain of long-continued war, bad harvests, harsh poor laws, and
+exorbitant taxes on the necessities of life conspired to goad the people
+to the verge of open rebellion.
+
+    [Sidenote: 'FRIENDS OF THE PEOPLE']
+
+Wilkes, Pitt, Burdett, Cartwright, and Grey, again and again returned to
+the charge, only to find, however, that the strongholds of privilege
+were not easily overthrown. The year 1792, in which, by a noteworthy
+coincidence, Lord John Russell was born, was rendered memorable in the
+history of a movement with which his name will always be associated by
+the formation of the society of the 'Friends of the People,' an
+influential association which had its place of meeting at the
+Freemasons' Tavern. Amongst its first members were Mr. Lambton (father
+of the first Earl of Durham), Mr. (afterwards Sir James) Mackintosh, Mr.
+Sheridan, Mr. (afterwards Lord) Erskine, Mr. Charles (afterwards Earl)
+Grey, and more than twenty other members of Parliament. In the following
+year Mr. Grey brought forward the celebrated petition of the Friends of
+the People in the House of Commons. It exposed the abuses of the
+existing electoral system and presented a powerful argument for
+Parliamentary Reform. He moved that the petition should be referred to
+the consideration 'of a committee'; but Pitt, in spite of his own
+measure on the subject in 1785, was now lukewarm about Reform, and
+accordingly opposed as 'inopportune' such an inquiry. 'This is not a
+time,' were his words, 'to make hazardous experiments.' The spirit of
+anarchy, in his view, was abroad, and Burke's 'Reflections,' had of
+course increased the panic of the moment. Although Grey pressed the
+motion, only 141 members supported it, and though four years later he
+moved for leave to bring in a bill on the subject, justice and common
+sense were again over-ridden, and, so far as Parliament was concerned,
+the question slept until 1809, when Sir Francis Burdett revived the
+agitation.
+
+Meanwhile, men of the stamp of Horne Tooke, William Cobbett, Hone,
+'Orator' Hunt, and Major Cartwright--brother of Lord John Russell's
+tutor at Woburn, and the originator of the popular cry, 'One man, one
+vote'--were in various ways keeping the question steadily before the
+minds of the people. Hampden Clubs and other democratic associations
+were also springing up in various parts of the country, sometimes to the
+advantage of demagogues of damaged reputation rather than to the
+advancement of the popular cause. Sir Francis Burdett may be said to
+have represented the Reformers in Parliament during the remainder of the
+reign of George III., though, just as the old order was changing, Earl
+Grey, in 1819, publicly renewed his connection with the question, and
+pledged himself to support any sound and judicious measure which
+promised to deal effectively with known abuses. In spite of the apathy
+of Parliament and the sullen opposition of the privileged classes to all
+projects of the kind, whether great or small, sweeping or partial, the
+question was slowly ripening in the public mind. Sydney Smith in 1819
+declared, 'I think all wise men should begin to turn their minds
+Reformwards. We shall do it better than Mr. Hunt or Mr. Cobbett. Done it
+_must_ and _will_ be.' In the following year Lord John Russell, at the
+age of twenty-eight, became identified with the question of
+Parliamentary Reform by bringing before the House of Commons a measure
+for the redress of certain scandalous grievances, chiefly at Grampound.
+When Lord John's Parliamentary career began, George III. was hopelessly
+mad and blind, and, as if to heighten the depressing aspect of public
+affairs, the scandalous conduct of his sons was straining to the
+breaking-point the loyalty of men of intelligence to the Throne.
+
+    [Sidenote: LORD JOHN'S MAIDEN SPEECH]
+
+Lord John's maiden speech in Parliament was directed against the
+proposal of the Liverpool Administration to enforce its views in regard
+to the union of Norway and Sweden. It escaped the attention of
+Parliamentary reporters and has passed into oblivion. The pages of
+'Hansard,' however, give a brief summary of his next speech, which, like
+its predecessor, was on the side of liberty. It was delivered on July
+14, 1814, in opposition to the second reading of the Alien Acts, which
+in spite of such a protest quickly became law. His comments were concise
+and characteristic. 'He considered the Act to be one which was very
+liable to abuse. The present time was that which least called for it;
+and Ministers, in bringing forward the measure now because it had been
+necessary before, reminded him of the unfortunate wag mentioned in 'Joe
+Miller,' who was so fond of rehearsing a joke that he always repeated it
+at the wrong time.' During the first months of his Parliamentary
+experience Lord John was elected a member of Grillion's Club, which had
+been established in Bond Street about twelve months previously, and
+which became in after-years a favourite haunt of many men of light and
+leading. It was founded on a somewhat novel basis. Leading members of
+the Whig and Tory parties met for social purposes. Political discussion
+was strictly tabooed, and nothing but the amenities of life were
+cultivated. In after-years the club became to Lord John Russell, as it
+has also been to many distinguished politicians, a welcome haven from
+the turmoil of Westminster.
+
+Delicate health in the autumn quickened Lord John's desire to renew the
+pleasures of foreign travel. He accordingly went by sea to Italy, and
+arrived at Leghorn in the opening days of December. He was still
+wandering in Southern Europe when Parliament reassembled, and the
+Christmas Eve of that year was rendered memorable to him by an interview
+with Napoleon in exile at Elba.
+
+    [Sidenote: A GLIMPSE OF NAPOLEON]
+
+Through the kindness of Lady Russell it is possible here to quote from
+an old-fashioned leather-bound volume in her husband's handwriting,
+which gives a detailed account of the incidents of his Italian tour in
+1814-15, and of his conversation on this occasion with the banished
+despot of Europe. Part of what follows has already been published by Mr.
+Walpole, but much of it has remained for eighty years in the privacy of
+Lord John's own notebook, from the faded pages of which it is now
+transcribed:--'Napoleon was dressed in a green coat, with a hat in his
+hand, very much as he is painted; but, excepting the resemblance of
+dress, I had a very mistaken idea of him from his portrait. He appears
+very short, which is partly owing to his being very fat, his hands and
+legs being quite swollen and unwieldy. That makes him appear awkward,
+and not unlike the whole-length figure of Gibbon the historian. Besides
+this, instead of the bold-marked countenance that I expected, he has fat
+cheeks and rather a turn-up nose, which, to bring in another historian,
+makes the shape of his face resemble the portraits of Hume. He has a
+dusky grey eye, which would be called vicious in a horse, and the shape
+of his mouth expresses contempt and decision. His manner is very
+good-natured, and seems studied to put one at one's ease by its
+familiarity; his smile and laugh are very agreeable; he asks a number of
+questions without object, and often repeats them, a habit which he has,
+no doubt, acquired during fifteen years of supreme command. He began
+asking me about my family, the allowance my father gave me, if I ran
+into debt, drank, played, &c. He asked me if I had been in Spain, and if
+I was not imprisoned by the Inquisition. I told him that I had seen the
+abolition of the Inquisition voted, and of the injudicious manner in
+which it was done.'
+
+Napoleon told Lord John that Ferdinand was in the hands of the priests.
+Spain, like Italy, he added, was a fine country, especially Andalusia
+and Seville. Lord John admitted this, but spoke of the uncultivated
+nature of the land. 'Agriculture,' replied Napoleon, 'is neglected
+because the land is in the hands of the Church.' 'And of the grandees,'
+suggested his visitor. 'Yes,' was the answer, 'who have privileges
+contrary to the public prosperity.' Napoleon added that he thought the
+evil might be remedied by divided property and abolishing hurtful
+privileges, as was done in France. Afterwards Napoleon asked many
+questions about the Cortes, and when Lord John told him that many of the
+members made good speeches on abstract questions, but they failed when
+any practical debate on finance or war took place, Napoleon drily
+remarked: 'Oui, faute de l'habitude de gouverner.' Presently the talk
+drifted to Wellington, or rather Napoleon adroitly led it thither. He
+described the man who had driven the French out of Spain as a 'grand
+chasseur,' and asked if Wellington liked Paris. Lord John replied that
+he thought not, and added that Wellington had said that he should find
+himself much at a loss as to what to do in time of peace, as he seemed
+scarcely to like anything but war. Whereupon Napoleon exclaimed, 'La
+guerre est un grand jeu, une belle occupation.' He expressed his
+surprise that England should have sent the Duke to Paris, and he added,
+evidently with a touch of bitterness, 'On n'aime pas l'homme par qui on
+a été battu.'
+
+The Emperor's great anxiety seemed to be to get reliable tidings of the
+condition of France. Lord John's own words are: 'He inquired if I had
+seen at Florence many Englishmen who came from there, and when I
+mentioned Lord Holland, he asked if he thought things went well with the
+Bourbons. When I answered in the negative he seemed delighted, and asked
+if Lord Holland thought they would be able to stay there.' On this point
+Lord John was not able to satisfy him, and Napoleon said that he
+understood that the Bourbons had neglected the Englishmen who had
+treated them well in England, and particularly the Duke of Buckingham,
+and he condemned their lack of gratitude. Lord John suggested that the
+Bourbons were afraid to be thought to be dependent on the English, but
+Napoleon brushed this aside by asserting that the English in general
+were very well received. In a mocking tone he expressed his wish to know
+whether the army was much attached to the Bourbons. The Vienna Congress
+was, of course, just then in progress, and Napoleon showed himself
+nothing loth to talk about it. He said: 'The Powers will disagree, but
+they will not go to war.' He spoke of the Regent's conduct to the
+Princess as very impolitic, and he added that it shocked the
+_bienséances_ by the observance of which his father George III. had
+become so popular. He declared that our struggle with America was 'une
+guerre de vengeance,' as the frontier question could not possibly be of
+any importance. According to Napoleon, the great superiority of England
+to France lay in her aristocracy.
+
+    [Sidenote: NAPOLEON'S PREDICTION ABOUT INDIA]
+
+Napoleon stated that he had intended to create a new aristocracy in
+France by marrying his officers to the daughters of the old nobility,
+and he added that he had reserved a fund from the contributions which he
+levied when he made treaties with Austria, Prussia, &c., in order to
+found these new families. Speaking of some of the naval engagements, 'he
+found great fault with the French admiral who fought the battle of the
+Nile, and pointed out what he ought to have done; but he found most
+fault with the admiral who fought Sir R. Calder for not disabling his
+fleet, and said that if he could have got the Channel clear then, or at
+any other time, he would have invaded England.' Talleyrand, he declared,
+had advised the war with Spain, and Napoleon also made out that he had
+prevented him from saving the Duc d'Enghien. Spain ought to have been
+conquered, and Napoleon declared that he would have gone there himself
+if the war with Russia had not occurred. England would repent of
+bringing the Russians so far, and he added in this connection the
+remarkable words, 'They will deprive her of India.'
+
+After lingering for a while in Vienna, Florence, Rome, Naples, and other
+cities, Lord John returned home by way of Germany, and on June 5 he
+spoke in Parliament against the renewal of hostilities. He was one of
+the small minority in Parliament who refused to regard Napoleon's flight
+from Elba as a sufficient _casus belli_. Counsels of peace, however,
+were naturally just then not likely to prevail, and Wellington's victory
+a fortnight later falsified Lord John's fears. He did not speak again
+until February 1816, when, in seconding an amendment to the Address, he
+protested against the continuance of the income-tax as a calamity to the
+country. He pointed out that, although there had been repeated victories
+abroad, prosperity at home had vanished; that farmers could not pay
+their rents nor landlords their taxes; and that everybody who was not
+paid out of the public purse felt that prosperity was gone. A few weeks
+later he opposed the Army Estimates, contending that a standing army of
+150,000 men 'must alarm every friend of his country and its
+constitution.'
+
+It was probably owing in a measure to the hopelessness of the situation,
+but also partly to ill-health, that Lord John absented himself to a
+great extent from Parliament. He was, in truth, chagrined at the course
+of affairs and discouraged with his own prospects, and in consequence he
+lapsed for a time into the position of a silent member of the House of
+Commons. Meanwhile, the summer of 1816 was wet and cold and the harvest
+was in consequence a disastrous failure. Wheat rose to 103_s._ a
+quarter, and bread riots broke out in the Eastern Counties. The
+Luddites, who commenced breaking up machinery in manufacturing towns in
+1811, again committed great excesses. Tumults occurred in London, and
+the Prince Regent was insulted in the streets on his return from opening
+Parliament.
+
+    [Sidenote: PANIC-STRICKEN AUTHORITY]
+
+The Liverpool Cabinet gave way to panic, and quickly resorted to
+extreme measures. A secret committee was appointed in each House to
+investigate the causes of the disaffection of a portion of his Majesty's
+subjects. Four bills were, as the result of their deliberations, swiftly
+introduced and passed through Parliament. The first enacted penalties
+for decoying sailors and soldiers; the second was a pitiful exhibition
+of lack of confidence, for it aimed at special measures for the
+protection of the Prince Regent; the third furnished magistrates with
+unusual powers for the prevention of seditious meetings; and the fourth
+suspended the Habeas Corpus Act till July 1, giving the Executive
+authority 'to secure and detain such persons as his Majesty shall
+suspect are conspiring against his person and Government.'
+
+The measures of the Government filled Lord John with indignation, and he
+assailed the proposal to suspend the Habeas Corpus Act in a vigorous
+speech, which showed conclusively that his sympathies were on the side
+of the weak and distressed classes of the community. 'I had not
+intended,' he said, 'to trouble the House with any observations of mine
+during the present session of Parliament. Indeed, the state of my health
+induced me to resolve upon quitting the fatiguing business of this House
+altogether. But he must have no ordinary mind whose attention is not
+roused in a singular manner when it is proposed to suspend the rights
+and liberties of Englishmen, though even for a short period. I am
+determined, for my own part, that no weakness of frame, no indisposition
+of body, shall prevent my protesting against the most dangerous
+precedent which this House ever made. We talk much--I think, a great
+deal too much--of the wisdom of our ancestors. I wish we could imitate
+the courage of our ancestors. They were not ready to lay their liberties
+at the foot of the Crown upon every vain or imaginary alarm.' He begged
+the majority not to give, by the adoption of a policy of coercion, the
+opponents of law and order the opportunity of saying, 'When we ask for
+redress you refuse all innovation; when the Crown asks for protection
+you sanction a new code.'
+
+All protests, as usual, were thrown away, and the bill was passed. Lord
+John resumed his literary tasks, and as a matter of fact only once
+addressed the House in the course of the next two years. He repeatedly
+declared his intention of entirely giving up politics and devoting his
+time to literature and travel. Many friends urged him to relinquish such
+an idea. Moore's poetical 'Remonstrance,' which gladdened Lord John not
+a little at the moment, is so well known that we need scarcely quote
+more than the closing lines:
+
+    Thus gifted, thou never canst sleep in the shade;
+      If the stirring of genius, the music of fame,
+    And the charm of thy cause have not power to persuade,
+      Yet think how to freedom thou'rt pledged by thy name.
+    Like the boughs of that laurel, by Delphi's decree
+      Set apart for the fane and its service divine,
+    All the branches that spring from the old Russell tree
+      Are by Liberty claimed for the use of her shrine.'
+
+Lord John's literary labours began at this time to be considerable. He
+also enlarged his knowledge of the world by giving free play to his love
+of foreign travel.
+
+    [Sidenote: FEELING HIS WAY]
+
+A general election occurred in the summer of 1818, and it proved that
+though the Tories were weakened they still had a majority. Lord John,
+with his uncle Lord William Russell, were, however, returned for
+Tavistock. Public affairs in 1819 were of a kind to draw him from his
+retirement, and as a matter of fact it was in that year that his
+speeches began to attract more than passing notice. He spoke briefly in
+favour of reducing the number of the Lords of the Admiralty, advocated
+an inquiry into domestic and foreign policy, protested against the
+surrender of the town of Parga, on the coast of Epirus, to the Turks,
+and made an energetic speech against the prevailing bribery and
+corruption which disgraced contested elections. The summer of that year
+was also rendered memorable in Lord John's career by his first speech on
+Parliamentary Reform. In July, Sir Francis Burdett, undeterred by
+previous overwhelming defeats, brought forward his usual sweeping motion
+demanding universal suffrage, equal electoral districts, vote by ballot,
+and annual Parliaments. Lord John's criticism was level-headed, and
+therefore characteristic. He had little sympathy with extreme measures,
+and he knew, moreover, that it was not merely useless but injurious to
+the cause of Reform to urge them at such a moment. The opposition was
+too powerful and too impervious to anything in the nature of an idea to
+give such proposals just then the least chance of success. Property
+meant to fight hard for its privileges, and the great landowners looked
+upon their pocket-boroughs as a goodly heritage as well as a rightful
+appanage of rank and wealth. As for the great unrepresented towns, they
+were regarded as hot-beds of sedition, and therefore the people were to
+be kept in their place, and that meant without a voice in the affairs of
+the nation. The close corporations and the corrupt boroughs were
+meanwhile dismissed with a shrug of the shoulders or a laugh of scorn.
+
+Lord John was as yet by no means a full-fledged Reformer, but it was
+something in those days for a duke's son to take sides, even in a
+modified way, with the party of progress. His speech represented the
+views not so much of the multitude as of the middle classes. They were
+alarmed at the truculent violence of mob orators up and down the
+country; their fund of inherited reverence for the aristocracy was as
+yet scarcely diminished. They had their own dread of spoliation, and
+they had not quite recovered from their fright over the French
+Revolution. They were law abiding, moreover, and the blood and treasure
+which it had cost the nation to crush Napoleon had allayed in thousands
+of them the thirst for glory, and turned them into possibly humdrum but
+very sincere lovers of peace. Lord John's speech was an appeal to the
+average man in his strength and in his limitations, and men of cautious
+common-sense everywhere rejoiced that the young Whig--who was liked none
+the less by farmer and shopkeeper because he was a lord--had struck the
+nail exactly on the head. The growth of Lord John's influence in
+Parliament was watched at Woburn with keen interest. 'I have had a good
+deal of conversation,' wrote the Duke, 'with old Tierney at Cassiobury
+about you.... I find with pleasure that he has a very high opinion of
+your debating powers; and says, if you will stick to one branch of
+politics and not range over too desultory a field, you may become
+eminently useful and conspicuous in the House of Commons.... The line I
+should recommend for your selection would be that of foreign politics,
+and all home politics bearing on civil and religious liberty--a pretty
+wide range....'
+
+As soon as the end of the session brought a respite from his
+Parliamentary duties Lord John started for the Continent with Moore the
+poet. The author of 'Lalla Rookh' was at that moment struggling, after
+the manner of the majority of poets at any moment, with the three-headed
+monster pounds, shillings, and pence, through the failure of his deputy
+in an official appointment at Bermuda. The poet's journal contains many
+allusions to Lord John, and the following passage from it, dated
+September 4, 1819, speaks for itself:--'Set off with Lord John in his
+carriage at seven; breakfasted and arrived at Dover to dinner at seven
+o'clock; the journey very agreeable. Lord John mild and sensible; took
+off Talma very well. Mentioned Buonaparte having instructed Talma in the
+part of Nero; correcting him for being in such a bustle in giving his
+orders, and telling him they ought to be given calmly, as coming from a
+person used to sovereignty.'[1] After a fortnight in Paris the
+travellers went on to Milan, where they parted company, Moore going to
+Venice to visit Byron, and Lord John to Genoa, to renew a pleasant
+acquaintance with Madame Durazzo, an Italian lady of rank who was at one
+time well known in English society.
+
+    [Sidenote: MADAME DURAZZO]
+
+Madame Durazzo was a quick-witted and accomplished woman, and her
+vivacious and sympathetic nature was hardly less remarkable than her
+personal charm. There is evidence enough that she made a considerable
+impression upon the young English statesman, who, indeed, wrote a sonnet
+about her. Lord John's verdict on Italy and the Italians is pithily
+expressed in a hitherto unpublished extract from his journal:--'Italy is
+a delightful country for a traveller--every town full of the finest
+specimens of art, even now, and many marked by remains of antiquity near
+one another--all different. Easy travelling, books in plenty, living
+cheap and tolerably good--what can a man wish for but a little grace and
+good taste in dress amongst women? Men of science abound in Italy--the
+Papal Government discouraged them at Rome; but the country cannot be
+said to be behind the world in knowledge. Poets, too, are plenty; I
+never read their verses.'
+
+Meanwhile, the condition of England was becoming critical. Birmingham,
+Leeds, Manchester, and other great towns were filled with angry
+discontent, and turbulent mass meetings of the people were held to
+protest against any further neglect of their just demands for political
+representation. Major Cartwright advised these great unrepresented
+communities to 'send a petition in the form of a living man instead of
+one on parchment or paper,' so that he might state in unmistakable terms
+their demands to the Speaker. Sir Charles Wolseley, a Staffordshire
+baronet and a friend of Burdett, was elected with a great flourish of
+trumpets at Birmingham to act in this capacity, and Manchester
+determined also to send a representative, and on August 16, 1819, a
+great open-air meeting was called to give effect to this resolution. The
+multitude were dispersed by the military, and readers of Bamford's
+'Passages in the Life of a Radical' will remember his graphic and
+detailed description of the scene of tumult and bloodshed which
+followed, and which is known as the Peterloo Massacre. The carnage
+inspired Shelley's magnificent 'Mask of Anarchy':--
+
+    ... One fled past, a maniac maid,
+    And her name was Hope, she said:
+    But she looked more like Despair,
+    And she cried out in the air:
+
+    'My father Time is weak and grey
+    With waiting for a better day.'
+
+    [Sidenote: OIL AND VINEGAR]
+
+In those days Parliament did not sit in August, and the members of the
+Cabinet were not at hand when the crisis arose. The Prince Regent
+expressed his approbation of the conduct of the magistrates of
+Manchester as well as of that of the officers and troops of the
+cavalry, whose firmness and effectual support of the civil power
+preserved the peace of the town. The Cabinet also lost no time in giving
+its emphatic support to the high-handed action of the Lancashire
+magistrates, and Major Cartwright and other leaders of the popular
+movement became the heroes of the hour because the Liverpool
+Administration was foolish enough to turn them into political martyrs by
+prosecuting them on the charge of sedition. Lord John at this crisis
+received several letters urging his return home immediately. That his
+influence was already regarded as of some importance is evident from the
+terms in which Sir James Mackintosh addressed him. 'You are more wanted
+than anybody, not only for general service, but because your Reform must
+be immediately brought forward--if possible, as the act of the party,
+but at all events as the creed of all Whig Reformers.' Writing to Moore
+from Genoa on November 9, Lord John says: 'I am just setting off for
+London. Mackintosh has written me an oily letter, to which I have
+answered by a vinegar one; but I want you to keep me up in acerbity.'
+
+Soon after Parliament met, the famous Six Acts--usually termed the
+'Gagging Acts'--were passed, though not without strenuous opposition.
+These measures were intended to hinder delay in the administration of
+justice in the case of misdemeanour, to prevent the training of persons
+to the use of arms, to enable magistrates to seize and detain arms, to
+prevent seditious meetings, and to bring to punishment the authors of
+blasphemous and seditious libels. No meeting of more than fifty people
+was to be held without six days' notice to a magistrate; only
+freeholders or inhabitants were to be allowed even to attend; and
+adjournments were forbidden. The time and place of meeting were, if
+deemed advisable, to be changed by the local authorities, and no banners
+or flags were to be displayed. The wisdom of Lord Eldon, the patriotism
+of Lord Castlereagh, and the panic of Lord Sidmouth were responsible for
+these tyrannical enactments. On December 14 Lord John brought forward
+his first resolutions in favour of Reform. He proposed (1) that all
+boroughs in which gross and notorious bribery and corruption should be
+proved to prevail should cease to return members to Parliament; (2) that
+the right so taken away should be given to some great town or to the
+largest counties; (3) that it is the duty of the House to consider of
+further means to detect and to prevent corruption in Parliamentary
+elections; (4) that it is expedient that the borough of Grampound should
+be disfranchised. Even Castlereagh complimented him on the manner in
+which he had introduced the question, and undertook that, if Lord John
+would withdraw the resolutions and bring in a bill to disfranchise
+Grampound, he would not oppose the proposition, and to this arrangement
+Lord John consented. Shortly before the dissolution of Parliament,
+consequent upon the death of the King, in January 1820, Lord John
+obtained leave to bring in a bill for suspending the issue of writs to
+the corrupt boroughs of Penryn, Camelford, Grampound, and Barnstaple.
+But the alarm occasioned by the Cato Street Conspiracy threw back the
+movement and awakened all the old prejudices against even the slightest
+concession.
+
+At the general election of 1820 Lord John was returned for the county of
+Huntingdon. As soon as possible Lord John returned to the charge, and
+brought forward his measure for dealing with Grampound and to transfer
+the right of voting to Leeds, the franchise to be given to occupiers of
+houses rated at 5_l._ and upwards. In his 'Recollections and
+Suggestions' Lord John says: 'With a view to work my way to a change,
+not by eloquence--for I had none--but by patient toil and a plain
+statement of facts, I brought before the House of Commons the case of
+Grampound. I obtained an inquiry, and, with the assistance of Mr.
+Charles Wynn, I forced the solicitors employed in bribery to reveal the
+secrets of their employers: the case was clear; the borough was
+convicted.' Whilst the debate was proceeding Queen Caroline arrived in
+England from the Continent, and was received with much popular
+enthusiasm. Hostile measures were at once taken in the House of Commons
+against her, and though the despicable proceedings eventually came to
+nought, they effectually stopped all further discussion of the question
+of Reform for the time being.
+
+    [Sidenote: THE 'FIRST GENTLEMAN OF EUROPE']
+
+Like Canning and Brougham, Lord John took the side of the injured Queen,
+and he drew up a petition to George IV. begging him to end the further
+consideration of the Bill of Pains and Penalties against Caroline by
+proroguing Parliament. Such a request was entirely thrown away on a man
+of the character of George IV., for the King was bent on a policy of
+mean revenge; and as only the honour of a woman was concerned, the
+'first gentleman of Europe' found the Liverpool Administration
+obsequious enough to do his bidding. When at length public opinion
+prevailed and the proceedings against the Queen were withdrawn in
+November, and whilst rejoicings and illuminations were going on in
+London at the Queen's deliverance, Lord John went to Paris, remaining
+there till January. Moore was in Paris, and he was much in his company,
+and divided the rest of his time between literature and society. He
+wrote his now forgotten novel, 'The Nun of Arrouca,' during the six
+weeks which he spent in Paris. A Frenchman, visiting the poet, 'lamented
+that his friend Lord John showed to so little advantage in society from
+his extreme taciturnity, and still more from his apparent coldness and
+indifference to what is said by others. Several here to whom he was
+introduced had been much disappointed in consequence of this manner.'
+
+Lady Blessington, who was at that time living abroad, states that Lord
+John came and dined with herself and the Earl, and the comments of so
+beautiful and accomplished a woman of fashion are at least worthy of
+passing record. 'Lord John was in better health and spirits than when I
+remember him in England. He is exceedingly well read, and has a quiet
+dash of humour, that renders his observations very amusing. When the
+reserve peculiar to him is thawed, he can be very agreeable. Good sense,
+a considerable power of discrimination, a highly cultivated mind, a
+great equality of temper, are the characteristics of Lord John Russell,
+and these peculiarly fit him for taking a distinguished part in public
+life.' Lady Blessington adds that the only obstacle, in her opinion, to
+Lord John's success lays in the natural reserve of his manners, which
+might lead people 'to think him cold and proud.' This is exactly what
+happened, and only those who knew Lord John intimately were aware of the
+delicate consideration for others which lurked beneath his somewhat
+frigid demeanour.
+
+    [Sidenote: HALF A LOAF OR NO BREAD]
+
+Early in the year 1821 Lord John reintroduced his bill for the
+disfranchisement of Grampound. Several amendments were proposed, and
+one, brought forward by Mr. Stuart Wortley, limiting the right to vote
+to 20_l._ householders, was carried. Thereupon Lord John declined to
+take further charge of the measure. After being altered and pruned by
+both Houses the bill was passed, in spite of Lord Eldon, 'with tears and
+doleful predictions,' urging the peers 'to resist this first turn of the
+helm towards the whirlpool of democracy.' Grampound ceased to exist as a
+Parliamentary borough, and the county of York gained two members.
+Although Lord John supported the amended bill--on the principle that
+half a loaf is better than no bread--he at the same time announced that
+'in a future session he proposed to call attention to the claims of
+large towns to send members to this House.' He was determined to do all
+in his power to deprive what he termed the 'dead bones of a former state
+of England' of political influence, and to give representation to what
+he termed the 'living energy and industry of the England of the
+nineteenth century, with its steam-engines and its factories, its cotton
+and woollen cloths, its cutlery and its coal-mines, its wealth and its
+intelligence.' Whilst the bill about Grampound was being discussed by
+the Lords he took further action in this direction, and presented four
+resolutions for the discovery and punishment of bribery, the
+disfranchisement of corrupt boroughs, and the enfranchisement of wealthy
+and populous towns. On a division his proposals were defeated by
+thirty-one votes in a House of 279 members, and this, under all the
+circumstances, was a better result than he expected.
+
+On April 25, 1822, Lord John again tested the feeling of Parliament with
+his motion 'that the present state of the representation requires
+serious consideration.' In the course of a speech of three hours he
+startled the House by proposing that 100 new members should be added,
+and, in order that the Commons should not be overcrowded, he added
+another resolution, to the effect that a similar number of the small
+boroughs should be represented by one member instead of two. Mr. Canning
+opposed such a scheme, but complimented Lord John on the ability he had
+displayed in its advocacy, and then added: 'That the noble lord will
+carry his motion this evening I have no fear; but with the talents which
+he has shown himself to possess, and with (I sincerely hope) a long and
+brilliant career of Parliamentary distinction before him, he will, no
+doubt, renew his efforts hereafter. If, however, he shall persevere, and
+if his perseverance shall be successful, and if the results of that
+success shall be such as I cannot help apprehending, his be the triumph
+to have precipitated those results, be mine the consolation that, to the
+utmost and to the latest of my power, I have opposed them.'[2]
+
+Little persuasion was necessary to win a hostile vote, and in a House of
+433 members Lord John found himself in a minority of 164. Next year he
+renewed his attempt, but with the same result, and in 1826 he once more
+brought forward his proposals for Reform, to be defeated. Two months
+afterwards, however--May 26, 1826--undaunted by his repeated failures,
+he brought in a bill for the discovery and suppression of bribery at
+elections. The forces arrayed against him again proved too formidable,
+and Lord John, deeming it useless to proceed, abandoned the bill. He
+made one more attempt in the expiring Parliament, in a series of
+resolutions, to arrest political corruption, and when the division was
+taken the numbers were equal, whereupon the Speaker recorded his vote on
+Lord John's side. In June the House was dissolved.
+
+    [Sidenote: A WHIG OF THE NEW GENERATION]
+
+The Whigs of the new generation were meanwhile dreaming of projects
+which had never entered into the calculations of their predecessors.
+Lord John long afterwards gave expression to the views which were
+beginning to prevail, such as non-interference in the internal
+government of other nations, the necessity of peace with America and the
+acknowledgment of her Independence, the satisfaction of the people of
+Ireland by the concession of political equality, the advancement of
+religious liberty, parliamentary reform, and the unrestricted liberty of
+the press. 'Had these principles,' he declares, 'prevailed from 1770 to
+1820, the country would have avoided the American War and the first
+French Revolutionary War, the rebellion in Ireland in 1798, and the
+creation of three or four millions of national debt.'[3] Whenever
+opportunity allowed, Lord John sought in Parliament during the period
+under review to give practical effect to such convictions. He spoke in
+favour of the repeal of the Foreign Enlistment Bill, on the question of
+the evacuation of Spain by the French army, on the Alien Bill, on an
+inquiry into labourers' wages, on the Irish Insurrection Bill, on Roman
+Catholic claims and Roman Catholic endowment, and on agricultural
+distress.
+
+During the closing years of George III.'s reign and the inglorious days
+of his successor, Lord John Russell rose slowly but steadily towards
+political influence and power. His speeches attracted growing attention,
+and his courage and common sense were rewarded with the deepening
+confidence of the nation. Although he was still regarded with some
+little dread by his 'betters and his elders,' to borrow his own phrase,
+the people hailed with satisfaction the rise of so honest, clear-headed,
+and dogged a champion of peace, retrenchment, and Reform. Court and
+Cabinet might look askance at the young statesman, but the great towns
+were at his back, and he knew--in spite of all appearances to the
+contrary--that they, though yet unrepresented, were in reality stronger
+than all the forces of selfish privilege and senseless prejudice. Lord
+John had proved himself to be a man of action. The nation was beginning
+to dream that he would yet prove himself to be a man of mark.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[1] _Memoirs, Journal, and Correspondence of Thomas Moore._ Edited by
+the Right Hon. Lord John Russell, M.P.
+
+[2] Canning's Speeches.
+
+[3] _Recollections and Suggestions_, p. 43.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+WINNING HIS SPURS
+
+1826-1830
+
+     Defeated and out of harness--Journey to Italy--Back in
+     Parliament--Canning's accession to power--Bribery and
+     corruption--The repeal of the Test and Corporation Acts--The
+     struggle between the Court and the Cabinet over Catholic
+     Emancipation--Defeat of Wellington at the polls--Lord John
+     appointed Paymaster-General.
+
+
+WHIG optimists in the newspapers at the General Election of 1826
+declared that the future welfare of the country would depend much on the
+intelligence and independence of the new Parliament. Ordinary men
+accustomed to look facts in the face were not, however, so sanguine, and
+Albany Fonblanque expressed the more common view amongst Radicals when
+he asserted that if the national welfare turned on the exhibition in an
+unreformed House of Commons of such unparliamentary qualities as
+intelligence and independence, there would be ground not for hope but
+for despair. He added that he saw no shadow of a reason for supposing
+that one Parliament under the existing system would differ in any
+essential degree from another. He maintained that, while the sources of
+corruption continued to flow, legislation would roll on in the same
+course.
+
+Self-improvement was, in truth, the last thing to be expected from a
+House of Commons which represented vested rights, and the interests and
+even the caprices of a few individuals, rather than the convictions or
+needs of the nation. The Tory party was stubborn and defiant even when
+the end of the Liverpool Administration was in sight. The Test Acts were
+unrepealed, prejudice and suspicion shut out the Catholics from the
+Legislature, and the sacred rights of property triumphed over the
+terrible wrongs of the slave. The barbarous enactments of the Criminal
+Code had not yet been entirely swept away, and the municipal
+corporations, even to contemporary eyes, appeared as nothing less than
+sinks of corruption.
+
+Lord John was defeated in Huntingdonshire, and, to his disappointment,
+found himself out of harness. He had hoped to bring in his Bribery Bill
+early in the session, and under the altered circumstances he persuaded
+Lord Althorp to press the measure forward. In a letter to that statesman
+which was afterwards printed, he states clearly the evils which he
+wished to remedy. A sentence or two will show the need of redress: 'A
+gentleman from London goes down to a borough of which he scarcely before
+knew the existence. The electors do not ask his political opinions; they
+do not inquire into his private character; they only require to be
+satisfied of the impurity of his intentions. If he is elected, no one,
+in all probability, contests the validity of his return. His opponents
+are as guilty as he is, and no other person will incur the expense of a
+petition for the sake of a public benefit. Fifteen days after the
+meeting of Parliament (this being the limit for the presentation of a
+petition), a handsome reward is distributed to each of the worthy and
+independent electors.'
+
+    [Sidenote: A SARCASTIC APPEAL]
+
+In the early autumn Lord John quitted England, with the intention of
+passing the winter in Italy. The Duke of Bedford felt that his son had
+struck the nail on the head with his pithy and outspoken letter to Lord
+Althorp on political bribery, and he was not alone in thinking that Lord
+John ought not to throw away such an advantage by a prolonged absence on
+the Continent. Lord William accordingly wrote to his brother to urge a
+speedy return, and the letter is worth quoting, since incidentally it
+throws light on another aspect of Lord John's character: 'If you feel
+any ambition--which you have not; if you give up the charms of
+Genoa--which you cannot; if you could renounce the dinners and
+tea-tables and gossips of Rome--which you cannot; if you would cease to
+care about attending balls and assemblies, and dangling after
+ladies--which you cannot, there is a noble field of ambition and utility
+opened to a statesman. It is Ireland, suffering, ill-used Ireland! The
+gratitude of millions, the applause of the world, would attend the man
+who would rescue the poor country. The place is open, and must soon be
+filled up. Ireland cannot remain as she is. The Ministers feel it, and
+would gladly listen to any man who would point out the way to relieve
+her. Undertake the task; it is one of great difficulty, but let that be
+your encouragement. See the Pope's minister; have his opinion on the
+Catholic question; go to Ireland; find out the causes of her suffering;
+make yourself master of the subject. Set to work, as you did about
+Reform, by curing small evils at first.... I am pointing to the way for
+you to make your name immortal, by doing good to millions and to your
+country. But you will yawn over this, and go to some good dinner to be
+agreeable, the height of ambition with the present generation.'
+
+Meanwhile, through the influence of the Duke of Devonshire, Lord John
+was elected in November for the Irish borough of Bandon Bridge, and in
+February, fresh from prologue-writing for the private theatricals which
+Lord Normanby was giving that winter in Florence, he took his seat in
+the House of Commons. Lord Liverpool was struck down with paralysis on
+February 18, and it quickly became apparent that his case was hopeless.
+After a few weeks of suspense, which were filled with Cabinet intrigues,
+Mr. Canning received the King's commands to reconstruct the Ministry;
+but this was more easily said than done. 'Lord Liverpool's disappearance
+from the political scene,' says Lord Russell, 'gave rise to a great
+_débâcle_. The fragments of the old system rushed against each other,
+and for a time all was confusion.' Six of Canning's colleagues flatly
+refused to serve under him in the new Cabinet--Peel, Wellington, Eldon,
+Westmoreland, Bathurst, and Bexley--though the latter afterwards took
+advantage of his second thoughts and returned to the fold. Although an
+opponent of Parliamentary reform and of the removal of Nonconformist
+disabilities, Canning gave his support to Catholic emancipation, to the
+demand for free trade, and the abolition of slavery. Canning's accession
+to power threw the Tory ranks into confusion. 'The Tory party,' states
+Lord Russell, 'which had survived the follies and disasters of the
+American war, which had borne the defeats and achieved the final glories
+of the French war, was broken by its separation from Mr. Canning into
+fragments, which could not easily be reunited.'
+
+    [Sidenote: CANNING IN POWER]
+
+Sydney Smith--who, by the way, had no love for Canning, and failed to a
+quite noteworthy extent to understand him--like the rest, took a gloomy
+view of the situation, which he summed up in his own inimitable fashion.
+'Politics, domestic and foreign, are very discouraging; Jesuits abroad,
+Turks in Greece, "No Poperists" in England! A panting to burn B; B
+fuming to roast C; C miserable that he can't reduce D to ashes; and D
+consigning to eternal perdition the first three letters of the
+alphabet.' Canning's tenure of power was brief and uneasy. His opponents
+were many, his difficulties were great, and, to add to all, his health
+was failing. 'My position,' was his own confession, 'is not that of
+gratified ambition.' His Administration only lasted five months, for at
+the end of that period death cut short the brilliant though erratic and
+disappointed career of a statesman of courage and capacity, who entered
+public life as a follower of Pitt, and refused in after years to pin his
+faith blindly to either political party, and so incurred the suspicions
+alike of uncompromising Whigs and unbending Tories.
+
+During the Canning Administration, Lord John's influence in the House
+made itself felt, and always along progressive lines. When the annual
+Indemnity Bill for Dissenters came up for discussion, he, in answer to a
+taunt that the Whigs were making political capital out of the Catholic
+question, and at the same time neglecting the claims of the
+Nonconformists, declared that he was ready to move the repeal of
+restrictions upon the Dissenters as soon as they themselves were of
+opinion that the moment was ripe for action. This virtual challenge, as
+will be presently seen, was recognised by the Nonconformists as a call
+to arms. Meanwhile cases of flagrant bribery at East Retford and
+Penryn--two notoriously corrupt boroughs--came before the House, and it
+was proposed to disenfranchise the former and to give in its place two
+members to Birmingham. The bill, however, did not get beyond its second
+reading. Lord John, nothing daunted, proposed in the session of 1828
+that Penryn should suffer disenfranchisement, and that Manchester should
+take its place. This was ultimately carried in the House of Commons;
+but the Peers fought shy of Manchester, and preferred to 'amend' the
+bill by widening the right of voting at Penryn to the adjacent Hundred.
+This refusal to take occasion by the hand and to gratify the political
+aspirations of the most important unrepresented town in the kingdom, did
+much to hasten the introduction of a wider scheme of reform.
+
+Power slipped for the moment on the death of Canning into the weak hands
+of Lord Goderich, who tried ineffectually to keep together a Coalition
+Ministry. Lord John's best friends appear to have been apprehensive at
+this juncture lest the young statesman, in the general confusion of
+parties, should lapse into somewhat of a political Laodicean. 'I feel a
+little anxious,' wrote Moore, 'to know exactly the colour of your
+politics just now, as from the rumours I hear of some of your brother
+"watchmen," Althorp, Milton, and the like, I begin sometimes to
+apprehend that you too may be among the fallers off. Lord Lansdowne
+tells me, however, you continue quite staunch, and for his sake I hope
+so.' But Lord John was not a 'faller off.' His eyes were fully open to
+the anomalous position in which he in common with other members of the
+party of reform had been placed under Canning and Goderich. Relief,
+however, came swiftly. Lord Goderich, after four months of feeble
+semblance of authority, resigned, finding it impossible to adjust
+differences. As a subaltern, declared one who had narrowly watched his
+career, Lord Goderich was respectable, but as a chief he proved himself
+to be despicable. The Duke of Wellington became Prime Minister, with a
+Tory Cabinet at his back, and with Peel as leader in the House of
+Commons. Thus the 'great _débâcle_,' which commenced with Canning's
+accession to power--in spite of the presence in the Cabinet of
+Palmerston and Huskisson--drew to an end, and a line of cleavage was
+once more apparent between the Whigs and the Tories. With Wellington,
+Lord John had of course neither part nor lot, and when the Duke accepted
+office he promptly ranged himself in the opposite camp.
+
+    [Sidenote: RELIGIOUS EQUALITY]
+
+Ireland was on the verge of rebellion when Wellington and Peel took
+office, and in the person of O'Connell it possessed a leader of splendid
+eloquence and courage, who pressed the claims of the Roman Catholics for
+immediate relief from religious disabilities. Whilst the Government was
+deliberating upon the policy which they ought to pursue in presence of
+the stormy and menacing agitation which had arisen in Ireland, the
+Protestant Dissenters saw their opportunity, and rallied their forces
+into a powerful organisation for the total repeal of the Test and
+Corporation Acts. Their cause had been quietly making way, through the
+Press and the platform, during the dark years for political and
+religious liberty which divide 1820 from 1828, and the Protestant
+Society had kept the question steadily before the public mind. Meanwhile
+that organisation had itself become a distinct force in the State. 'The
+leaders of the Whig party now formally identified themselves with it. In
+one year the Duke of Sussex took the chair; in another Lord Holland
+occupied the same position; Sir James Mackintosh delivered from its
+platform a defence of religious liberty, such as had scarcely been given
+to the English people since the time of Locke; and Lord John Russell,
+boldly identifying himself and his party with the political interests of
+Dissenters, came forward as chairman in another year, to advocate the
+full civil and religious rights of the three millions who were now
+openly connected with one or other of the Free Churches. The period of
+the Revolution, when Somers, Halifax, Burnet, and their associates laid
+the foundations of constitutional government, seemed to have
+returned.'[4] Immediately Parliament assembled, Lord John
+Russell--backed by many petitions from the Nonconformists--gave notice
+that on February 26 it was his intention to move the repeal of the Test
+and Corporation Acts.
+
+The Test Act compelled all persons holding any office of profit and
+trust under the Crown to take the oath of allegiance, to partake of the
+Sacrament according to the rites of the Church of England, and to
+subscribe the declaration against Transubstantiation. It was an evil
+legacy from the reign of Charles II., and became law in 1673. The
+Corporation Act was also placed on the statute-book in the same reign,
+and in point of time twelve years earlier--namely, in 1661. It was a
+well-directed blow against the political ascendency of Nonconformists in
+the cities and towns. It required all public officials to take the
+Sacrament according to the rites of the Church of England, within twelve
+months of their appointment, and, whilst it excluded conscientious men,
+it proved no barrier to unprincipled hypocrites. The repeal of the Test
+and Corporation Acts had been mooted from time to time, but the forces
+of prejudice and apathy had hitherto proved invincible. Fox espoused the
+cause of the Dissenters in 1790, and moved for a committee of the whole
+House to deal with the question. He urged that men were to be judged not
+by their opinions, but by their actions, and he asserted that no one
+could charge the Dissenters with ideas or conduct dangerous to the
+State. Parliament, he further contended, had practically admitted the
+injustice of such disqualifications by passing annual Acts of
+Indemnity. He laid stress on the loyalty which the Dissenters had shown
+during the Jacobite risings of 1715 and 1745, when the High Church
+party, which now resisted their just demands, had been 'hostile to the
+reigning family, and active in exciting tumults, insurrections, and
+rebellions.' The authority of Pitt and the eloquence of Burke were put
+forth in opposition to the repeal of the Test Acts, and the panic
+awakened by the French Revolution threw Parliament into a reactionary
+mood, which rendered reform in any direction impossible. The result was
+that the question, so far as the House of Commons was concerned, was
+shirked from 1790 until 1828, when Lord John Russell took up the
+advocacy of a cause in which, nearly forty years earlier, the genius of
+Charles James Fox had been unavailingly enlisted.
+
+    [Sidenote: THE RIGHTS OF CONSCIENCE]
+
+In moving the repeal of the Test and Corporation Acts, Lord John
+recapitulated their history and advanced cogent arguments on behalf of
+the rights of conscience. It could not, he contended, be urged that
+these laws were necessary for the security of the Church, for they were
+not in force either in Scotland or in Ireland. The number and variety of
+offices embraced by the Test Act reduced the measure, so far as its
+practical working was concerned, to a palpable absurdity, as
+non-commissioned officers, as well as commissioned excisemen,
+tide-waiters, and even pedlars, were embraced in its provisions. In
+theory, at least, the penalties incurred by these different classes of
+men were neither few nor slight--forfeiture of the office,
+disqualification for any other under Government, incapacity to maintain
+a suit at law, to act as guardian or executor, or to inherit a legacy,
+and even liability to a pecuniary penalty of 500_l._! Of course, such
+ridiculous penalties were in most cases suspended, but the law which
+imposed them still disgraced the statute-book, and was acknowledged by
+all unprejudiced persons to be indefensible. Besides, the most Holy
+Sacrament of the Christian Church was habitually reduced to a mere civil
+form imposed by Act of Parliament upon persons who either derided its
+solemn meaning or might be spiritually unfit to receive it. Was it
+decent, asked Cowper in his famous 'Expostulation,' thus--
+
+    To make the symbols of atoning grace
+    An office-key, a pick-lock to a place?
+
+To such a question, put in such a form, only one answer was possible.
+Under circumstances men took the Communion, declared Lord John, for the
+purpose of qualifying for office, and with no other intent, and the
+least worthy were the most unscrupulous. 'Such are the consequences of
+mixing politics with religion. You embitter and aggravate political
+dissensions by the venom of theological disputes, and you profane
+religion with the vices of political ambition, making it both hateful to
+man and offensive to God.'
+
+    [Sidenote: THE RARITY OF CHRISTIAN CHARITY]
+
+Peel opposed the motion, and professed to regard the grievances of the
+Dissenters as more sentimental than real. Huskisson and Palmerston
+followed on the same side, whilst Althorp and Brougham lent their aid to
+the demand for religious liberty. The result of the division showed a
+majority of forty-four in favour of the motion, and the bill was
+accordingly brought in and read a second time without discussion. During
+the progress of the measure through the House of Lords, the two
+Archbishops--less fearful for the safety of the Established Church than
+some of their followers--met Lord John's motion for the repeal of the
+Acts in a liberal and enlightened manner. 'Religious tests,' said
+Archbishop Harcourt of York, 'imposed for political purposes, must in
+themselves be always liable more or less to endanger religious
+sincerity.' Such an admission, of course, materially strengthened Lord
+John Russell's hands, and prepared the way for a speedy revision of the
+law. Many who had hitherto supported the Test Act began to see that such
+measures were, after all, a failure and a sham. If their terms were so
+lax that any man could subscribe to them with undisturbed conscience,
+then they ceased to be any test at all. On the contrary, if they were
+hard and rigid, then they forced men to the most odious form of
+dissimulation. A declaration, if required by the Crown, was therefore
+substituted for the sacramental test, by which a person entering office
+pledged himself not to use its influence as a means for subverting the
+Established Church. On the motion of the Bishop of Llandaff, the words
+'on the true faith of a Christian' were inserted in the declaration--a
+clause which, by the way, had the effect, as Lord Holland perceived at
+the time, of excluding Jews from Parliament until the year 1858.
+
+Lord Winchilsea endeavoured by an amendment to shut out Unitarians from
+the relief thus afforded to conscience, but, happily, such an intolerant
+proceeding, even in an unreformed Parliament, met with no success. Lord
+Eldon fiercely attacked the measure--'like a lion,' as he said, 'but
+with his talons cut off'--but met with little support. It was felt that
+the great weight of authority as well as argument was in favour of the
+liberal policy which Lord John Russell advocated, and hence, after a
+protracted debate, the cause of religious freedom triumphed, and on May
+9, 1828, the Test and Corporation Acts were finally repealed. A great
+and forward impulse was thus given to the cause of religious equality,
+and under the same energetic leadership the party of progress set
+themselves with fresh hope to invade other citadels of privilege.
+
+The victory came as a surprise not merely to Lord John but also to the
+Nonconformists. The fact that a Tory Government was in power was
+responsible for the widespread anticipation of a bitter and protracted
+struggle. Amongst the congratulations which Lord John received, none
+perhaps was more significant than Lord Grey's generous admission that
+'he had done more than any man now living' on behalf of liberty. 'I am a
+little anxious,' wrote Moore, 'to know that your glory has done you no
+harm in the way of health, as I see you are a pretty constant attendant
+on the House. There is nothing, I fear, worse for a man's constitution
+than to trouble himself too much about the constitution of Church and
+State. So pray let me have one line to say how you are.' 'My
+constitution,' wrote back Lord John, 'is not quite so much improved as
+the Constitution of the country by late events, but the joy of it will
+soon revive me. It is really a gratifying thing to force the enemy to
+give up his first line--that none but Churchmen are worthy to serve the
+State; I trust we shall soon make him give up the second, that none but
+Protestants are.'
+
+    [Sidenote: CATHOLIC EMANCIPATION]
+
+Lord Eldon had predicted that Catholic Emancipation would follow on the
+heels of the repeal of the Test and Corporation Acts, and the event
+proved that he was right. The election of Daniel O'Connell for Clare had
+suddenly raised the question in an acute form. Although the followers of
+Canning had already left the Ministry, the Duke of Wellington and Peel
+found themselves powerless to quell the agitation which O'Connell and
+the Catholic Association had raised in Ireland by any means short of
+civil war. 'What our Ministry will do,' wrote Lord John, 'Heaven only
+knows, but I cannot blame O'Connell for being a little impatient, after
+twenty-seven years of just expectation disappointed.' The allusion was,
+of course, to Pitt's scheme at the beginning of the century to enable
+Catholics to sit in Parliament and so to reconcile the Irish people to
+the Union--a generous project which was brought to nought by the
+obstinate attitude of George III. Lord John was meditating introducing a
+measure for Catholic Emancipation, when Peel took the wind from his
+sails. George IV., however, supported by a majority of the Lords
+Spiritual and Temporal, was as stoutly opposed to concession as George
+III. Lord John Russell's words on this point are significant 'George
+III.'s religious scruples, and even his personal prejudices, were
+respected by the nation, and formed real barriers so long as he did not
+himself waive them; the religious scruples of George IV. did not meet
+with ready belief, nor did his personal dislikes inspire national
+respect nor obtain national acquiescence.' The struggle between the
+Court and the Cabinet was, however, of brief duration, and Wellington
+bore down the opposition of the Lords, and on April 13, 1829, the Roman
+Catholic Emancipation Bill became law.
+
+In June the question of Parliamentary reform was brought before
+Parliament by Lord Blandford, but his resolutions--which were the
+outcome of Tory panic concerning the probable result of Roman Catholic
+Emancipation--met with little favour, either then or when they were
+renewed at the commencement of the session of 1830. Lord Blandford had
+in truth made himself conspicuous by his opposition to the Catholic
+claims, and the nation distrusted the sudden zeal of the heir to
+Blenheim in such a cause. On February 23, 1830, Lord John Russell sought
+leave to bring in a bill for conferring the franchise upon Manchester,
+Birmingham, and Leeds, on the plea that they were the three largest
+unrepresented towns in the country. The moderate proposal was, however,
+rejected in a House of three hundred and twenty-eight members by a
+majority of forty-eight. Three months later Mr. O'Connell brought
+forward a motion for Triennial Parliaments, Universal Suffrage, and the
+adoption of the Ballot; but this was rejected. But in a House of three
+hundred and thirty-two members, only thirteen were in favour of it,
+whilst an amendment by Lord John stating that it was 'expedient to
+extend the basis of the representation of the people' was also rejected
+by a majority of ninety-six. On June 26 George IV. died, and a few weeks
+later Parliament was dissolved. At the General Election, Lord John stood
+for Bedford, and, much to his chagrin, was defeated by a single vote.
+After the declaration of the poll in August, he crossed over to Paris,
+where he prolonged his stay till November. The unconstitutional
+ordinances of July 25, 1830, had brought about a revolution, and Lord
+John Russell, who was intimate with the chief statesman concerned, was
+wishful to study the crisis on the spot, and in the recital of its
+dramatic incidents to find relief from his own political disappointment.
+
+During this visit he used his influence with General Lafayette for the
+life of Prince de Polignac, who was connected by marriage with a noble
+English family, and was about to be put on his trial. Lord John was
+intimately acquainted, not only with Lafayette, but with other leaders
+in the French political world, and his intercession, on which his
+friends in England placed much reliance, seems to have carried effectual
+weight, for the Prince's life was spared.
+
+    [Sidenote: WELLINGTON'S PROTEST AGAINST REFORM]
+
+With distress at home and revolution abroad, signs of the coming change
+made themselves felt at the General Election. Outside the pocket
+boroughs, the Ministerialists went almost everywhere to the wall, and
+'not a single member of the Duke of Wellington's Cabinet obtained a seat
+in the new Parliament by anything approaching to free and open
+election.'[5] The first Parliament of William IV. met on October 26, and
+two or three days later, in the debate on the King's Speech, Wellington
+made his now historic statement in answer to Earl Grey, who resented the
+lack of reference to Reform: 'I am not prepared to bring forward any
+measure of the description alluded to by the noble lord. I am not only
+not prepared to bring forward any measure of this nature, but I will at
+once declare that, as far as I am concerned, as long as I hold any
+station in the government of the country, I shall always feel it my duty
+to resist such measures when proposed by others.'
+
+This statement produced a feeling of dismay even in the calm atmosphere
+of the House of Lords, and the Duke, noticing the scarcely suppressed
+excitement, turned to one of his colleagues and whispered: 'What can I
+have said which seems to have made so great a disturbance?' Quick came
+the dry retort of the candid friend: 'You have announced the fall of
+your Government, that is all.' The consternation was almost comic.
+'Never was there an act of more egregious folly, or one so universally
+condemned,' says Charles Greville. 'I came to town last night (five days
+after the Duke's speech), and found the town ringing with his
+imprudence and everybody expecting that a few days would produce his
+resignation.' Within a fortnight the general expectation was fulfilled,
+for on November 16 the Duke, making a pretext of an unexpected defeat
+over Sir H. Parnell's motion regarding the Civil List, threw up the
+sponge, and Lord Grey was sent for by the King and entrusted with the
+new Administration. The irony of the situation became complete when Lord
+Grey made it a stipulation to his acceptance of office that
+Parliamentary Reform should be a Cabinet measure.
+
+Lord John, meanwhile, was a candidate for Tavistock, and when the
+election was still in progress the new Premier offered him the
+comparatively unimportant post of Paymaster-General, and, though he
+might reasonably have expected higher rank in the Government, he
+accepted the appointment. He was accustomed to assert that the actual
+duties of the Paymaster were performed by cashiers; and he has left it
+on record that the only official act of any importance that he performed
+was the pleasant task of allotting garden-plots at Chelsea to seventy
+old soldiers, a boon which the pensioners highly appreciated.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[4] _History of the Free Churches of England_, pp. 457-458, by H. S.
+Skeats and C. S. Miall.
+
+[5] _The Three Reforms of Parliament_, by William Heaton, chap. ii. p.
+38.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+A FIGHT FOR LIBERTY
+
+1830-1832
+
+     Lord Grey and the cause of Reform--Lord Durham's share in the
+     Reform Bill--The voice of the people--Lord John introduces the Bill
+     and explains its provisions--The surprise of the Tories--'Reform,
+     Aye or No'--Lord John in the Cabinet--The Bill thrown out--The
+     indignation of the country--Proposed creation of Peers--Wellington
+     and Sidmouth in despair--The Bill carried--Lord John's tribute to
+     Althorp.
+
+
+EARL GREY was a man of sixty-six when he was called to power, and during
+the whole of his public career he had been identified with the cause of
+Reform. He, more than any other man, was the founder, in 1792--the year
+in which Lord John Russell was born--of 'The Friends of the People,' a
+political association which united the forces of the patriotic societies
+which just then were struggling into existence in various parts of the
+land. He was the foe of Pitt and the friend of Fox, and his official
+career began during the short-lived but glorious Administration of All
+the Talents. During the dreary quarter of a century which succeeded,
+when the destinies of England were committed to men of despotic calibre
+and narrow capacity like Sidmouth, Liverpool, Eldon, and Castlereagh, he
+remained, through good and evil report, in deed as well as in name, a
+Friend of the People. As far back as 1793, he declared: 'I am more
+convinced than ever that a reform in Parliament might now be peaceably
+effected. I am afraid that we are not wise enough to profit by
+experience, and what has occasioned the ruin of other Governments will
+overthrow this--a perseverance in abuse until the people, maddened by
+excessive injury and roused to a feeling of their own strength, will not
+stop within the limits of moderate reformation.' The conduct of
+Ministers during the dark period which followed the fall of the Ministry
+of All the Talents in 1807, was, in Grey's deliberate opinion,
+calculated to excite insurrection, since it was a policy of relentless
+coercion and repression.
+
+He made no secret of his conviction that the Government, by issuing
+proclamations in which whole classes of the community were denounced as
+seditious, as well as by fulminating against insurrections that only
+existed in their own guilty imaginations, filled the minds of the people
+with false alarms, and taught every man to distrust if not to hate his
+neighbour. There was no more chance of Reform under the existing
+_régime_ than of 'a thaw in Zembla,' to borrow a famous simile. Cobbett
+was right in his assertion that the measures and manners of George IV.'s
+reign did more to shake the long-settled ideas of the people in favour
+of monarchical government than anything which had happened since the
+days of Cromwell. The day of the King's funeral--it was early in July
+and beautifully fine--was marked, of course, by official signs of
+mourning, but the rank and file of the people rejoiced, and, according
+to a contemporary record, the merry-making and junketing in the villages
+round London recalled the scenes of an ordinary Whit Monday.
+
+On the whole, the nation accepted the accession of the Sailor King with
+equanimity, though scarcely with enthusiasm, and for the moment it was
+not thought that the new reign would bring an immediate change of
+Ministry. The dull, uncompromising nonsense, however, which Wellington
+put into the King's lips in the Speech from the Throne at the beginning
+of November, threatening with punishment the seditious and disaffected,
+followed as it quickly was by the Duke's own statement in answer to Lord
+Grey, that no measure of Parliamentary reform should be proposed by the
+Government as long as he was responsible for its policy, awoke the storm
+which drove the Tories from power and compelled the King to send for
+Grey. The distress in the country was universal--riots prevailed,
+rick-burning was common. Lord Grey's prediction of 1793 seemed about to
+be fulfilled, for the people, 'maddened by excessive injury and roused
+to a feeling of their own strength,' seemed about to break the traces
+and to take the bit between their teeth. The deep and widespread
+confidence alike in the character and capacity of Lord Grey did more
+than anything else at that moment to calm the public mind and to turn
+wild clamour into quiet and resistless enthusiasm.
+
+    [Sidenote: LORD GREY AS LEADER]
+
+Yet in certain respects Lord Grey was out of touch with the new spirit
+of the nation. If his own political ardour had not cooled, the lapse of
+years had not widened to any perceptible degree his vision of the issues
+at stake. He was a man of stately manners and fastidious tastes, and,
+though admirably qualified to hold the position of leader of the
+aristocratic Whigs, he had little in common with the toiling masses of
+the people. He was a conscientious and even chivalrous statesman, but he
+held himself too much aloof from the rank and file of his party, and
+thin-skinned Radicals were inclined to think him somewhat cold and even
+condescending. Lord Grey lacked the warm heart of Fox, and his speeches,
+in consequence, able and philosophic though they were, were destitute
+of that unpremeditated and magical eloquence which led Grattan to
+describe Fox's oratory as 'rolling in, resistless as the waves of the
+Atlantic.' On one memorable occasion--the second reading of the Reform
+Bill in the House of Lords--Lord Grey entirely escaped from such
+oratorical restraints, and even the Peers were moved to unwonted
+enthusiasm by the strong emotion which pervaded that singularly
+outspoken appeal.
+
+His son-in-law, Lord Durham, on the other hand, had the making of a
+great popular leader, in spite of his imperious manners and somewhat
+dictatorial bearing. The head of one of the oldest families in the North
+of England, Lord Durham entered the House of Commons in the year 1813,
+at the age of twenty-one, as Mr. John George Lambton, and quickly
+distinguished himself by his advanced views on questions of foreign
+policy as well as Parliamentary reform. He married the daughter of Lord
+Grey in 1816, and gave his support in Parliament to Canning. On the
+formation of his father-in-law's Cabinet in 1830, he was appointed Lord
+Privy Seal. His popular sobriquet, 'Radical Jack,' itself attests the
+admiration of the populace, and when Lambton was raised to the peerage
+in 1828 he carried to the House of Lords the enthusiastic homage as well
+as the great expectations of the crowd. Lord Durham was the idol of the
+Radicals, and his presence in the Grey Administration was justly
+regarded as a pledge of energetic action.
+
+He would unquestionably have had the honour of introducing the Reform
+Bill in the House of Commons if he had still been a member of that
+assembly, for he had made the question peculiarly his own, and behind
+him lay the enthusiasm of the entire party of Reform. Althorp, though
+leader of the House, and in spite of the confidence which his character
+inspired, lacked the power of initiative and the Parliamentary courage
+necessary to steer the Ship of State through such rough waters. When
+Lord Grey proposed to entrust the measure to Lord John, Brougham pushed
+the claims of Althorp, and raised objections to Lord John on the ground
+that the young Paymaster-General was not in the Cabinet; but Durham
+stoutly opposed him, and urged that Lord John had the first claim, since
+he had last been in possession of the question.
+
+    [Sidenote: THE COMMITTEE OF FOUR]
+
+An unpublished paper of Lord Durham's, in the possession of the present
+Earl, throws passing light on the action, at this juncture, of the
+Ministry, and therefore it may be well to quote it. 'Shortly after the
+formation of the Government, Lord Grey asked me in the House of Lords if
+I would assist him in preparing the Reform Bill. I answered that I would
+do so with the greatest pleasure. He then said, "You can have no
+objection to consult Lord John Russell?" I replied, "Certainly not, but
+the reverse."' In consequence of this conversation, Lord Durham goes on
+to state, he placed himself in communication with Lord John, and they
+together agreed to summon to their councils Sir James Graham and Lord
+Duncannon. Thus the famous Committee of Four came into existence. Durham
+acted as chairman, and in that capacity signed the daily minutes of the
+proceedings. The meetings were held at his house in Cleveland Row, and
+he there received, on behalf of Lord Grey, the various deputations from
+different parts of the kingdom which were flocking up to impress their
+views of the situation on the new Premier. Since the measure had of
+necessity to originate in the House of Commons, and Lord John, it was
+already settled, was to be its first spokesman, Lord Durham suggested
+that Russell should draw up a plan. This was done, and it was carefully
+discussed and amended in various directions, and eventually the measure
+as finally agreed upon was submitted to Lord Grey, with a report which
+Lord Durham, as chairman, drew up, and which was signed not only by him
+but by his three colleagues. Lord Durham states, in speaking of the part
+he took as chairman of the Committee on Reform, that Lord Grey intrusted
+him with the preparation in the first instance of the measure, and that
+he called to his aid the three other statesmen. He adds: 'This was no
+Cabinet secret, for it was necessarily known to hundreds, Lord Grey
+having referred to me all the memorials from different towns and
+bodies.' Lord Durham was in advance of his colleagues on this as upon
+most questions, for he took his stand on household suffrage, vote by
+ballot and triennial Parliaments, and if he could have carried his
+original draft of the Reform Bill that measure would have been far more
+revolutionary than that which became law. His proposals in the House of
+Commons in 1821 went, in fact, much further than the measure which
+became law under Lord Grey.
+
+Lord Grey announced in the Lords on February 3 that a Reform measure had
+been framed and would be introduced in the House of Commons on March 1
+by Lord John Russell, who, 'having advocated the cause of Parliamentary
+Reform, with ability and perseverance, in days when it was not popular,
+ought, in the opinion of the Administration, to be selected, now that
+the cause was prosperous, to bring forward a measure of full and
+efficient Reform, instead of the partial measures he had hitherto
+proposed.'
+
+    [Sidenote: LEADING THE ATTACK]
+
+Petitions in favour of Reform from all parts of the kingdom poured into
+both Houses. The excitement in the country rose steadily week by week,
+mingled with expressions of satisfaction that the Bill was to be
+committed to the charge of such able hands. In Parliament speculations
+were rife as to the scope of the measure, whilst rumours of dissension
+in the Cabinet flew around the clubs. Even as late as the middle of
+February, the Duke of Wellington went about predicting that the Reform
+question could not be carried, and that the Grey Administration could
+not stand. Ministers contrived to keep their secret uncommonly well, and
+when at length the eventful day, March 1, arrived, the House of Commons
+was packed by a crowd such as had scarcely been seen there in its
+history. Troops of eager politicians came up from the country and waited
+at all the inlets of the House, whilst the leading supporters of the
+Whigs in London society gathered at dinner-parties, and anxiously
+awaited intelligence from Westminster.
+
+Lord John's speech began at six o'clock, and lasted for two hours and a
+quarter. Beginning in a low voice, he proceeded gradually to unfold his
+measure, greeted in turns by cheers of approval and shouts of derision.
+Greville says it was ludicrous to see the faces of the members for those
+places doomed to disfranchisement, as they were severally announced.
+Wetherell, a typical Tory of the no-surrender school, began to take
+notes as the plan was unfolded, but after various contortions and
+grimaces he threw down his paper, with a look of mingled despair,
+ridicule, and horror. Lord Durham, seated under the gallery, doubted the
+reality of the scene passing before his eyes. 'They are mad, they are
+mad!' was one of the running comments to Lord John's statement. The
+Opposition, on the whole, seemed inclined to laugh out of court such
+extravagant proposals, but Peel, on the contrary, looked both grave and
+angry, for he saw further than most, and knew very well that boldness
+was the best chance. 'Burdett and I walked home together,' states
+Hobhouse, 'and agreed that there was very little chance of the measure
+being carried. We thought our friends in Westminster would oppose the
+ten-pound franchise.'
+
+'I rise, sir,' Lord John commenced, 'with feelings of the deepest
+anxiety to bring forward a question which, unparalleled as it is in
+importance, is as unparalleled in points of difficulty. Nor is my
+anxiety, in approaching this question, lessened by reflecting that on
+former occasions I have brought this subject before the consideration of
+the House. For if, on other occasions, I have invited the attention of
+the House of Commons to this most important subject, it has been upon my
+own responsibility--unaided by anyone--and involving no one in the
+consequences of defeat.... But the measure which I have now to bring
+forward, is a measure, not of mine but of the Government.... It is,
+therefore, with the greatest anxiety that I venture to explain their
+intentions to this House on a subject, the interest of which is shown by
+the crowded audience who have assembled here, but still more by the deep
+interest which is felt by millions out of this House, who look with
+anxiety, with hope, and with expectation, to the result of this day's
+debate.'
+
+    [Sidenote: OLD SARUM VERSUS MANCHESTER]
+
+In the course of his argument, setting forth the need of Reform, he
+alluded to the feelings of a foreigner, having heard of British wealth,
+civilisation, and renown, coming to England to examine our institutions.
+'Would not such a foreigner be much astonished if he were taken to a
+green mound, and informed that it sent two members to the British
+Parliament; if he were shown a stone wall, and told that it also sent
+two members to the British Parliament; or, if he walked into a park,
+without the vestige of a dwelling, and was told that it, too, sent two
+members to the British Parliament? But if he were surprised at this, how
+much more would he be astonished if he were carried into the North of
+England, where he would see large flourishing towns, full of trade,
+activity, and intelligence, vast magazines of wealth and manufactures,
+and were told that these places sent no representatives to Parliament.
+But his wonder would not end here; he would be astonished if he were
+carried to such a place as Liverpool, and were there told that he might
+see a specimen of a popular election, what would be the result? He would
+see bribery employed in the most unblushing manner, he would see every
+voter receiving a number of guineas in a box as the price of his
+corruption; and after such a spectacle would he not be indeed surprised
+that representatives so chosen could possibly perform the functions of
+legislators, or enjoy respect in any degree?' In speaking of the reasons
+for giving representatives to Manchester, Leeds, Birmingham, and other
+large towns, Lord John argued: 'Because Old Sarum sent members to
+Parliament in the reign of Edward III., when it had a population to be
+benefited by it, the Government on the same principle deprived that
+forsaken place of the franchise in order to bestow the privilege where
+the population was now found.'
+
+Lord John explained that by the provisions of the bill sixty boroughs
+with less than 2,000 inhabitants were to lose the franchise; forty-seven
+boroughs, returning ninety-four members, were to lose one member each.
+Of the seats thus placed at the disposal of the Government eight were to
+be given to London, thirty-four to large towns, fifty-five to English
+counties, five to Scotland, three to Ireland, and one to Wales. The
+franchise was to be extended to inhabitants of houses rated at ten
+pounds a year, and to leaseholders and copyholders of counties. It was
+reckoned that about half a million persons would be enfranchised by the
+bill; but the number of members in the House would be reduced by
+sixty-two. Lord John laid significant stress on the fact that they had
+come to the deliberate opinion that 'no half-measures would be
+sufficient, that no trifling, no paltry reform could give stability to
+the Crown, strength to the Parliament, or satisfaction to the country.'
+Long afterwards Lord John Russell declared that the measure when thus
+first placed before the House of Commons awoke feelings of astonishment
+mingled with joy or with consternation according to the temper of the
+hearers. 'Some, perhaps many, thought that the measure was a prelude to
+civil war, which, in point of fact, it averted. But incredulity was the
+prevailing feeling, both among the moderate Whigs and the great mass of
+the Tories. The Radicals alone were delighted and triumphant. Joseph
+Hume, whom I met in the streets a day or two afterwards, assured me of
+his hearty support of the Government.' There were many Radicals,
+however, who thought that the measure scarcely went far enough, and one
+of them happily summed up the situation by saying that, although the
+Reform Bill did not give the people all they wanted, it broke up the old
+system and took the weapons from the hands of the enemies of progress.
+
+    [Sidenote: CAPITULATION OR BOMBARDMENT]
+
+Night after night the debate proceeded, and it became plain that the
+Tories had been completely taken by surprise. Meanwhile outside the
+House of Commons the people followed the debate with feverish interest.
+'Nothing talked of, thought of, dreamt of but Reform,' wrote Greville.
+'Every creature one meets asks, "What is said now? How will it go? What
+is the last news? What do you think?" And so it is from morning till
+night, in the streets, in the clubs, and in private houses.' After a
+week of controversy, leave was given to bring in the bill. On March 21,
+Lord John moved the second reading, but was met by an amendment, that
+the Reform Bill be read a second time that day six months. The House
+divided at three o'clock on the morning of the 23rd, and the second
+reading was carried by a majority of one--333-332--in the fullest House
+on record. 'It is better to capitulate than to be taken by storm,' was
+the comment of one of the cynics of the hour. Illuminations took place
+all over the country. The people were good-humoured but determined, and
+the Opposition began to recover from its fright and to declare that the
+Government could not proceed with the measure and were certain to
+resign. Peel's action--and sometimes his lack of it--was severely
+criticised by many of his own followers, and not a few of the Tories,
+unable to forgive the surrender to the claims of the Catholics, met the
+new crisis in the time-honoured spirit of Gallio. They seemed to have
+thought not only that the country was fast going to the dogs, but that
+under all the circumstances, it did not much matter.
+
+Parliament met after the usual Easter recess, and on April 18 General
+Gascoigne moved as an instruction to the committee that the number of
+members of Parliament ought not to be diminished, and after a debate
+which lasted till four o'clock in the morning the resolution was carried
+in a House of 490 members by a majority of eight. The Government thus
+suddenly placed in a minority saw their opportunity and took it. Lord
+Grey and his colleagues had begun to realise that it was impossible for
+them to carry the Reform Bill in the existing House of Commons without
+modifications which would have robbed the boon of half its worth. The
+Tories had made a blunder in tactics over Gascoigne's motion, and their
+opponents took occasion by the forelock, with the result that, after an
+extraordinary scene in the Lords, Parliament was suddenly dissolved by
+the King in person. Brougham had given the people their cry, and 'the
+bill, the whole bill, and nothing but the bill,' was the popular
+watchword during the tumult of the General Election. On the dissolution
+of Parliament the Lord Mayor sanctioned the illumination of London, and
+an angry mob, forgetful of the soldier in the statesman, broke the
+windows of Apsley House.
+
+  [Sidenote: THE FLOWING TIDE]
+
+Speaking at a political meeting two days after the dissolution, Lord
+John Russell said that the electors in the approaching struggle were
+called on not merely to select the best men to defend their rights and
+interests, but also to give a plain answer to the question, put to the
+constituencies by the King in dissolving Parliament, Do you approve, aye
+or no, of the principle of Reform in the representation? Right through
+the length and breadth of the kingdom his words were caught up, and from
+hundreds of platforms came the question, 'Reform: Aye or No?' and the
+response in favour of the measure was emphatic and overwhelming. The
+country was split into the opposing camps of the Reformers and
+anti-Reformers, and every other question was thrust aside in the
+struggle. The political unions proved themselves to be a power in the
+land, and the operatives and artisans of the great manufacturing
+centres, though still excluded from citizenship, left no stone unturned
+to ensure the popular triumph. Lord John was pressed to stand both for
+Lancashire and Devonshire; he chose the latter county, with which he
+was closely associated by family traditions as well as by personal
+friendships, and was triumphantly returned, with Lord Ebrington as
+colleague. Even in the agricultural districts the ascendency of the old
+landed families was powerless to arrest the movement, and as the results
+of the elections became known it was seen that Lord Sefton had caught
+the situation in his dry remark: 'The county members are tumbling about
+like ninepins.' Parliament assembled in June, and it became plain at a
+glance that democratic ideas were working like leaven upon public
+opinion in England. In spite of rotten boroughs, close corporations, the
+opposition of the majority of the territorial aristocracy, and the panic
+of thousands of timid people, who imagined that the British Constitution
+was imperilled, the Reformers came back in strength, and at least a
+hundred who had fought the Bill in the late Parliament were shut out
+from a renewal of the struggle, whilst out of eighty-two county members
+that were returned, only six were hostile to Reform.
+
+On June 24, Lord John Russell, now raised to Cabinet rank, introduced
+the Second Reform Bill, which was substantially the same as the first,
+and the measure was carried rapidly through its preliminary stage, and
+on July 8 it passed the second reading by a majority of 136. The
+Government, however, in Committee was met night after night by an
+irritating cross-fire of criticism; repeated motions for adjournment
+were made; there was a systematic division of labour in the task of
+obstruction. In order to promote delay, the leaders of the Opposition
+stood up again and again and repeated the same statements and arguments,
+and often in almost the same words. 'If Mr. Speaker,' wrote Jekyll,
+'outlives the Reform debate, he may defy _la grippe_ and the cholera. I
+can recommend no books, for the booksellers declare nobody reads or buys
+in the present fever. The newspapers are furious, the Sunday papers are
+talking treason by wholesale.... Peel does all he can to make his
+friends behave like gentlemen. But the nightly vulgarities of the House
+of Commons furnish new reasons for Reform, and not a ray of talent
+glimmers among them all. Double-distilled stupidity!'[6] In the midst of
+it all Russell fell ill, worn out with fatigue and excitement, and as
+the summer slipped past the people became alarmed and indignant at the
+dead-lock, and in various parts of the kingdom the attitude of the
+masses grew not merely restless but menacing. At length the tactics of
+the Opposition were exhausted, and it was possible to report progress.
+'On September 7,' is Lord John's statement, 'the debate was closed, and
+after much labour, and considerable sacrifice of health, I was able on
+that night to propose, amid much cheering, that the bill should be
+reported to the House.' The third reading was carried on September 19 by
+a majority of fifty-five. Three days later, at five in the morning on
+September 22, the question was at length put, and in a House of five
+hundred and eighty-one members the majority for Ministers was one
+hundred and nine.
+
+  [Sidenote: LORD GREY ARISES TO THE OCCASION]
+
+The bill was promptly sent up to the Peers, and Lord Grey proposed the
+second reading on October 3 in a speech of sustained eloquence. Lord
+Grey spoke as if he felt the occasion to be the most critical event in a
+political career which had extended to nearly half a century. He struck
+at once the right key-note, the gravity of the situation, the magnitude
+of the issues involved, the welfare of the nation. He made a modest but
+dignified allusion to his own life-long association with the question.
+'In 1786 I voted for Reform. I supported Mr. Pitt in his motion for
+shortening the duration of Parliaments. I gave my best assistance to the
+measure of Reform introduced by Mr. Flood before the French
+Revolution.[7] On one or two occasions I originated motions on the
+subject.' Then he turned abruptly from his own personal association with
+the subject to what he finely termed the 'mighty interests of the
+State,' and the course which Ministers felt they must take if they were
+to meet the demands of justice, and not to imperil the safety of the
+nation. He laid stress on the general discontent which prevailed, on the
+political agitation of the last twelve months, on the distress that
+reigned in the manufacturing districts, on the influence of the numerous
+political associations which had grown powerful because of that
+distress, on the suffering of the agricultural population, on the
+'nightly alarms, burnings, and popular disturbances,' as well as on the
+'general feeling of doubt and apprehension observable in every
+countenance.' He endeavoured to show that the measure was not
+revolutionary in spirit or subversive of the British Constitution, as
+many people proclaimed.
+
+Lord Grey contended that there was nothing in the measure that was not
+founded on the principles of English government, nothing that was not
+perfectly consistent with the ancient practices of the Constitution, and
+nothing that might not be adopted with absolute safety to the rights and
+privileges of all orders of the State. He made a scathing allusion to
+the 'gross and scandalous corruption practised without disguise' at
+elections, and he declared that the sale of seats in the House of
+Commons was a matter of equal notoriety with the return of nominees of
+noble and wealthy persons to that House. He laid stress on the fact that
+a few individuals under the existing system were able to turn into a
+means of personal profit privileges which had been conferred in past
+centuries for the benefit of the nation. 'It is with these views that
+the Government has considered that the boroughs which are called
+nomination boroughs ought to be abolished. In looking at these boroughs,
+we found that some of them were incapable of correction, for it is
+impossible to extend their constituency. Some of them consisted only of
+the sites of ancient boroughs, which, however, might perhaps in former
+times have been very fit places to return members to Parliament; in
+others, the constituency was insignificantly small, and from their local
+situation incapable of receiving any increase; so that, upon the whole,
+this gangrene of our representative system bade defiance to all remedies
+but that of excision.'
+
+After several nights' debate, in which Brougham, according to Lord John,
+delivered one of the greatest speeches ever heard in the House of Lords,
+the bill was at length rejected, after an all-night sitting, at twenty
+minutes past six o'clock on Saturday morning, October 8, by a majority
+of forty-one (199 to 158), in which majority were twenty-one bishops.
+Had these prelates voted the other way, the bill would have passed the
+second reading. As the carriages of the nobility rattled through the
+streets at daybreak, artisans and labourers trudging to their work
+learnt with indignation that the demands of the people had been treated
+with characteristic contempt by the Peers.
+
+  [Sidenote: THE NATION GROWS INDIGNANT]
+
+The next few days were full of wild excitement. The people were
+exasperated, and their attitude grew suddenly menacing. Even those who
+had hitherto remained calm and almost apathetic grew indignant. Wild
+threats prevailed, and it seemed as if there might be at any moment a
+general outbreak of violence. Even as it was, riots of the most
+disquieting kind took place at Bristol, Derby, and other places.
+Nottingham Castle was burnt down by an infuriated mob; newspapers
+appeared in mourning; the bells of some of the churches rang muffled
+peals; the Marquis of Londonderry and other Peers who had made
+themselves peculiarly obnoxious were assaulted in the streets; and the
+Bishops could not stir abroad without being followed by the jeers and
+execrations of the multitude. Quiet middle-class people talked of
+refusing to pay the taxes, and showed unmistakably that they had caught
+the revolutionary spirit of the hour. Birmingham, which was the
+head-quarters of the Political Union, held a vast open-air meeting, at
+which one hundred and fifty thousand people were present, and
+resolutions were passed, beseeching the King to create as many new Peers
+as might be necessary to ensure the triumph of Reform. Lord Althorp and
+Lord John Russell were publicly thanked at this gathering for their
+action, and the reply of the latter is historic: 'Our prospects are
+obscured for a moment, but, I trust, only for a moment; it is impossible
+that the whisper of a faction should prevail against the voice of a
+nation.'
+
+Meanwhile Lord Ebrington, Lord John's colleague in the representation of
+Devonshire, came to the rescue of the Government with a vote of
+confidence, which was carried by a sweeping majority. Two days later, on
+Wednesday, October 12, many of the shops of the metropolis were closed
+in token of political mourning, and on that day sixty thousand men
+marched in procession to St. James's Palace, bearing a petition to the
+King in favour of the retention of the Grey Administration. Hume
+presented it, and when he returned to the waiting crowd in the Park, he
+was able to tell them that their prayer would not pass unheeded. No
+wonder that Croker wrote shortly afterwards: 'The four M's--the Monarch,
+the Ministry, the Members, and the Multitude--all against us. The King
+stands on his Government, the Government on the House of Commons, the
+House of Commons on the people. How can we attack a line thus linked and
+supported?' Indignation meetings were held in all parts of the country,
+and at one of them, held at Taunton, Sydney Smith delivered the famous
+speech in which he compared the attempt of the House of Lords to
+restrain the rising tide of Democracy to the frantic but futile battle
+which Dame Partington waged with her mop, during a storm at Sidmouth,
+when the Atlantic invaded her threshold. 'The Atlantic was roused. Mrs.
+Partington's spirit was up. But I need not tell you that the contest was
+unequal. The Atlantic Ocean beat Mrs. Partington. Gentlemen, be at your
+ease, be quiet and steady; you will beat--Mrs. Partington.' The
+newspapers carried the witty allusion everywhere. It tickled the public
+fancy, and did much to relax the bitter mood of the nation, and
+vapouring heroics were forgotten in laughter, and indignation gave way
+to amused contempt.
+
+Parliament, which had been prorogued towards the end of October,
+reassembled in the first week of December, and on the 12th of that month
+Lord John once more introduced--for the third time in twelve months--the
+Reform Bill. A few alterations had been made in its text, the outcome
+chiefly of the facts which the new census had brought to light. In order
+to meet certain anomalies in the original scheme, Ministers, with the
+help of Thomas Drummond, who shortly afterwards honourably distinguished
+himself in Irish affairs, drew up two lists of boroughs, one for total
+disenfranchisement and the other for semi-disenfranchisement; and the
+principle on which fifty-six towns were included in the first list, and
+thirty in the second, was determined by the number of houses in each
+borough and the value of the assessed taxes. Six days later the second
+reading was passed, after three nights' discussion, by a majority of 324
+to 162. The House rose immediately for the Christmas recess, and on
+January 20 the bill reached the committee stage, and there it remained
+till March 14. The third reading took place on March 23, and the bill
+was passed by a majority of 116. Althorp, as the leader of the Commons,
+and Russell, as the Minister in charge of the measure, carried the
+Reform Bill promptly to the House of Lords, and made formal request for
+the 'concurrence of their lordships to the same.' Other men had laboured
+to bring about this result; but the nation felt that, but for the pluck
+and persistency of Russell, and the judgment and tact of Althorp,
+failure would have attended their efforts.
+
+  [Sidenote: LORD ALTHORP'S TACT]
+
+It is difficult now to understand the secret of the influence which
+Althorp wielded in the Grey Administration, but it was great enough to
+lead the Premier to ask him to accept a peerage, in order--in the crisis
+which was now at hand--to bring the Lords to their senses. Althorp was
+in no sense of the word a great statesman; in fact, his career was the
+triumph of character rather than capacity. All through the struggle,
+when controversy grew furious and passion rose high, Althorp kept a cool
+head, and his adroitness in conciliatory speech was remarkable. He was a
+moderate man, who never failed to do justice to his opponent's case, and
+his influence was not merely in the Commons; it made itself felt to
+good purpose in the Court, as well as in the country. He was a man of
+chivalrous instincts and unchallenged probity. It was one of his
+political opponents, Sir Henry Hardinge, who exclaimed, 'Althorp carried
+the bill. His fine temper did it!'
+
+Lord John Russell, like his colleagues, was fully alive to the gravity
+of the crisis. He made no secret of his conviction that, if another
+deadlock arose, the consequence would be bloodshed, and the outbreak of
+a conflict in which the British Constitution would probably perish.
+Twelve months before, the cry in the country had been, 'What will the
+Lords do?' but now an altogether different question was on men's lips,
+'What must be done with the Lords?' Government knew that the real
+struggle over the bill would be in Committee, and therefore they refused
+to be unduly elated when the second reading was carried on April 14 with
+a majority of nine, in spite of the Duke of Wellington's blustering
+heroics. Three weeks later, Lord Lyndhurst carried, by a majority of
+thirty-five, a motion for the mutilation of the bill, in spite of Lord
+Grey's assurance that it dealt a fatal blow at the measure. The Premier
+immediately moved the adjournment of the debate, and the situation grew
+suddenly dramatic. The Cabinet had made its last concession; Ministers
+determined, in Lord Durham's words, that a 'sufficient creation of Peers
+was absolutely necessary' if their resignation was not to take immediate
+effect, and they laid their views before the King. William IV., like his
+predecessor, lived in a narrow world; he was surrounded by gossips who
+played upon his fears of revolution, and took care to appeal to his
+prejudices. His zeal for Reform had already cooled, and Queen Adelaide
+was hostile to Lord Grey's measure.
+
+When, therefore, Lord Grey and Lord Brougham went down to Windsor to
+urge the creation of new Peers, they met with a chilling reception. The
+King refused his sanction, and the Ministry had no other alternative
+than to resign. William IV. took counsel with Lord Lyndhurst, and
+summoned the Duke of Wellington. Meanwhile the House of Commons at the
+instance of Lord Ebrington, again passed a vote of confidence in the
+Grey Administration, and adopted an address to His Majesty, begging him
+to call to his councils such persons only as 'will carry into effect
+unimpaired in all its essential provisions that bill for reforming the
+representation of the people which has recently passed the House of
+Commons.' Wellington tried to form a Ministry in order to carry out some
+emasculated scheme of Reform, but Peel was inexorable, and refused to
+have part or lot in the project.
+
+  [Sidenote: THE FIERCE CRY OF THE STREETS]
+
+Meanwhile the cry rang through the country, 'The bill, the whole bill,
+and nothing but the bill!' William IV. was hissed as he passed through
+the streets, and the walls blazed with insulting lampoons and
+caricatures. Signboards which displayed the King's portrait were framed
+with crape, and Queen Adelaide's likeness was disfigured with lampblack.
+Rumours of projected riots filled the town, and whispers of a plot for
+seizing the wives and children of the aristocracy led the authorities to
+order the swords of the Scots Greys to be rough-sharpened. At the last
+moment, when the attitude of the country was menacing, the King yielded,
+on May 17, and sent for Lord Grey. 'Only think,' wrote Joseph Parkes on
+May 18, 'that at three yesterday all was gloomy foreboding in the
+Cabinet, and at twenty-five minutes before five last night Lord Althorp
+did not know the King's answer till Lord Grey returned at half-past
+five--"All right." Thus on the decision of one man rests the fate of
+nations.'[8]
+
+Instead of creating new Peers, the King addressed a letter to members of
+the House of Lords who were hostile to the bill, urging them to withdraw
+their opposition. A hint from Windsor went further with the aristocracy
+in those days than any number of appeals, reasonable or just, from the
+country. About a hundred of the Peers, in angry sullen mood, shook off
+the dust of Westminster, and, in Lord John's words, 'skulked in clubs
+and country houses.' Sindbad, to borrow Albany Fonblanque's vigorous
+simile, was getting rid of the old man of the sea, not permanently,
+alas! but at least for the occasion. During the progress of these
+negotiations, the nation, now confident of victory, stood not merely at
+attention but on the alert. 'I say,' exclaimed Attwood at
+Birmingham--and the phrase expressed the situation--'the people of
+England stand at this moment like greyhounds on the slip!' Triumph was
+only a matter of time. 'Pray beg of Lord Grey to keep well,' wrote
+Sydney Smith to the Countess; 'I have no doubt of a favourable issue. I
+see an open sea beyond the icebergs.' At length the open sea was
+reached, and on June 7 the Reform Bill received the Royal Assent and
+became the law of the land, and with it the era of government by public
+opinion began. The mode by which the country at last obtained this great
+measure of redress did not commend itself to Lord John's judgment. He
+did not disguise his opinion that the creation of many new Peers
+favourable to Reform would have been a more dignified proceeding than
+the request from Windsor to noble lords to dissemble and cloak their
+disappointment. 'Whether twelve or one hundred be the number requisite
+to enable the Peers to give their votes in conformity with public
+opinion,' were his words, 'it seems to me that the House of Lords,
+sympathising with the people at large, and acting in concurrence with
+the enlightened state of the prevailing wish, represents far better the
+dignity of the House, and its share in legislation, than a majority got
+together by the long supremacy of one party in the State, eager to show
+its ill-will by rejecting bills of small importance, but afraid to
+appear, and skulking in clubs and country houses, in face of a measure
+which has attracted the ardent sympathy of public opinion.'
+
+  [Sidenote: BOWING BEFORE THE STORM]
+
+'God may and, I hope, will forgive you for this bill,' was Lord
+Sidmouth's plaintive lament to Earl Grey, 'but I do not think I ever
+can!' There lives no record of reply. The last protest of the Duke of
+Wellington, delivered just before the measure became law, was
+characteristic in many respects, and not least in its blunt honesty.
+'Reform, my lords, has triumphed, the barriers of the Constitution are
+broken down, the waters of destruction have burst the gates of the
+temple, and the tempest begins to howl. Who can say where its course
+should stop? who can stay its speed? For my own part, I earnestly hope
+that my predictions may not be fulfilled, and that my country may not be
+ruined by the measure which the noble earl and his colleagues have
+sanctioned.' Lord John Russell, on the contrary, held then the view
+which he afterwards expressed: 'It is the right of a people to represent
+its grievances: it is the business of a statesman to devise remedies.'
+In the first quarter of the present century the people made their
+grievances known. Lord Grey and his Cabinet in 1831-2 devised remedies,
+and, in Lord John's memorable phrase, 'popular enthusiasm rose in its
+strength and converted them into law.'
+
+The Reform Bill, as Walter Bagehot has shown, did nothing to remove the
+worst evils from which the nation suffered, for the simple reason that
+those evils were not political but economical. But if it left
+unchallenged the reign of protection and much else in the way of
+palpable and glaring injustice, it ushered in a new temper in regard to
+public questions. It recognised the new conditions of English society,
+and gave the mercantile and manufacturing classes, with their wealth,
+intelligence, and energy, not only the consciousness of power, but the
+sense of responsibility.
+
+  [Sidenote: A GENEROUS TRIBUTE]
+
+The political struggle under Pitt had been between the aristocracy and
+the monarchy, but that under Grey was between the aristocracy and the
+middle classes, for the claims of the democracy in the broad sense of
+the word lay outside the scope of the measure. In spite of its halting
+confidence in the people, men felt that former things of harsh
+oppression had passed away, and that the Reform Bill rendered their
+return impossible. It was at best only a half measure, but it broke the
+old exclusive traditions and diminished to a remarkable degree the power
+of the landed interest in Parliament. It has been said that it was the
+business of Lord John Russell at that crisis to save England from
+copying the example of the French Revolution, and there can be no doubt
+whatever that the measure was a safety-valve at a moment when political
+excitement assumed a menacing form. The public rejoicings were inspired
+as much by hope as by gladness. A new era had dawned, the will of the
+nation had prevailed, the spirit of progress was abroad, and the
+multitudes knew that other reforms less showy perhaps but not less
+substantial, were at hand. 'Look at England before the Reform Bill, and
+look at it now,' wrote Mr. Froude in 1874. 'Its population almost
+doubled; its commerce quadrupled; every individual in the kingdom lifted
+to a high level of comfort and intelligence--the speed quickening every
+year; the advance so enormous, the increase so splendid, that language
+turns to rhetoric in describing it.' When due allowance is made for the
+rhetoric of such a description--for alas! the 'high level of comfort'
+for every individual in the kingdom is still unattained--the substantial
+truth of such a statement cannot be gainsaid. When the battle was
+fought, Lord John was generous enough to say that the success of the
+Reform Bill in the House of Commons was due mainly to the confidence
+felt in the integrity and sound judgment of Lord Althorp. At the same
+time he never concealed his conviction that it was the multitude outside
+who made the measure resistless.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[6] _Correspondence of Mr. Joseph Jekyll_, 1818-1838. Edited, with a
+brief Memoir, by the Hon. Algernon Bourke. Pp. 272-273.
+
+[7] Flood's Reform proposals were made in 1790. His idea was to augment
+the House of Commons by one hundred members, to be elected by the
+resident householders of every county.
+
+[8] _Life of George Grote_, by Mrs. Grote, p. 80.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+THE DAWN OF A NEW ERA
+
+1833-1838
+
+     The turn of the tide with the Whigs--The two voices in the
+     Cabinet--Lord John and Ireland--Althorp and the Poor Law--The
+     Melbourne Administration on the rocks--Peel in power--The question
+     of Irish tithes--Marriage of Lord John--Grievances of
+     Nonconformists--Lord Melbourne's influence over the Queen--Lord
+     Durham's mission to Canada--Personal sorrow.
+
+
+HIGH-WATER mark was reached with the Whigs in the spring of 1833, and
+before the tide turned, two years later, Lord Grey and his colleagues
+had, in various directions, done much to justify the hopes of their
+followers. The result of the General Election in the previous December
+was seen when the first Reformed Parliament assembled at Westminster, on
+January 29, 1833. Lord Althorp, as Leader of the House of Commons, found
+himself with 485 members at his back, whilst Sir Robert Peel confronted
+him with about 170 stalwart Tories. After all, the disparity was hardly
+as great as it looked, for it was a mixed multitude which followed
+Althorp, and in its ranks were the elements of conflict and even of
+revolt. The Whigs had made common cause with the Radicals when the
+Reform Bill stood in jeopardy every hour, but the triumph of the measure
+imperilled this grand alliance. Not a few of the Whigs had been
+faint-hearted during the struggle, and were now somewhat alarmed at its
+overwhelming success. Their inclination was either to rest on their
+laurels or to make haste slowly. The Radicals, on the contrary, longed
+for new worlds to conquer. They were full of energy and enthusiasm, and
+desired nothing so much as to ride abroad redressing human wrongs. The
+traditions of the past were dear to the Whigs, but the Radicals thrust
+such considerations impatiently aside, and boasted that 1832 was the
+Year 1 of the people. It was impossible that such warring elements
+should permanently coalesce; the marvel is that they held together so
+long.
+
+  [Sidenote: REMEDIAL MEASURES]
+
+Even in the Cabinet there were two voices. The Duke of Richmond was at
+heart a Tory masquerading in the dress of a Whig. Lord Durham was a
+Radical of an outspoken and uncompromising type, in spite of his
+aristocratic trappings and his great possessions. Nevertheless, the new
+era opened, not merely with a flourish of trumpets, but with notable
+work in the realm of practical statesmanship. Fowell Buxton took up the
+work of Wilberforce on behalf of the desolate and oppressed, and lived
+to bring about the abolition of slavery; whilst Shaftesbury's charity
+began at home with the neglected factory children. Religious toleration
+was represented in the Commons by the Jewish Relief Bill, and its
+opposite in the Lords by the defeat of that measure. Althorp amended the
+Poor Laws, and, though neither he nor his colleagues would admit the
+fact, the bill rendered, by its alterations in the provisions of
+settlement and the bold attack which it made on the thraldom of labour,
+the repeal of the Corn Laws inevitable. Grant renewed the charter of the
+East India Company, but not its monopoly of the trade with the East.
+Roebuck brought forward a great scheme of education, whilst Grote
+sought to introduce the ballot, and Hume, in the interests of economy,
+but at the cost of much personal odium, assailed sinecures and
+extravagance in every shape and form. Ward drew attention to the abuses
+of the Irish Church, and did much by his exertions to lessen them; and
+Lord John Russell a year or two later brought about a civic revolution
+by the Municipal Reform Act--a measure which, next to the reform of
+Parliament, did more to broaden and uplift the political life of the
+people than any other enactment of the century. Ireland blocked the way
+of Lord Grey's Ministry, and the wild talk and hectoring attitude of
+O'Connell, and his bold bid for personal ascendency, made it difficult
+for responsible statesmen to deal calmly with the problems by which they
+were confronted.
+
+It is true that Lord John was not always on the side of the angels of
+progress and redress. He blundered occasionally like other men, and
+sometimes even hesitated strangely to give effect to his convictions,
+and therefore it would be idle as well as absurd to attempt to make out
+that he was consistent, much less infallible. The Radicals a little
+later complained that he talked of finality in reform, and supported the
+coercive measures of Stanley in Ireland, and opposed Hume in his efforts
+to secure the abolition of naval and military sinecures. He declined to
+support a proposed investigation of the pension list. He set his face
+against Tennyson's scheme for shortening the duration of Parliaments,
+and Grote had to reckon with his hostility to the adoption of the
+ballot. But in spite of it all, he was still, in Sydney Smith's happy
+phrase, to all intents and purposes 'Lord John Reformer.' No one doubted
+his honesty or challenged his motives. The compass by which Russell
+steered his course through political life might tremble, but men felt
+that it remained true.
+
+  [Sidenote: FIRST VISIT TO IRELAND]
+
+Ireland drew forth his sympathies, but he failed to see any way out of
+the difficulty. 'I wish I knew what to do to help your country,' were
+his words to Moore, 'but, as I do not, it is of no use giving her smooth
+words, as O'Connell told me, and I must be silent.' It was not in his
+nature, however, to sit still with folded hands. He held his peace, but
+quietly crossed the Channel to study the problem on the spot. It was his
+first visit to the distressful country for many years, and he wished
+Moore to accompany him as guide, philosopher, and friend. He assured the
+poet that he would allow him to be as patriotic as he pleased about 'the
+first flower of the earth and first gem of the sea' during the proposed
+sentimental journey. 'Your being a rebel,' were his words, 'may somewhat
+atone for my being a Cabinet Minister.' Moore, however, was compelled to
+decline the tempting proposal by the necessity of making ends meet by
+sticking to the hack work which that universal provider of knowledge,
+Dr. Lardner, had set him in the interests of the 'Cabinet
+Encyclopædia'--an enterprise to which men of the calibre of Mackintosh,
+Southey, Herschell, and even Walter Scott had lent a helping hand.
+
+Lord John landed in Ireland in the beginning of September 1833, and went
+first to Lord Duncannon's place at Bessborough. Afterwards he proceeded
+to Waterford to visit Lord Ebrington, his colleague in the
+representation of Devonshire. He next found his way to Cork and
+Killarney, and he wrote again to Moore urging him to 'hang Dr. Lardner
+on his tree of knowledge,' and to join him at the eleventh hour. Moore
+must have been in somewhat reduced circumstances at the moment--for he
+was a luxurious, pleasure-loving man, who never required much persuasion
+to throw down his work--since such an appeal availed nothing. Meanwhile
+Lord John had carried Lord Ebrington back to Dublin, and they went
+together to the North of Ireland. The visit to Belfast attracted
+considerable attention; Lord John's services over the Reform Bill were
+of course fresh in the public mind, and he was entertained in orthodox
+fashion at a public dinner. This short tour in Ireland did much to open
+his eyes to the real grievances of the people, and, fresh from the scene
+of disaffection, he was able to speak with authority when the late
+autumn compelled the Whig Cabinet to throw everything else aside in
+order to devise if possible some measure of relief for Ireland. Stanley
+was Chief Secretary, and, though one of the most brilliant men of his
+time alike in deed and word, unfortunately his haughty temper and
+autocratic leanings were a grievous hindrance if a policy of coercion
+was to be exchanged for the more excellent way of conciliation.
+O'Connell opposed his policy in scathing terms, and attacked him
+personally with bitter invective, and in the end there was open war
+between the two men.
+
+  [Sidenote: POOR LAW REFORM]
+
+Lord Grey, now that Parliamentary Reform had been conceded, was
+developing into an easy-going aristocratic Whig of somewhat contracted
+sympathies, and Stanley, though still in the Cabinet, was apparently
+determined to administer the affairs of Ireland on the most approved
+Tory principles. Althorp, Russell, and Duncannon were men whose
+sympathies leaned more or less decidedly in the opposite direction, and
+therefore, especially with O'Connell thundering at the gates with the
+Irish people and the English Radicals at his back, a deadlock was
+inevitable. Durham, in ill health and chagrin, and irritated by the
+stationary, if not reactionary, attitude of certain members of the Grey
+Administration, resigned office in the spring of 1833. Goderich became
+Privy Seal, and this enabled Stanley to exchange the Irish Secretaryship
+for that of the Colonies. He had driven Ireland to the verge of revolt,
+but he had nevertheless made an honest attempt to grapple with many
+practical evils, and his Education Bill was a piece of constructive
+statesmanship which placed Roman Catholics on an equality with
+Protestants. Early in the session of 1834 Althorp introduced the Poor
+Law Amendment Act, and the measure was passed in July. The changes which
+it brought about were startling, for its enactments were drastic. This
+great economic measure came to the relief of a nation in which 'one
+person in every seven was a pauper.' The new law limited relief to
+destitution, prohibited out-door help to the able-bodied, beyond medical
+aid, instituted tests to detect imposture, confederated parishes into
+unions, and substituted large district workhouses for merely local
+shelters for the destitute. In five years the poor rate was reduced by
+three millions, and the population, set free by the new interpretation
+of 'Settlement,' were able, in their own phrase, to follow the work and
+to congregate accordingly wherever the chance of a livelihood offered.
+One great question followed hard on the heels of another.
+
+In the King's Speech at the opening of Parliament, the consideration of
+Irish tithes was recommended, for extinguishing 'all just causes of
+complaint without injury to the rights and property of any class of
+subjects or to any institution in Church or State.' Mr. Littleton
+(afterwards Lord Hatherton), who had succeeded Stanley as Irish
+Secretary accordingly introduced a new Tithe Bill, the object of which
+was to change the tithe first into a rent-charge payable by the
+landlord, and eventually into land tax. The measure also proposed that
+the clergy should be content with a sum which fell short of the amount
+to which they were entitled by law, so that riot and bloodshed might be
+avoided by lessened demands. On the second reading of the bill, Lord
+John frankly avowed the faith that was in him, a circumstance which led
+to unexpected results. He declared that, as he understood it, the aim of
+the bill was to determine and secure the amount of the tithe. The
+question of appropriation was to be kept entirely distinct. If the
+object of the bill was to grant a certain sum to the Established Church
+of Ireland, and the question was to end there, his opinion of it might
+be different. But he understood it to be a bill to secure a certain
+amount of property and revenue destined by the State to religious and
+charitable purposes, and if the State should find that it was not
+appropriated justly to the purposes of religious and moral instruction,
+it would then be the duty of Parliament to consider the necessity of a
+different appropriation. His opinion was that the revenues of the Church
+of Ireland were larger than necessary for the religious and moral
+instruction of the persons belonging to that Church, and for the
+stability of the Church itself.
+
+Lord John did not think it would be advisable or wise to mix the
+question of appropriation with the question of amount of the revenues;
+but when Parliament had vindicated the property in tithes, he should
+then be prepared to assert his opinion with regard to their
+appropriation. If, when the revenue was once secured, the assertion of
+that opinion should lead him to differ and separate from those with whom
+he was united by political connection, and for whom he entertained the
+deepest private affection, he should feel much regret; yet he should, at
+whatever cost and sacrifice, do what he should consider his bounden
+duty--namely, do justice to Ireland.
+
+  [Sidenote: UPSETTING THE COACH]
+
+He afterwards explained that this speech, which produced a great
+impression, was prompted by the attitude of Stanley concerning the
+permanence and inviolability of the Irish Church. He was, in fact,
+afraid that if Stanley's statement was allowed to pass in silence by his
+colleagues, the whole Government would be regarded as pledged to the
+maintenance in their existing shape of the temporalities of an alien
+institution. Lord John accordingly struck from his own bat, amid the
+cheers of the Radicals. Stanley expressed to Sir James Graham his view
+of the situation in the now familiar phrase, 'Johnny has upset the
+coach.' The truth was, divided counsels existed in the Cabinet on this
+question of appropriation, and Lord John's blunt deliverance, though it
+did not wreck the Ministry, placed it in a dilemma. He was urged by some
+of his colleagues to explain away what he had said, but he had made up
+his mind and was in no humour to retract.
+
+Palmerston, with whom he was destined to have many an encounter in
+coming days, thought he ought to have been turned out of the Cabinet,
+and others of his colleagues were hardly less incensed. The independent
+member, in the person of Mr. Ward, who sat for St. Albans, promptly took
+advantage of Russell's speech to bring forward a motion to the effect
+that the Church in Ireland 'exceeds the wants of the population, and
+ought to be reduced.' This proposition was elbowed out of the way by the
+appointment of a Royal Commission of Inquiry into the revenues of the
+Irish Church; but Stanley felt that his position in the Cabinet was now
+untenable, and therefore retired from office in the company of the Duke
+of Richmond, Lord Ripon, and Sir James Graham. The Radicals made no
+secret of their glee. Ward, they held, had been a benefactor to the
+party beyond their wildest dreams, for he had exorcised the evil spirits
+of the Grey Administration.
+
+Lord Grey had an opportunity at this crisis of infusing fresh vigour
+into his Ministry by raising to Cabinet rank men of progressive views
+who stood well with the country. Another course was, however, taken, for
+the Marquis of Conyngham became Postmaster-General, the Earl of Carlisle
+Privy Seal, whilst Lord Auckland went to the Admiralty, and Mr. Spring
+Rice became Colonial Secretary, and so the opportunity of a genuine
+reconstruction of the Government was lost. The result was, the
+Government was weakened, and no one was satisfied. 'Whigs, Tories, and
+Radicals,' wrote Greville, 'join in full cry against them, and the
+"Times," in a succession of bitter vituperative articles very well done,
+fires off its contempt and disgust at the paltry patching-up of the
+Cabinet.'
+
+Durham's retirement, though made on the score of ill-health, had not
+merely cooled the enthusiasm of the Radicals towards the Grey
+Administration, but had also awakened their suspicions. Lord John was
+restive, and inclined to kick over the traces; whilst Althorp, whose
+tastes were bucolic, had also a desire to depart. 'Nature,' he
+exclaimed, 'intended me to be a grazier; but men will insist on making
+me a statesman.' He confided to Lord John that he detested office to
+such an extent that he 'wished himself dead' every morning when he
+awoke. Meanwhile vested interests here, there, and everywhere, were
+uniting their forces against the Ministry, and its sins of omission as
+well as of commission were leaping to light on the platform and in the
+Press. Wellington found his reputation for political sagacity agreeably
+recognised, and he fell into the attitude of an oracle whose jeremiads
+had come true. When Lord Grey proposed the renewal of the Coercion Act
+without alteration, Lord Althorp expressed a strong objection to such a
+proceeding. He had assured Littleton that the Act would not be put in
+force again in its entirety, and the latter, with more candour than
+discretion, had communicated the intimation to O'Connell, who bruited it
+abroad.
+
+  [Sidenote: O'CONNELL THROWS DOWN THE GAUNTLET]
+
+Lord John had come to definite convictions about Ireland, and he was
+determined not to remain in the Cabinet unless he was allowed to speak
+out. On June 23 the Irish Tithe Bill reached the stage of committee, and
+Littleton drew attention to the changes which had been introduced into
+the measure--slight concessions to public opinion which Lord John felt
+were too paltry to meet the gravity of the case. O'Connell threw down
+the gauntlet to the Ministry, and asked the House to pass an amendment
+asserting that the surplus revenues of the Church ought to be applied to
+purposes of public utility. Peel laid significant stress on the divided
+counsels in the Ministry, and accused Lord John of asserting that the
+Irish Church was the greatest grievance of which the nation had ever had
+to complain. The latter repudiated such a charge, and explained that
+what he had said was that the revenues of the Church were too great for
+its stability, thereby implying that he both desired and contemplated
+its continued existence. Although not unwilling to support a mild
+Coercion Bill, if it went hand in hand with a determined effort to deal
+with abuses, he made it clear that repressive enactments without such an
+effort at Reform were altogether repugnant to his sense of justice. He
+declared that Coercion Acts were 'peculiarly abhorrent to those who
+pride themselves on the name of Whigs;' and he added that, when such a
+necessity arose, Ministers were confronted with the duty of looking
+'deeper into the causes of the long-standing and permanent evils' of
+Ireland. I am not prepared to continue the government of Ireland
+without fully probing her condition; I am not prepared to propose bills
+for coercion, and the maintenance of a large force of military and
+police, without endeavouring to improve, so far as lies in my power, the
+condition of the people. I will not be a Minister to carry on systems
+which I think founded on bigotry and prejudice. Be the consequence what
+it may, I am content to abide by these opinions, to carry them out to
+their fullest extent, not by any premature declaration of mere opinion,
+but by going on gradually, from time to time improving our institutions,
+and, without injuring the ancient and venerable fabrics, rendering them
+fit and proper mansions for a great, free, and intelligent people.' Such
+a speech was worthy of Fox, and it recalls a passage in Lord John's
+biography of that illustrious statesman. Fox did his best in the teeth
+of prejudice and obloquy to free Ireland from the thraldom which
+centuries of oppression had created: 'In 1780, in 1793, and in 1829,
+that which had been denied to reason was granted to force. Ireland
+triumphed, not because the justice of her claims was apparent, but
+because the threat of insurrection overcame prejudice, made fear
+superior to bigotry, and concession triumphant over persecution.'[9]
+
+  [Sidenote: CROSS CURRENTS]
+
+Even O'Connell expressed his admiration of this bold and fearless
+declaration, and the speech did much to increase Lord John's reputation,
+both within and without the House of Commons. In answer to a letter of
+congratulation, he said that his friends would make him, by their
+encouragement--what he felt he was not by nature--a good speaker. 'There
+are occasions,' he added, 'on which one must express one's feelings or
+sink into contempt. I own I have not been easy during the period in
+which I thought it absolutely necessary to suspend the assertion of my
+opinions in order to secure peace in this country.' Lord John's attitude
+on this occasion threw into relief his keen sense of political
+responsibility, no less than the honesty and courage which were
+characteristic of the man. A day or two later the Cabinet drifted on to
+the rocks. The policy of Coercion was reaffirmed in spite of Althorp's
+protests, and in spite also of Littleton's pledge to the contrary to
+O'Connell. Generosity was not the strong point of the Irish orator, and,
+to the confusion of Littleton and the annoyance of Grey, he insisted on
+taking the world into his confidence from his place in Parliament. This
+was the last straw. Lord Althorp would no longer serve, and Lord Grey,
+harassed to death, determined no longer to lead. After all, 'Johnny' was
+only one of many who upset the coach, which, in truth, turned over
+because its wheels were rotten. On the evening of June 29 a meeting of
+the Cabinet was held, and, in Russell's words, 'Lord Grey placed before
+us the letters containing his own resignation and that of Lord Althorp,
+which he had sent early in the morning to the King. He likewise laid
+before us the King's gracious acceptance of his resignation, and he gave
+to Lord Melbourne a sealed letter from his Majesty. Lord Melbourne, upon
+opening this letter, found in it an invitation to him to undertake the
+formation of a Government. Seeing that nothing was to be done that
+night, I left the Cabinet and went to the Opera.'
+
+Lord Melbourne was sent for in July, and took his place at the head of a
+Cabinet which remained practically unaltered. He had been Home Secretary
+under Grey, and Duncannon was now called to fill that post. The first
+Melbourne Administration was short-lived, for when it had existed four
+months Earl Spencer died, and Althorp, on his succession to the peerage,
+was compelled to relinquish his leadership of the House of Commons.
+William IV. cared little for Melbourne, and less for Russell, and, as he
+wished to pick a quarrel with the Whigs, since their policy excited his
+alarm, he used Althorp for a pretext. Lord Grey had professed to regard
+Althorp as indispensable to the Ministry, and the King imagined that
+Melbourne would adopt the same view. Although reluctant to part with
+Althorp, who eagerly seized the occasion of his accession to an earldom
+to retire from official life, Melbourne refused to believe that the
+heavens would fall because of that fact.
+
+There was no pressing conflict of opinion between the King and his
+advisers, but William IV. nevertheless availed himself of the accident
+of Althorp's elevation to the peerage to dismiss the Ministry. The
+reversion of the leadership in the Commons fell naturally to Lord John,
+and Melbourne was quick to recognise the fact. 'Thus invited,' says Lord
+John Russell, 'I considered it my duty to accept the task, though I told
+Lord Melbourne that I could not expect to have the same influence with
+the House of Commons which Lord Althorp had possessed. In conversation
+with Mr. Abercromby I said, more in joke than in earnest, that if I were
+offered the command of the Channel Fleet, and thought it my duty to
+accept, I should not refuse it.' It was unlike Sydney Smith to treat the
+remark about taking command of the Channel Fleet seriously, when 'he
+elaborated a charge' against Lord John on the Deans and Chapters
+question; but even the witty Canon could lose his temper sometimes.
+
+  [Sidenote: WILLIAM IV. DEFENDER OF THE FAITH]
+
+The King, however, had strong opinions on the subject of Lord John's
+qualifications, and he expressed in emphatic terms his disapproval. The
+nation trusted Lord John, and had come to definite and flattering
+conclusions about him as a statesman, but at Windsor a different opinion
+prevailed. The King, in fact, made no secret to Lord Melbourne, in the
+famous interview at Brighton, of his conviction that Lord John Russell
+had neither the ability nor the influence to qualify him for the task;
+and he added that he would 'make a wretched figure' when opposed in the
+Commons by men like Peel and Stanley. His Majesty further volunteered
+the remark that he did not 'understand that young gentleman,' and could
+not agree to the arrangement proposed. William, moreover, took occasion
+to pose as a veritable, as well as titular, Defender of the Faith, for,
+on the authority of Baron Stockmar, the King 'considered Lord John
+Russell to have pledged himself to certain encroachments on the Church,
+which his Majesty had made up his mind and expressed his determination
+to resist.' As Russell was clearly quite out of the reckoning, Melbourne
+suggested two other names. But the King had made up his mind on more
+subjects than one, and next morning, Lord Melbourne found himself in
+possession of a written paper, which informed him his Majesty had no
+further occasion either for his services or for those of his colleagues.
+
+William IV. acted within his constitutional rights, but such an exercise
+of the royal prerogative was, to say the least, worthy of George III. in
+his most uninspired mood. Althorp regarded the King's action as the
+'greatest piece of folly ever committed,' and Lord John, in reply to the
+friendly note which contained this emphatic verdict, summoned his
+philosophy to his aid in the following characteristic rejoinder: 'I
+suppose everything is for the best in this world; otherwise the only
+good which I should see in this event would be that it saves me from
+being sadly pommelled by Peel and Stanley, to say nothing of O'Connell.'
+Wellington, who was hastily summoned by the King, suggested that Sir
+Robert Peel should be entrusted with the formation of a new Government.
+
+Sir Robert Peel was accordingly sent for in hot haste from Rome to form
+a new Ministry. On his arrival in London in December 1834, he at once
+set about the formation of a Cabinet. This is Jekyll's comment: 'Our
+crisis has been entertaining, and Peel is expected to-day. I wish he
+could have remained long enough at Rome to have learnt mosaic, of which
+parti-coloured materials our Cabinets have been constructed for twenty
+years, and for want of cement have fallen to pieces. The Whigs squall
+out, "Let us depart, for the Reformers grow too impatient." The Tories
+squall out, "Let us come in, and we will be very good boys, and become
+Reformers ourselves." However, the country is safe by the Reform Bill,
+for no Minister can remain in office now by corrupt Parliaments; he must
+act with approbation of the country or lose his Cabinet in a couple of
+months.' At the General Election which followed, Peel issued his
+celebrated address to the electors of Tamworth, in which he declared
+himself favourable to the reform of 'proved abuses,' and to the carrying
+out of such measures 'gradually, dispassionately, and deliberately,' in
+order that it might be lasting. Lord John was returned again for South
+Devon; but on the reassembling of Parliament the Liberal majority had
+dwindled from 314 to 107. It was during his election tour that he
+delivered an address at Totnes, which Greville described as not merely
+'a very masterly performance,' but 'one of the cleverest and most
+appropriate speeches' he had ever read, and for which his friends
+warmly complimented him. It was a powerful and humorous examination of
+the Tories' professed anxiety for Reform, and of the prospects of any
+Reform measures being carried out by their instrumentality.
+
+  [Sidenote: LEADER OF THE OPPOSITION]
+
+Lord John now became leader of the Opposition, though the Duke of
+Bedford dreaded the strain, and expostulated with his son on his
+acceptance of so irksome and laborious a task. 'You will have to conduct
+and keep in order a noisy and turbulent pack of hounds which, I think,
+you will find it quite impossible to restrain.' The Duke of Bedford's
+fears were not groundless, and Lord John afterwards confessed that, in
+the whole period during which he had led the Liberal party in the House
+of Commons, he never had so difficult a task. The forces under his
+command consisted of a few stalwart Radicals, a number of Whigs of the
+traditional and somewhat stationary type, and some sixty Irish members.
+Nevertheless, he promptly assumed an aggressive attitude, and his first
+victory as leader of the Opposition was won on the question of the
+choice of a new Speaker, when Mr. Abercromby was placed in the chair in
+preference to the Ministerial candidate. As the session went on, Lord
+John's resources in attack grew more and more marked, but he was foiled
+by the lack of cohesion amongst his followers. It became evident that,
+unless all sections of the Opposition were united as one man, the
+Government of Sir Robert Peel could not be overthrown. Alliance with the
+Radicals and the Irish party, although hateful to the old-fashioned
+Whigs, was in fact imperative. Lord John summoned a meeting of the
+Opposition at Lord Lichfield's house; the support of the Radicals and
+Irish was secured, and then the leader marshalled his forces for what he
+hoped would prove a decisive victory. His expectations were not
+disappointed, for early in April he brought forward a motion for the
+appropriation of the surplus revenues of the Irish Church to general
+moral and religious purposes, and won with a majority of twenty-seven
+votes (285 to 258). Sir Robert Peel forthwith resigned, and the Whigs
+were avenged for their cavalier dismissal by the King.
+
+On the day after the Prime Minister's resignation, Lord John Russell was
+married--April 11, 1835, at St. George's, Hanover Square--to Adelaide,
+Lady Ribblesdale, the widow of the second bearer of that title. The
+respite from political strife was of short duration, for at the end of
+forty-eight hours he was summoned from Woburn to take the seals of the
+Home Office in the second Melbourne Administration. The members of the
+new Cabinet presented themselves to their constituents for re-election,
+and Lord John suffered defeat in Devonshire. A seat was, however, found
+for him at Stroud, and in May he was back again in the House of Commons.
+The first measure of importance introduced by him, on June 5, was the
+Municipal Reform Act--a measure which embodied the results of the
+Commission on the subject appointed by Lord Grey. The bill swept away a
+host of antiquated and absurd privileges of corporate cities and towns,
+abolished the authority of cliques of freemen, rectified a variety of
+abuses, and entrusted municipal government to the hands of all
+taxpayers. Lord John piloted the measure through the Commons, and fought
+almost single-handed the representatives of vested rights. After a long
+contest with the Opposition and the Lords, he had the satisfaction of
+passing the bill, in a somewhat modified form, through its final stages
+in September, though the Peers, as usual, opposed it as long as they
+dared, and only yielded at last when Peel in the one House and
+Wellington in the other recommended concession.
+
+  [Sidenote: A POPULAR OVATION]
+
+The Irish Tithes Bill was subsequently introduced, and, though it now
+included the clauses for the appropriation of certain revenues, it
+passed the Commons by a majority of thirty-seven. The Lords, however,
+struck out the appropriation clauses, and the Government in consequence
+abandoned the measure. The Irish Municipal Bill shared a similar fate,
+and Lord John's desire to see justice done in Ireland was brought for
+the moment to naught. The labours of the session had been peculiarly
+arduous, and in the autumn his health suffered from the prolonged
+strain. His ability as a leader of the House of Commons, in spite of the
+dismal predictions of William IV. and the admonitions of paternal
+solicitude, was now recognised by men of all shades of opinion, though,
+of course, he had to confront the criticism alike of candid friends and
+equally outspoken foes. He recruited his energies in the West of
+England, and, though he had been so recently defeated in Devonshire,
+wherever he went the people, by way of amends, gave him an ovation.
+Votes of thanks were accorded to him for his championship of civil and
+religious liberty, and in November he was entertained at a banquet at
+Bristol, and presented with a handsome testimonial, raised by the
+sixpences of ardent Reformers.
+
+Parliament, in the Speech from the Throne, when the session of 1836
+began, was called upon to take into early consideration various measures
+of Reform. The programme of the Ministry, like that of many subsequent
+administrations, was not lacking in ambition. It was proposed to deal
+with the antiquated and vexatious manner in which from time immemorial
+the tithes of the English Church had been collected. The question of
+Irish tithes was also once more to be brought forward for solution; the
+municipal corporations of Ireland and the relief of its poor were to be
+dealt with in the light of recent legislation for England in the same
+direction. Improvements in the practical working of the administration
+of justice, 'more especially in the Court of Chancery,' were
+foreshadowed, and it was announced that the early attention of
+Parliament would also be called to certain 'grievances which affect
+those who dissent from the doctrines or discipline of the Established
+Church.' Such a list of measures bore on its very face the unmistakeable
+stamp of Lord John Russell's zeal for political redress and religious
+toleration. Early in the session he brought forward two measures for the
+relief of Nonconformists. One of them legalised marriages in the
+presence of a registrar in Nonconformist places of worship, and the
+other provided for a general civil registration of births, marriages,
+and deaths. His original proposal was that marriage in church as well as
+chapel should only take place after due notice had been given to the
+registrar. The bishops refused to entertain such an idea, and the House
+of Lords gave effect to their objections, with the result that the
+registrar was bowed out of church, though not out of chapel, where
+indeed he remains to this day. The Tithe Commutation Act and three other
+measures--one for equalising the incomes of prelates, rearranging
+ancient dioceses and creating new sees; another for the better
+application of the revenues of the Church to its general purposes; and a
+third to diminish pluralities--bore witness to his ardour for
+ecclesiastical reform. The first became law in 1836, and the other two
+respectively in 1838 and 1839. He lent his aid also to the movement for
+the foundation on a broad and liberal basis of a new university in
+London with power to confer degrees--a concession to Nonconformist
+scholarship and liberal culture generally, which was the more
+appreciated since Oxford and Cambridge still jealously excluded by their
+religious tests the youth of the Free Churches.
+
+The Tithe Commutation Act was passed in June; it provided for the
+exchange of tithes into a rent-charge upon land payable in money, but
+according to a sliding scale which varied with the average price of corn
+during the seven preceding years. In the opinion of Lord Farnborough, to
+no measure since the Reformation has the Church owed so much peace and
+security. The Irish Municipal Bill was carried in the course of the
+session through the Commons, but the Lords rendered the measure
+impossible; and though the Irish Poor Law Bill was carried, a different
+fate awaited Irish Tithes. This measure was introduced for the fifth
+time, but in consequence of the King's death, on June 20, and the
+dissolution of Parliament which followed, it had to be abandoned.
+Between 1835 and 1837 Lord John, as Home Secretary, brought about many
+changes for the better in the regulation of prisons, and especially in
+the treatment of juvenile offenders. By his directions prisoners in
+Newgate, from metropolitan counties, were transferred to the gaol of
+each county. Following in the steps of Sir Samuel Romilly, he also
+reduced the number of capital crimes, and, later on, brought about
+various prison reforms, notably the establishment of a reformatory for
+juvenile offenders.
+
+  [Sidenote: THE QUEEN'S ACCESSION]
+
+The rejoicings over Queen Victoria's accession in the summer of 1837
+were quickly followed by a General Election. The result of this appeal
+to the country was that the Liberal majority in the House of Commons
+was reduced to less than forty. Lord John was again returned for Stroud,
+and on that occasion he delivered a speech in which he cleverly
+contrasted the legislative achievements of the Tories with those of the
+Whigs. He made a chivalrous allusion to the 'illustrious Princess who
+has ascended the Throne with purest intentions and the justest desires.'
+One passage from his speech merits quotation: 'We have had glorious
+female reigns. Those of Elizabeth and Anne led us to great victories.
+Let us now hope that we are going to have a female reign illustrious in
+its deeds of peace--an Elizabeth without her tyranny, an Anne without
+her weakness.... I trust that we may succeed in making the reign of
+Victoria celebrated among the nations of the earth and to all posterity,
+and that England may not forget her precedence of teaching the nations
+how to live.'
+
+  [Sidenote: LORD MELBOURNE AND THE COURT]
+
+Lord Melbourne had never been a favourite with William, but from the
+first he stood high in the regard of the young Queen. Her Majesty was
+but eighteen when she ascended the throne upon which her reign has shed
+so great a lustre; she had been brought up in comparative seclusion, and
+her knowledge of public affairs was, of necessity, small. Lord Melbourne
+at that time was approaching sixty, and the respect which her Majesty
+gave to his years was heightened by the quick recognition of the fact
+that the Prime Minister was one of the most experienced statesmen which
+the country at that moment possessed. He was also a man of ready wit,
+and endowed with the charm of fine manners, and under his easy
+nonchalance there lurked more earnest and patriotic conviction than he
+ever cared to admit. 'I am sorry to hurt any man's feelings,' said
+Sydney Smith, 'and to brush aside the magnificent fabric of levity and
+gaiety he has reared; but I accuse our Minister of honesty and
+diligence.' Ridiculous rumours filled the air during the earliest years
+of her Majesty's reign concerning the supposed undue influence which
+Lord Melbourne exerted at Court. The more advanced Radicals complained
+that he sought to render himself indispensable to the sovereign, and
+that his plan was to surround her with his friends, relations, and
+creatures, and so to obtain a prolonged tenure of power. The Tories also
+grumbled, and made no secret of the same ungenerous suspicions. They
+knew neither her Majesty nor Lord Melbourne who thus spoke. At the same
+time, it must be admitted that Lord Melbourne was becoming more and more
+out of touch with popular aspirations, and the political and social
+questions which were rapidly coming to the front were treated by him in
+a somewhat cavalier manner.
+
+Russell had his own misgivings, and was by no means inclined to lay too
+much stress on the opinions of philosophical Radicals of the type of
+Grote. At the same time, he urged upon Melbourne the desirability of
+meeting the Radicals as far as possible, and he laid stress on the fact
+that they, at least, were not seeking for grounds of difference with the
+Premier. 'There are two things which I think would be more acceptable
+than any others to this body--the one to make the ballot an open
+question, the other to remove Tories from the political command of the
+army.' Lord Melbourne, however, believed that the ballot would create
+many evils and cure none. Lord John yielded to his chief, but in doing
+so brought upon himself a good deal of angry criticism, which was
+intensified by an unadvised declaration in the House of Commons. In his
+speech on the Address he referred to the question of Reform, and
+declared that it was quite impossible for him to take part in further
+measures of Reform. The people of England might revise the Act of 1832,
+or agitate for a new one; but as for himself, he refused to be
+associated with any such movement. A storm of expostulation and angry
+protest broke out; but the advanced Reformers failed to move Lord John
+from the position which he had taken. So they concentrated their
+hostility in a harmless nickname, and Lord John for some time forward
+was called in Radical circles and certain journalistic publications,
+'Finality Jack.' This honest but superfluous and embarrassing
+deliverance brought him taunts and reproaches, as well as a temporary
+loss of popularity. It was always characteristic of Lord John to speak
+his mind, and he sometimes did it not wisely but too well. Grote wrote
+in February 1838: 'The degeneracy of the Liberal party, and their
+passive acquiescence in everything, good or bad, which emanates from the
+present Ministry, puts the accomplishment of any political good out of
+the question; and it is not worth while to undergo the fatigue of a
+nightly attendance in Parliament for the simple purpose of sustaining
+Whig Conservatism against Tory Conservatism. I now look back wistfully
+to my unfinished Greek history.' Yet Lord Brougham, in the year of the
+Queen's accession, declared that Russell was the 'stoutest Reformer of
+them all.'
+
+  [Sidenote: LORD DURHAM AND CANADA]
+
+The rebellion in Canada was the first great incident in the new reign,
+and the Melbourne Cabinet met the crisis by proposals--which were moved
+by Lord John in the Commons, and adopted--for suspending the Canadian
+Constitution for the space of four years. The Earl of Durham, at the
+beginning of 1838, was appointed Governor-General with extraordinary
+powers, and he reluctantly accepted the difficult post, trusting, as he
+himself said, to the confidence and support of the Government, and to
+the forbearance of those who differed from his political views. No one
+doubts that Durham acted to the best of his judgment, though everyone
+admits that he exceeded at least the letter of his authority; and no one
+can challenge, in the light of the subsequent history of Canada, the
+greatness and far-reaching nature of his services, both to the Crown and
+to the Dominion. Relying on the forbearance and support, in the faith of
+which he had accepted his difficult commission, the Governor-General
+took a high hand with the rebels; but his ordinances were disallowed,
+and he was practically discredited and openly deserted by the
+Government. When he was on the point of returning home, a broken-hearted
+man, in failing health, it was Lord John Russell who at length stood up
+in Durham's defence. Speaking on the Durham Indemnity Bill, Lord John
+said: 'I ask you to pass this Bill of Indemnity, telling you that I
+shall be prepared when the time comes, not indeed to say that the terms
+or words of the ordinances passed by the Earl of Durham are altogether
+to be justified, but that, looking at his conduct as a whole, I shall be
+ready to take part with him. I shall be ready to bear my share of any
+responsibility which is to be incurred in these difficult
+circumstances.' The generous nature of this declaration was everywhere
+recognised, and by none more heartily than Lord Durham. 'I do not
+conceal from you that my feelings have been deeply wounded by the
+conduct of the Ministry. From you, however, and you alone of them all,
+have I received any cordial support personally; and I feel, as I have
+told you in a former letter, very grateful to you.'
+
+Meanwhile Lord John Russell had been called upon to oppose Mr. Grote's
+motion in favour of the ballot. Although the motion was lost by 315 to
+198 votes, the result was peculiarly galling to Lord John, for amongst
+the majority were those members who were usually opposed to the
+Government, whilst the minority was made up of Lord Melbourne's
+followers. But the crisis threatening the Ministry passed away when a
+motion of want of confidence in Lord Glenelg, the head of the Colonial
+Office, was defeated by twenty-nine votes. The Irish legislation of the
+Government as represented by the Tithe Bill did not prosper, and it
+became evident that, in order to pass the measure, the Appropriation
+Clause must be abandoned. Although Lord John Russell emphatically
+declared in 1835 that no Tithe Bill could be effective which did not
+include an Appropriation Clause, he gave way to the claims of political
+expediency, and further alienated the Radicals by allowing a measure
+which had been robbed of its potency to pass through Parliament. Lord
+Melbourne's Government accomplished during the session something in the
+direction of Irish Reform by the passage of the Poor Law, but it failed
+to carry the Municipal Bill, which in many respects was the most
+important of the three.
+
+The autumn, which witnessed on both sides of the Atlantic the excitement
+over Lord Durham's mission to Canada, was darkened in the home of Lord
+John by the death at Brighton, on November 1, of his wife. His first
+impulse was to place the resignation of his office and of leadership in
+the Commons in the hands of his chief. Urgent appeals from all quarters
+were made to him to remain at his post, and, though his own health was
+precarious, cheered by the sympathy of his colleagues and of the
+country, he resumed his work after a few weeks of quiet at Cassiobury.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[9] Russell's _Life of Fox_, vol. i. p. 242.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+THE TWO FRONT BENCHES
+
+1840-1845
+
+     Lord John's position in the Cabinet and in the Commons--His
+     services to Education--Joseph Lancaster--Lord John's Colonial
+     Policy--Mr. Gladstone's opinion--Lord Stanmore's recollections--The
+     mistakes of the Melbourne Cabinet--The Duke of Wellington's opinion
+     of Lord John--The agitation against the Corn Laws--Lord John's view
+     of Sir Robert Peel--The Edinburgh Letter--Peel's dilemma--Lord
+     John's comment on the situation.
+
+
+THE truth was, Lord John could not be spared, and his strong sense of
+duty triumphed over his personal grief. One shrewd contemporary observer
+of men and movements declared that Melbourne and Russell were the only
+two men in the Cabinet for whom the country cared a straw. The opinion
+of the man in the street was summed up in Sydney Smith's assertion that
+the Melbourne Government could not possibly exist without Lord John, for
+the simple reason that five minutes after his departure it would be
+dissolved into 'sparks of liberality and splinters of reform.' In 1839
+the Irish policy of the Government was challenged, and, on the motion of
+Lord Roden, a vote of censure was carried in the House of Lords. When
+the matter came before the Commons, Lord John delivered a speech so
+adroit and so skilful that friends and foes alike were satisfied, and
+even pronounced Radicals forgot to grumble.
+
+Lord John's speech averted a Ministerial crisis, and on a division the
+Government won by twenty-two votes. A month later the affairs of Jamaica
+came up for discussion, for the Government found itself forced, by the
+action of the House of Assembly in refusing to adopt the Prisons Act
+which had been passed by the Imperial Legislature, to ask Parliament to
+suspend the Constitution of the colony for a period of five years; and
+on a division they gained their point by a majority of only five votes.
+The Jamaica Bill was an autocratic measure, which served still further
+to discredit Lord Melbourne with the party of progress. Chagrined at the
+narrow majority, the Cabinet submitted its resignation to her Majesty,
+who assured Lord John that she had 'never felt more pain' than when she
+learnt the decision of her Ministers. The Queen sent first for
+Wellington, and afterwards, at his suggestion, for Peel, who undertook
+to form an Administration; but when her Majesty insisted on retaining
+the services of the Whig Ladies-in-Waiting, Sir Robert declined to act,
+and the former Cabinet was recalled to office, though hardly with flying
+colours.
+
+Education, to hark back for a moment, was the next great question with
+which Lord John dealt, for, in the summer of 1839, he brought in a bill
+to increase the grant to elementary schools from 20,000_l._ a year to
+30,000_l._--first made in 1833--and to place it under the control of the
+Privy Council, as well as to subject the aided schools to inspection. 'I
+explained,' was his own statement, 'in the simplest terms, without any
+exaggeration, the want of education in the country, the deficiencies of
+religious instruction, and the injustice of subjecting to the penalties
+of the criminal law persons who had never been taught their duty to God
+and man.' His proposals, particularly with regard to the establishment
+of a Normal school, were met with a storm of opposition. This part of
+the scheme was therefore abandoned; 'but the throwing out of one of our
+children to the wolf,' remarks Lord John, 'did little to appease his
+fury!' At length the measure, in its modified shape, was carried in the
+Commons; but the House of Lords, led on this occasion by the Archbishop
+of Canterbury, by a majority of more than a hundred, condemned the
+scheme entirely. Dr. Blomfield, Bishop of London, at this juncture came
+forward as peacemaker, and, at a private meeting at Lansdowne House,
+consisting of the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Bishops of London and
+Salisbury, Lord Lansdowne, and Lord John Russell, the dispute was
+amicably adjusted, on the basis of the reports of the Inspectors of
+Schools being sent to the Bishops as well as to the Committee of Privy
+Council, and co-operation between the Bishops and the Committee in the
+work of education.
+
+  [Sidenote: JOSEPH LANCASTER]
+
+The Duke of Bedford was one of the first men of position in the country
+to come to the aid of Joseph Lancaster--a young Quaker philanthropist,
+who, in spite of poverty and obscurity, did more for the cause of
+popular education in England in the early years of the century than all
+the privileged people in the country.[10] Here a floating straw of
+reminiscence may be cited, since it throws momentary light on the
+mischievous instincts of a quick-witted boy. Lord John, looking back
+towards the close of his life, said: 'One of my earliest recollections
+as a boy at Woburn Abbey is that of putting on Joseph Lancaster's broad
+hat and mimicking his mode of salutation.'
+
+Other changes were imminent. Lord Normanby had proved himself to be a
+popular Viceroy of Ireland; indeed, O'Connell asserted that he was one
+of the best Englishmen that had ever been sent across St. George's
+Channel in an official capacity. He was now Colonial Secretary; and, in
+spite of his virtues, he was scarcely the man for such a position--at
+all events, at a crisis in which affairs required firm handling. He
+managed matters so badly that the Under-Secretary (Mr. Labouchere,
+afterwards Lord Taunton) was in open revolt. The cards were accordingly
+shuffled in May 1839, and, amongst other and less significant changes,
+Normanby and Russell changed places. Lord John quickly made his presence
+felt at the Colonial Office. He was a patient listener to the permanent
+officials; indeed, he declared that he meant to give six months to
+making himself master of the new duties of his position. Like all men of
+the highest capacity, Lord John was never unwilling to learn. He held
+that the Imperial Government was bound not merely by honour, but by
+enlightened self-interest, to protect the rights and to advance the
+welfare of the Colonies. His words are significant, and it seems well to
+quote them, since they gather up the policy which he consistently
+followed: 'If Great Britain gives up her supremacy from a niggardly
+spirit of parsimony, or from a craven fear of helplessness, other Powers
+will soon look upon the Empire, not with the regard due to an equal, as
+she once was, but with jealousy of the height she once held, without the
+fear she once inspired. To build up an empire extending over every sea,
+swaying many diverse races, and combining many forms of religion,
+requires courage and capacity; to allow such an empire to fall to pieces
+is a task which may be performed by the poor in intellect, and the
+pusillanimous in conduct.'
+
+  [Sidenote: COLONIAL POLICY]
+
+When Lord John was once asked at the Colonial Office by an official of
+the French Government how much of Australia was claimed as the dominion
+of Great Britain, he promptly answered, 'The whole.' The visitor, quite
+taken aback, found it expedient to take his departure. Lord John
+vigorously assailed the view that colonies which had their own
+parliaments, framed on the British model, were virtually independent,
+and, therefore, had no right to expect more than moral help from the
+Mother Country. During his tenure of office New Zealand became part of
+the British dominions. By the treaty of Waitangi, the Queen assumed the
+sovereignty, and the new colony was assured of the protection of
+England. Lord John assured the British Provinces of North America that,
+so long as they wished to remain subjects of the Queen, they might
+confidently rely on the protection of England in all emergencies.
+
+Mr. Gladstone has in recent years done justice to the remarkable
+prescience, and scarcely less remarkable administrative skill, which
+Lord John brought to bear at a critical juncture in the conduct of the
+Colonial policy of the Melbourne Government. He lays stress on the
+'unfaltering courage' which Russell displayed in meeting, as far as was
+then possible, the legitimate demand for responsible self-government. It
+is not, therefore, surprising that, to borrow Mr. Gladstone's words,
+'Lord John Russell substituted harmony for antagonism in the daily
+conduct of affairs for those Colonies, each of which, in an infancy of
+irrepressible vigour, was bursting its swaddling clothes. Is it
+inexcusable to say that by this decision, which was far ahead of the
+current opinion of the day, he saved the Empire, possibly from
+disruption, certainly from much embarrassment and much discredit.'[11]
+Lord John was a man of vision. He saw, beyond most of his
+contemporaries, the coming magnitude of the Empire, and he did his best
+to shape on broad lines and to far-reaching issues the policy of England
+towards her children beyond the seas. Lord John recognised in no
+churlish or half-hearted spirit the claims of the Colonies, nor did he
+stand dismayed by the vision of Empire. 'There was a time when we might
+have stood alone,' are his words. 'That time has passed. We conquered
+and peopled Canada, we took possession of the whole of Australia, Van
+Dieman's Land, and New Zealand. We have annexed India to the Crown.
+There is no going back. For my part, I delight in observing the
+imitation of our free institutions, and even our habits and manners, in
+colonies at a distance from the Palace of Westminster.' He trusted the
+Colonies, and refused to believe that all the wisdom which was
+profitable to direct their affairs was centred in Downing Street. His
+attitude was sympathetic and generous, and at the same time it was
+candid and firm.
+
+Lord Stanmore's recollections of his father's colleague go back to this
+period, and will be read with interest: 'As a boy of ten or twelve I
+often saw Lord John. His half-sister, Lady Louisa Russell, was the wife
+of my half-brother, Lord Abercorn, and Lord John was a frequent guest at
+Lord Abercorn's villa at Stanmore, where my father habitually passed his
+Saturdays and Sundays during the session, and where I almost wholly
+lived. My first conscious remembrance of Lord John dates from the summer
+of 1839, and in that and the following years I often saw him at the
+Priory. Towards the close of 1839 Lord John lost his first wife, and the
+picture of his little figure, in deep mourning, walking by the side of
+my father on the gravel walks about the house in the spring and summer
+of 1840 is one vividly impressed on my recollection. His manner to
+children was not unpleasant, and I well remember his pausing, an amused
+listener to a childish and vehement political discussion between his
+step-daughter, Miss Lister, and myself--a discussion which he from time
+to time stirred up to increased animation by playfully mischievous
+suggestions.'
+
+  [Sidenote: A HOSTILE RESOLUTION]
+
+Early in the session of 1840, the Ministry was met by a vote of want of
+confidence, and in the course of the discussion Sir James Graham accused
+Lord John of encouraging sedition by appointing as magistrate one of the
+leaders of the Chartist agitation at Newport. Lord John, it turned out,
+had appointed Mr. Frost, the leader in question, on the advice of the
+Lord-Lieutenant, and he was able to prove that his own speech at
+Liverpool had been erroneously reported. The hostile resolution was
+accordingly repelled, and the division resulted in favour of the
+Government. For six years Turkey and Egypt had been openly hostile to
+each other, and in 1839 the war had been pushed to such extremities that
+Great Britain, Austria, Russia, and Prussia entered into a compact to
+bring about--by compulsion if necessary--a cessation of hostilities.
+Lord Holland and Lord Clarendon objected to England's share in the
+Treaty of July 1840, but Lord Palmerston compelled the Cabinet to
+acquiesce by a threat of resignation, and Lord John, at this crisis,
+showed that he was strongly in favour of his colleague's policy. The
+matter, however, was by no means settled, for once more a grave division
+of opinion in the party arose as to the wisdom of practically throwing
+away our alliance with France. Althorp--now Lord Spencer--reminded his
+former colleagues that that nation was most fitted to be our ally of any
+in Europe, on the threefold ground of situation, institutions, and
+civilisation.
+
+Lord John drew up a memorandum and submitted it to his colleagues, in
+which he recognised the rights of France, and proposed to summon her,
+under given conditions, to take measures with the other Powers to
+preserve the peace of Europe. The personal ascendency of Lord Palmerston
+on questions of foreign policy was, however, already so marked that Lord
+Melbourne--now his brother-in-law, was reluctant to insist on
+moderation. Lord John, however, stood firm, and the breaking up of the
+Government seemed inevitable. During the crisis which followed, Lord
+Palmerston, striking, as was his wont, from his own bat, rejected, under
+circumstances which Mr. Walpole has explained in detail in his Life of
+Lord John Russell, a proposal for a conference of the allied Powers.
+Lord John had already entered his protest against any one member of the
+Cabinet being allowed to conduct affairs as he pleased, without
+consultation or control, and he now informed Lord Melbourne in a letter
+dated November 1, 1840--which Mr. Walpole prints--that Palmerston's
+reply to Austria compelled him to once more consider his position, as he
+could not defend in the House of Commons measures which he thought
+wrong. Lord Melbourne promptly recognised that Russell was the only
+possible leader in the Commons, and he induced Lord Palmerston to admit
+his mistake over the despatch to Metternich, and in this way the
+misunderstanding was brought to an end. Meanwhile, the fortunes of the
+war in the East turned against Ibrahim Pasha, and Palmerston's policy,
+though not his manner of carrying it out, was justified.
+
+  [Sidenote: DIVIDED COUNSELS]
+
+The closing years of the Melbourne Administration were marked not only
+by divided counsels, but by actual blunders of policy, and in this
+connection it is perhaps enough to cite the Opium war against China and
+the foolhardy invasion of Afghanistan. At home the question of Free
+Trade was coming rapidly to the front, and the Anti-corn Law League,
+which was founded in Manchester in 1838, was already beginning to prove
+itself a power in the land. As far back as 1826, Hume had taken up his
+parable in Parliament against the Corn Laws as a blight on the trade of
+the country; and two years after the Reform Bill was passed he had
+returned to the attack, only to find, however, that the nation was still
+wedded to Protection. Afterwards, year after year, Mr. Villiers drew
+attention to the subject, and moved for an inquiry into the working of
+the Corn Laws. He declared that the existing system was opposed by the
+industry, the intelligence, and the commerce of the nation, and at
+length, in a half-hearted fashion, the Government found itself
+compelled, if it was to exist at all, to make some attempt to deal with
+the problem. Lord Melbourne, and some at least of his colleagues, were
+but little interested in the question, and they failed to gauge the
+feeling of the country.
+
+In the spring of 1841 action of some kind grew inevitable, and the
+Cabinet determined to propose a fixed duty of eight shillings per
+quarter on wheat, and to reduce the duty on sugar. Lord John opened the
+debate on the latter proposal in a speech which moved even Greville to
+enthusiasm; but neither his arguments nor his eloquence produced the
+desired impression on the House, for the Government was defeated by
+thirty-six votes. Everyone expected the Ministry at once to face the
+question of dissolution or resignation; but Melbourne was determined to
+cling to office as long as possible, in spite of the growing
+difficulties and even humiliations of his position. On June 4, the day
+on which Lord John was to bring forward his proposal for a fixed duty on
+wheat, Sir Robert Peel carried a vote of want of confidence by a
+majority of one, and, as an appeal to the country was at length
+inevitable, Parliament was dissolved a few days later. The Melbourne
+Ministry had outstayed its welcome. The manner in which it had left Lord
+Durham in the lurch over his ill-advised ordinances had aroused
+widespread indignation, for the multitude at least could not forget the
+greatness of his services to the cause of Reform. If the dissolution had
+come two or three years earlier, the Government might have gone to the
+country without fear; but in 1841, both at home and abroad, their
+blunders and their vacillation had alienated confidence, and it was not
+difficult to forecast the result. The General Election brought Lord John
+a personal triumph. He was presented with a requisition signed by
+several thousand persons, asking him to contest the City of London, and
+after an exciting struggle he was returned, though with only a narrow
+majority; and during the political vicissitudes of the next eighteen
+years London was faithful to him.
+
+Lord John Russell was essentially a home-loving man, and the gloom which
+bereavement had cast over his life in the autumn of 1839 was at best
+only partially dispelled by the close and sympathetic relations with his
+family. It was, therefore, with satisfaction that all his friends, both
+on his own account and that of his motherless young children, heard of
+his approaching second marriage. Immediately after the election for the
+City, Lord John was married to Lady Fanny Elliot, second daughter of the
+Earl of Minto, a union which brought him lasting happiness.
+
+  [Sidenote: 'A HOST IN HIMSELF']
+
+Parliament met in the middle of August, and the Government were defeated
+on the Address by a majority of ninety-one, and on August 28 Lord John
+found himself once more out of harness. In his speech in the House of
+Commons announcing the resignation of the Government, he said that the
+Whigs under Lord Grey had begun with the Reform Act, and that they were
+closing their tenure of power by proposals for the relief of commerce.
+The truth was, the Melbourne Administration had not risen to its
+opportunities. Its fixed duty on corn was a paltry compromise. The
+leaders of the party needed to be educated up to the level of the
+national demands. Opposition was to bring about unexpected political
+combinations and new political opportunities, and the years of conflict
+which were dawning were also to bring more clearly into view Lord John
+Russell's claims to the Liberal leadership. When the Melbourne
+Administration was manifestly losing the confidence of the nation,
+Rogers the poet was walking one day with the Duke of Wellington in Hyde
+Park, and the talk turned on the political situation. Rogers remarked,
+'What a powerful band Lord John Russell will have to contend with!
+There's Peel, Lord Stanley, Sir James Graham----;' and the Duke
+interrupted him at this point with the laconic reply, 'Lord John Russell
+is a host in himself.'
+
+Protection had triumphed at the General Election, and Sir Robert Peel
+came to power as champion of the Corn Laws. The Whigs had fallen between
+two stools, for the country was not in a humour to tolerate vacillation.
+The Melbourne Cabinet had, in truth, in the years which had witnessed
+its decline and fall, spoken with the voice of Jacob, but stretched
+forth the hands of Esau. The Radicals shook their heads, scouted the
+Ministry's deplorable efforts at finance, and felt, to say the least,
+lukewarm about their spirited foreign policy. 'I don't thank a man for
+supporting me when he thinks me right,' was the cynical confession of a
+statesman of an earlier generation; 'my gratitude is with the man who
+supports me when he thinks me wrong.' Melbourne was doubtless of the
+same mind; but the man in the crowd, of Liberal proclivities, was, for
+the most part, rather disgusted with the turn which affairs had taken,
+and the polling booths made it plain that he thought the Prime Minister
+wrong, and, that being the case, he was not obliging enough to return
+him to power. The big drum had been successfully beaten, moreover, at
+the General Election by the defenders of all sorts and sizes of vested
+interests, sinecures, monopolies, and the like, and Sir Robert
+Peel--though not without personal misgivings--accordingly succeeded
+Melbourne as First Lord, whilst Stanley, now the hope of stern unbending
+Tories, took Russell's place as Secretary for the Colonies.
+
+The annals of the Peel Administration of course lie outside the province
+of this monograph; they have already been told with insight and vigour
+in a companion volume, and the temptation to wander at a tangent into
+the history of the Queen's reign--especially with Lord John out of
+office--must be resisted in deference to the exigencies of space. In the
+Peel Cabinet the men who had revolted under Melbourne, with the
+exception of the Duke of Richmond, were rewarded with place and power.
+Lord Ripon, who was spoken of at the time with scarcely disguised
+contempt as a man of tried inefficiency, became President of the Board
+of Trade. Sir James Graham, a statesman who was becoming somewhat
+impervious to new ideas, and who as a Minister displayed little tact in
+regard to either movements or men, was appointed Home Secretary.
+Stanley, who had proved himself to be a strong man in the wrong camp,
+and therefore the evil genius of his party, now carried his
+unquestionable skill, and his brilliant powers of debate, as well as his
+imperious temper and contracted views, to the service of the Tories. One
+other man held a prominent place in Peel's Cabinet, and proved a tower
+of strength in it--Lord Aberdeen, who was Secretary for Foreign Affairs,
+and who did much to maintain the peace of Europe when the Tahiti
+incident and the Spanish marriages threatened embroilment. Lord
+Aberdeen, from 1841 to 1846, guided the foreign policy of England with
+ability and discretion, and, as a matter of fact, steered the nation
+through diplomatic quarrels which, if Lord Palmerston had been at the
+Foreign Office, would probably have ended in war. This circumstance
+heightens the irony of his subsequent career.
+
+  [Sidenote: THE POLITICAL OUTLOOK]
+
+The outlook, political and social, when Peel took office and Russell
+confronted him as leader of the Opposition, was gloomy and full of
+hazard. The times, in Peel's judgment, were 'out of joint,' and this
+threw party Government out of joint and raised issues which confused
+ordinary minds. The old political catchwords 'Peace, retrenchment, and
+reform,' no longer awoke enthusiasm. Civil and religious liberty were
+all very well in their way, but they naturally failed to satisfy men and
+women who were ground down by economic oppression, and were famished
+through lack of bread. The social condition of England was deplorable,
+for, though the Reform Bill had brought in its wake measures of relief
+for the middle classes, it had left the artisans and the peasants almost
+where it found them. In spite of the new Poor Law and other enactments,
+the people were burdened with the curse of bitter and hopeless poverty,
+and the misery and squalor in which they were permitted to live threw a
+menacing shadow over the fair promise of the opening years of the young
+Queen's reign. The historians of the period are responsible for the
+statement that in Manchester, for example, one-tenth of the population
+lived in cellars; even in the rural districts, the overcrowding, with
+all its attending horrors in the direction of disease and vice, was
+scarcely less terrible, for in one parish in Dorset thirty-six persons
+dwelt, on an average, in each house. The wonder is, not that the
+Anti-Corn Law League under such circumstances grew strong and the demand
+for the People's Charter rang through the land, but that the masses in
+town and country alike bore the harsh servitude of their lot with the
+patience that was common, and with the heroism that was not rare.
+
+  [Sidenote: PEEL'S OPEN MIND]
+
+Lord John Russell never refused to admit the ability of Peel's
+Administration. He described it as powerful, popular, and successful. He
+recognised the honesty of his great rival, his openness of mind, the
+courage which he displayed in turning a deaf ear to the croakers in his
+own Cabinet, and the genuine concern which he manifested for the
+unredressed grievances of the people. In his 'Recollections' he lays
+stress on the fact that Sir Robert Peel did not hesitate, when he
+thought such a step essential to the public welfare, to risk the fate of
+his Ministry on behalf of an unpopular measure. Ireland was a stone of
+stumbling in his path, and long after he had parted with his old ideas
+of Protestant ascendency he found himself confronted with the suspicion
+of the Roman Catholics, who, in Lord John's words, 'obstinately refused
+favours at Peel's hands, which they would have been willing to accept
+from a Liberal Administration.' The allusion is, of course, to the
+Maynooth Grant--a measure of practical relief to the Irish Catholics,
+which would, without doubt, have thrown Sir Robert Peel out of office if
+he had been left to the tender mercies of his own supporters. Disraeli
+was fond of asserting that Peel lacked imagination, and there was a
+measure of truth in the charge. He was a great patriotic statesman,
+haunted by no foolish bugbear of consistency, but willing to learn by
+experience, and courageous enough to follow what he believed to be
+right, with unpolitical but patriotic scorn of consequence. Men with
+stereotyped ideas, who persisted in interpreting concession, however
+just, as weakness, and reform, however urgent, as revolution, were
+unable to follow such a leader.
+
+Peel might lack imagination, but he never lacked courage, and the
+generosity of vision which imposed on courage great and difficult tasks
+of statesmanship. He could educate himself--for he kept an open
+mind--and was swift to seize and to interpret great issues in the
+affairs of the nation; but it was altogether a different matter for him
+to educate his party. In the spring of 1845, Sir Robert Peel determined
+to meet the situation in Ireland by bold proposals for the education of
+the Catholic priesthood. Almost to the close of the eighteenth century
+the Catholics were compelled by the existing laws to train young men
+intended for the work of the priesthood in Ireland in French colleges,
+since no seminary of the kind was permitted in Ireland. The French
+Revolution overthrew this arrangement, and in 1795, by an Act of the
+Irish Parliament, Maynooth College was founded, and was supported by
+annual grants, which were continued, though not without much
+opposition, by the Imperial Parliament after the Union. On April 3, Sir
+Robert Peel brought forward his measure for dealing in a generous manner
+with the needs and claims of this great institution. He proposed that
+the annual grant should be raised from 9,000_l._ to upwards of
+26,000_l._, that a charter of incorporation should be given, and that
+the trustees should be allowed to hold land to the value of 3,000_l._ a
+year. He also proposed that the new endowment should be a charge upon
+the Consolidated Fund, so that angry discussions of the kind in which
+bigotry and prejudice delight might be avoided. Moreover, in order to
+restore and enlarge the college buildings, Sir Robert finally proposed
+an immediate and separate grant of 30,000_l._ Few statesmen were more
+sensitive than Peel, but, convinced of the justice of such a concession,
+he spoke that day amid the angry opposition of the majority of his usual
+supporters and the approving cheers of his ordinary opponents.
+
+Peel was not the man to falter, although his party was in revolt. He had
+gauged the forces which were arrayed in Ireland against the authority of
+Parliament; he stated in his final words on the subject that there was
+in that country a formidable confederacy, which was prepared to go any
+lengths against a hard interpretation of the supremacy of England. 'I do
+not believe that you can break it up by force; I believe you can do much
+by acting in a spirit of kindness, forbearance, and generosity.' At once
+a great storm of opposition arose in Parliament, on the platform, and in
+the Press. The Carlton Club found itself brought into sudden and
+unexpected agreement with many a little Bethel up and down the country,
+for the champions of 'No Surrender' in Pall Mall were of one mind with
+those of 'No Popery' in Exeter Hall. Society for the moment, according
+to Harriet Martineau, seemed to be going mad, and she saw enough to
+convince her that it was not the extent of the grant that was deprecated
+so much as an advance in that direction at all. Public indignation ran
+so high that in some instances members of Parliament were called upon to
+resign their seats, whilst Dublin--so far at least as its sentiments
+were represented by the Protestant Operative Association--was for
+nothing less than the impeachment of the unhappy Prime Minister.
+Sectarian animosity, whipped into fury by rhetorical appeals to its
+prejudices, encouraged the paper trade by interminable petitions to
+Parliament; and three nights were spent in debate in the Lords and six
+in the Commons over the second reading of the bill.
+
+  [Sidenote: HOW PEEL TRIUMPHED]
+
+Lord John Russell was assailed with threatening letters as soon as it
+was known that he intended to help Peel to outweather the storm of
+obloquy which he was called to encounter. Sir Robert's proposals were
+welcomed by him as a new and worthy departure from the old repressive
+policy. It was because he thought that such a measure would go far to
+conciliate the Catholics of Ireland, as well as to prove to them that
+any question which touched their interests and welfare was not a matter
+of unconcern to the statesmen and people of England, that he gave--with
+a loyalty only too rare in public life--his powerful support to a
+Minister who would otherwise have been driven to bay by his own
+followers. It was, in fact, owing to Lord John's action that Peel
+triumphed over the majority of his own party, and his speech in support
+of the Ministry, though not remarkable for eloquence, was admirable
+alike in temper and in tact, and was hailed at the moment as a presage
+of victory. 'Peel lives, moves, and has his being through Lord John
+Russell,' was Lord Shaftesbury's comment at the moment. Looking back at
+the crisis from the leisure of retirement, Lord John Russell declared
+that the Maynooth Act was a work of wisdom and liberality, and one which
+ought always to be remembered to the honour of the statesman who
+proposed and carried it. The controversy over the Maynooth Grant
+revealed how great was the gulf between Peel and the majority of the
+Tories, and Greville, as usual, in his own incisive way hit off the
+situation. 'The truth is that the Government is Peel, that Peel is a
+Reformer and more of a Whig than a Tory, and that the mass of his
+followers are prejudiced, ignorant, obstinate, and selfish.' Peel
+declared that he looked with indifference on a storm which he thought
+partly fanatical and partly religious in its origin, and he added that
+he was careless as to the consequences which might follow the passing of
+the Maynooth Bill, so far at least as they concerned his own position.
+
+Meanwhile another and far greater question was coming forward with
+unsuspected rapidity for solution. The summer of 1845 was cold and wet,
+and its dark skies and drenching showers were followed by a miserable
+harvest. With the approach of autumn the fields were flooded and the
+farmers in consequence in despair. Although England and Scotland
+suffered greatly, the disaster fell with still greater force on Ireland.
+As the anxious weeks wore on, alarm deepened into actual distress, for
+there arose a mighty famine in the land. The potato crop proved a
+disastrous failure, and with the approach of winter starvation joined
+its eloquence to that of Cobden and Bright in their demand for the
+repeal of the Corn Laws. In speaking afterwards of that terrible crisis,
+and of the services which Cobden and himself were enabled to render to
+the nation, John Bright used these memorable words: 'Do not suppose
+that I wish you to imagine that he and I were the only persons engaged
+in this great question. We were not even the first, though afterwards,
+perhaps, we became before the public the foremost, but there were others
+before us, and we were joined, not by scores, but by hundreds, and
+afterwards by thousands, and afterwards by countless multitudes, and
+afterwards famine itself, against which we had warred, joined us, and a
+great Minister was converted, and minorities became majorities, and
+finally the barrier was entirely thrown down.'
+
+  [Sidenote: COBDEN'S PREDICTION]
+
+Quite early in the history of the Anti-Corn-Law League, Cobden had
+predicted, in spite of the apathy and opposition which the derided
+Manchester school of politics then encountered, at a time when Peel and
+Russell alike turned a deaf ear to its appeals, that the repeal of the
+Corn Laws would be eventually carried in Parliament by a 'statesman of
+established reputation.' Argument and agitation prepared the way for
+this great measure of practical relief, but the multitude were not far
+from the mark when they asserted that it was the rain that destroyed the
+Corn Laws.[12] The imperative necessity of bringing food from abroad if
+the people were not to perish for lack of bread brought both Sir Robert
+Peel and Lord John Russell almost at the same moment to the conclusion
+that this great economic problem must at once be faced. Peel declared in
+1847 that towards the end of 1845 he had reached the conclusion that the
+repeal of the Corn Laws was indispensable to the public welfare. If
+that was so, he seems to have kept his opinion to himself, for as late
+as November 29, in the memorandum which he sent to his colleagues, there
+is no hint of abolition. On the contrary, Sir Robert, who was always
+fond of setting forth three alternatives of action, wrote as follows:
+'Time presses, and on some definite course we must decide. Shall we
+undertake without suspension to modify the existing Corn Law? Shall we
+resolve to maintain the existing Corn Law? Shall we advise the
+suspension of that law for a limited period? My opinion is for the last
+course, admitting as I do that it involves the necessity for the
+immediate consideration of the alterations to be made in the existing
+Corn Law; such alterations to take effect after the period of
+suspension. I should rather say it involves the question of the
+principle and degree of protection to agriculture.'[13] As to the
+justice of the demand for Free Trade, Peel, there can be no doubt, was
+already convinced; but his party was regarded as the stronghold of
+Protection, and he knew enough of the men who sat behind him to be fully
+alive to the fact that they still clung tenaciously to the fallacies
+which Adam Smith had exploded. 'We had ill luck,' were Lord Aberdeen's
+words to the Queen; 'if it had not been for the famine in Ireland, which
+rendered immediate measures necessary, Sir Robert would have prepared
+the party gradually for the change.'[14]
+
+  [Sidenote: THE 'EDINBURGH LETTER']
+
+Cobden, it is only fair to state, made no secret of his conviction that
+the question of the repeal of the Corn Laws was safer in the hands of
+Sir Robert than of Lord John. Peel might be less versed in
+constitutional questions, but he was more in touch with the
+manufacturing classes, and more familiar with economic conditions. Sir
+Robert, however, was sore let and hindered by the weaklings of his own
+Cabinet, and the rats did not disguise their intention of quitting the
+ship. Lord John Russell, who was spending the autumn in Scotland, was
+the first 'responsible statesman' to take decisive action, for whilst
+Peel, hampered by the vacillation and opposition of his colleagues,
+still hesitated, Russell took the world into his confidence in his
+historic 'Edinburgh Letter,' dated November 22, 1845, to his
+constituents in London. It was a bold and uncompromising declaration of
+policy, for the logic of events had at length convinced Lord John that
+any further delay was dangerous. He complained that Her Majesty's
+Ministers had not only met, but separated, without affording the nation
+any promise of immediate relief. He pointed out that the existing duties
+on corn were so contrived that, the worse the quality of the wheat, the
+higher was the duty. 'When good wheat rises to seventy shillings a
+quarter, the average price of all wheat is fifty-seven or fifty-eight
+shillings, and the duty fourteen or fifteen shillings a quarter. Thus
+the corn barometer points to fair, while the ship is bending under a
+storm.' He reviewed the course of recent legislation on the subject, and
+declared that he had for years endeavoured to obtain a compromise. He
+showed that Peel had opposed in 1839, 1840, and 1841, even qualified
+concession, and he added the stinging allusion to that statesman's
+attitude on other great questions of still earlier date. 'He met the
+proposition for diminished Protection in the same way in which he had
+met the offer of securities for Protestant interests in 1817 and
+1825--in the same way in which he met the proposal to allow Manchester,
+Leeds, and Birmingham to send members to Parliament in 1830.' Finally,
+Lord John announced his conviction that it was no longer worth while to
+contend for a fixed duty, and his vigorous attack on the Ministry ended
+with a call to arms. 'Let us unite to put an end to a system which has
+been proved to be the blight of commerce, the bane of agriculture, the
+source of bitter divisions among classes, the cause of penury, fever,
+mortality, and crime among the people. The Government appear to be
+waiting for some excuse to give up the present Corn Law. Let the people,
+by petition, by address, by remonstrance, afford them the excuse they
+seek.'
+
+  [Sidenote: THE 'POISONED CHALICE']
+
+Sir Robert, when this manifesto appeared, had almost conquered the
+reluctance of his own Cabinet to definite action; but his position grew
+now untenable in consequence of the panic of Stanley and the Duke of
+Buccleuch. Lord John's speech was quickly followed by a Ministerial
+crisis, and Peel, beset by fightings without and fears within his
+Cabinet, had no alternative but resignation. He accordingly relinquished
+office on December 5, and three days later Lord John, much to his own
+surprise, was summoned to Windsor and entrusted with the task of forming
+a new Ministry. He was met by difficulties which, in spite of
+negotiations, proved insurmountable, for Howick, who had succeeded in
+the previous summer to his distinguished father's earldom, refused to
+serve with Palmerston. Lord Grey raised another point which might
+reasonably have been conceded, for he urged that Cobden, as the leader
+of the Anti-Corn-Law League, ought to have the offer of a seat in the
+Cabinet. Lord John was unable to bring about an amicable understanding,
+and therefore, as the year was closing, he was compelled to inform her
+Majesty of the fact, and to hand back what Disraeli theatrically
+described as the 'poisoned chalice' to Sir Robert. 'It is all at an
+end,' wrote Lord John to his wife. 'Power may come, some day or other,
+in a less odious shape.'
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[10] Justice has never yet been done to the founder of the Lancasterian
+system of education. Joseph Lancaster was a remarkable man who aroused
+the conscience of the nation, and even the dull intelligence of George
+III., to the imperative need of popular education.
+
+[11] 'The Melbourne Government: its Acts and Persons,' by the Right Hon.
+W. E. Gladstone, M.P. _The Nineteenth Century_, January 1890, p. 50.
+
+[12] 'The Corn Law of 1815 was a copy of the Corn Law of 1670--so little
+had economic science grown in England during all those years. The Corn
+Law of 1670 imposed a duty on the importation of foreign grain which
+amounted almost literally to a prohibition.'--_Sir Robert Peel_, by
+Justin McCarthy, M.P., chapter xii. p. 136.
+
+[13] _The Croker Papers_, edited by Louis Jennings, vol. iii. p. 35.
+
+[14] _Life of the Prince Consort_, by Sir Theodore Martin, vol. i. p.
+317.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+FACTION AND FAMINE
+
+1846-1847
+
+     Peel and Free Trade--Disraeli and Lord George Bentinck lead the
+     attack--Russell to the rescue--Fall of Peel--Lord John summoned to
+     power--Lord John's position in the Commons and in the country--The
+     Condition of Ireland question--Famine and its deadly work--The
+     Russell Government and measures of relief--Crime and coercion--The
+     Whigs and Education--Factory Bill--The case of Dr. Hampden.
+
+
+LORD STANLEY'S place in the 'organised hypocrisy,' as the Protectionists
+termed the last Ministry of Sir Robert Peel, was taken by Mr. Gladstone.
+Sir Robert Peel resumed office in the closing days of December, and all
+the members of his old Cabinet, on the principle of bowing to the
+inevitable, returned with him, except the Duke of Buccleuch and Lord
+Stanley, who resolutely declined to have part or lot in the new
+departure which the Premier now felt called upon to make. The Duke of
+Wellington, though hostile to Free Trade, determined to stand by Peel;
+but he did not disguise the fact that his only reason for remaining in
+office was for the sake of the Queen. He declared that he acted as the
+'retained servant of the monarchy,' for he did not wish her Majesty to
+be placed under the necessity of taking members of the Anti-Corn-Law
+League, or, as he put it, 'Cobden & Co.,' for her responsible advisers.
+
+  [Sidenote: THE QUEEN'S SPEECH]
+
+The opening days of 1846 were full of political excitement, and were
+filled with all kinds of rumours. Wellington, on January 6, wrote: 'I
+don't despair of the Corn Laws,' and confessed that he did not know what
+were the intentions of Sir Robert Peel concerning them.[15] Peel kept
+his own counsel, though the conviction grew that he had persuaded
+himself that in boldness lay the chance as well as the duty of the hour.
+Peel, like Russell, was converted to Free Trade by the logic of events,
+and he determined at all hazards to avow the new faith that was in him.
+Parliament was opened by the Queen in person on January 22, and the
+Speech from the Throne laid stress on the privation and suffering in
+Ireland, and shadowed forth the repeal of prohibitive and the relaxation
+of protective duties. The debate on the Address was rendered memorable
+by Peel's explanations of the circumstances under which the recent
+crisis had arisen. He made a long speech, and the tone of it, according
+to Lord Malmesbury, was half threatening and half apologetic. It was a
+manly, straightforward statement of the case, and Sir Robert made it
+plain that he had accepted the views of the Manchester school on the
+Corn Laws, and was prepared to act without further hesitation on his
+convictions. One significant admission was added. He stated before he
+sat down that it was 'no easy task to insure the harmonious and united
+action of an ancient monarchy, a proud aristocracy, and a reformed House
+of Commons.'
+
+New interests were, in fact, beginning to find a voice in Parliament,
+and that meant the beginning of the principle of readjustment which is
+yet in progress. A few days later the Prime Minister explained his
+financial plans for the year, and in the course of them he proposed the
+gradual repeal of the Corn Laws. Free trade in corn was, in fact, to
+take final effect after an interval of three years. Meanwhile the
+sliding scale was to be abandoned in favour of a fixed duty of ten
+shillings the quarter on corn, and other concessions for the relief not
+only of agriculture but of manufactures and commerce were announced. The
+principle of Free Trade was, in fact, applied not in one but in many
+directions, and from that hour its legislative triumph was assured. In
+the course of the protracted debate which followed, Disraeli, with all
+the virulence of a disappointed place-hunter, attacked Sir Robert Peel
+with bitter personalities and barbed sarcasm. On this occasion, throwing
+decency and good taste to the winds, and, to borrow a phrase of his own,
+'intoxicated with the exuberance of his own verbosity,' and with no lack
+of tawdry rhetoric and melodramatic emphasis, he did his best to cover
+with ridicule and to reduce to confusion one of the most chivalrous and
+lofty-minded statesmen of the Queen's reign.
+
+  [Sidenote: OUTCAST PROTECTIONISTS]
+
+Disraeli's audacity in attack did much to revive the drooping courage of
+the Protectionist party, the leadership of which fell for the moment
+into the hands of Lord George Bentinck, a nobleman more renowned at
+Newmarket than at Westminster. Once saddled with authority, Lord George
+developed some capacity for politics; but his claims as a statesman were
+never serious, though Disraeli, in the political biography which he
+published shortly after his friend's sudden death, gives him credit for
+qualities of mind of which the nation at large saw little evidence.
+After long and tedious discussion, extending over some twenty nights,
+the Free Trade Bill was carried through the Commons by a majority of
+ninety-eight votes, and in the Lords it passed the second reading by
+forty-seven votes. Croker--true to the dismal suggestion of his
+name--promptly took up his parable against Sir Robert. He declared that
+the repeal of the Corn Laws meant a schism in the great landed interest
+and broad acres, in his view, were the only solid foundation on which
+the government of the nation could possibly be based. He asked, how was
+it possible to resist the attack on the Irish Church and the Irish Union
+after the surrender of the Corn Laws? He wanted to know how
+primogeniture, the Bishops, the House of Lords, and the Crown itself
+were to be maintained, now that the leader of the Conservative party had
+truckled to the League. Sir Robert Peel, he added, had imperilled these
+institutions of the country more than Cobbett or O'Connell; he had
+broken up the old interests, divided the great families, and thrown
+personal hostility into the social life of half the counties of
+England--and all to propitiate Richard Cobden. Such was the bitter cry
+of the outcast Protectionist, and similar vapourings arose in cliques
+and clubs all over the land. The abolition of the Corn Laws was the last
+measure of Sir Robert Peel's political life, and he owed the victory,
+which was won amid the murmurs and threats of his own followers, to the
+support which his political antagonists gave him, under the leadership
+of Lord John Russell, who recognised both the wisdom and the expediency
+of Sir Robert's course.
+
+Meanwhile the dark winter of discontent which privation had unhappily
+brought about in Ireland had been marked by many crimes of violence, and
+at length the Government deemed it imperative to ask Parliament to grant
+them additional powers for the suppression of outrage. The measure met
+with the opposition alike of Lord John Russell and Daniel O'Connell.
+The Government moved the second reading of the Irish Coercion Bill, and
+the Protectionists, who knew very well not only the views of Daniel
+O'Connell, but of Smith O'Brien, saw their opportunity and promptly took
+it. Lord George Bentinck had supported the Coercion Bill on its
+introduction in the spring, and had done so in the most unmistakable
+terms. He was not the man, however, to forego the mean luxury of
+revenge, and neither he nor Disraeli could forgive what they regarded as
+Sir Robert's great betrayal of the landed interest. He now had the
+audacity to assert that Peel had lost the confidence of every honest man
+both within and without the House of Commons, and in spite of his
+assurances of support he ranged himself for the moment with Russell and
+O'Connell to crush the Administration. The division took place on June
+25, and in a House of 571 members the Ministry was defeated by a
+majority of 73. The defeat of the Government was so crushing that Whigs
+and Protectionists alike, on the announcement of the figures, were too
+much taken aback to cheer. 'Anything,' said Sir Robert, 'is preferable
+to maintaining ourselves in office without a full measure of the
+confidence of this House.'
+
+  [Sidenote: THE RUSSELL CABINET]
+
+Lord John had triumphed with the help of the Irish, whom Peel had
+alienated; but the great Minister's downfall had in part been
+accomplished by the treachery of those who abandoned him with clamour
+and evil-speaking in the hour of need. Defeat was followed within a week
+by resignation, and on July 4 Peel, writing from the leisured seclusion
+of Drayton Manor, 'in the loveliest weather,' was magnanimous enough to
+say, 'I have every disposition to forgive my enemies for having
+conferred on me the blessing of the loss of power.' Lord John was
+summoned to Windsor, and kissed hands on July 6. He became Prime
+Minister when the condition of affairs was gloomy and menacing, and the
+following passage from his wife's journal, written on July 14, conjures
+up in two or three words a vivid picture of the difficulties of the
+hour: 'John has much to distress him in the state of the country. God
+grant him success in his labours to amend it! Famine, fever, trade
+failing, and discontent growing are evils which it requires all his
+resolution, sense of duty, and love for the public to face.' Lord
+Palmerston was, of course, inevitable as Foreign Secretary in the new
+Administration; Sir Charles Wood became Chancellor of the Exchequer, and
+Sir George Grey, Home Secretary. Earl Grey's scruples were at length
+satisfied, and he became Secretary to the Colonies; whilst Lord
+Clarendon took office as President of the Board of Trade, and Lord
+Lansdowne became President of the Council. Among the lesser lights of
+the Ministry were Sir J. C. Hobhouse, Mr. Milner Gibson, Mr. Fox Maule,
+Lord Morpeth, and Mr. (afterwards Lord) Macaulay. Sir James Graham was
+offered the Governor-Generalship of India, but he had aspirations at
+Westminster, which, however, were never fulfilled, and declined the
+offer. The Tory party was demoralised and split up into cliques by
+suspicion and indignation. Stanley was in the House of Lords by this
+time, Peel was in disgrace, and Lord George Bentinck was already
+beginning to cut a somewhat ridiculous figure, whilst nobody as yet was
+quite prepared to take Disraeli seriously. 'We are left masters of the
+field,' wrote Palmerston, with a touch of characteristic humour, 'not
+only on account of our own merits, which, though we say it ourselves,
+are great, but by virtue of the absence of any efficient competitors.'
+
+The new Ministry began well. Lord John's address to his constituents in
+the City made an excellent impression, and was worthy of the man and the
+occasion. 'You may be assured that I shall not desert in office the
+principles to which I adhered when they were less favourably received. I
+cannot indeed claim the merit either of having carried measures of Free
+Trade as a Minister, or of having so prepared the public mind by any
+exertions of mine as to convert what would have been an impracticable
+attempt into a certain victory. To others belong those distinctions. But
+I have endeavoured to do my part in this great work according to my
+means and convictions, first by proposing a temperate relaxation of the
+Corn Laws, and afterwards, when that measure has been repeatedly
+rejected, by declaring in favour of total repeal, and using every
+influence I could exert to prevent a renewal of the struggle for an
+object not worth the cost of conflict. The Government of this country
+ought to behold with an impartial eye the various portions of the
+community engaged in agriculture, in manufactures, and in commerce. The
+feeling that any of them is treated with injustice provokes ill-will,
+disturbs legislation, and diverts attention from many useful and
+necessary reforms. Great social improvements are required: public
+education is manifestly imperfect; the treatment of criminals is a
+problem yet undecided; the sanitary condition of our towns and villages
+has been grossly neglected. Our recent discussions have laid bare the
+misery, the discontent, and outrages of Ireland; they are too clearly
+authenticated to be denied, too extensive to be treated by any but the
+most comprehensive means.'
+
+  [Sidenote: EVER A FIGHTER]
+
+Lord John had been thirty-three years in the House of Commons when he
+became for the first time Prime Minister. The distinction of rank and of
+an historic name gave him in 1813, when government by great families
+was still more than a phrase, a splendid start. The love of liberty
+which he inherited as a tradition grew strong within him, partly through
+his residence in Edinburgh under Dugald Stewart, partly through the
+generous and stimulating associations of Holland House, but still more,
+perhaps, because of the tyranny of which he was an eye-witness during
+his travels as a youth in Italy and Spain at a period when Europe lay
+under the heel of Napoleon. Lord John was ever a fighter, and the
+political conflicts of his early manhood against the triple alliance of
+injustice, bigotry, and selfish apathy in the presence of palpable
+social abuses lent ardour to his convictions, tenacity to his aims, and
+boldness to his attitude in public life. Although an old Parliamentary
+hand, he was in actual years only fifty-four when he came to supreme
+office in the service of the State, but he had already succeeded in
+placing great measures on the Statute Book, and he had also won
+recognition on both sides of the House as a leader of fearless courage,
+open mind, and great fertility of resource alike in attack and in
+defence. Peel, his most formidable rival on the floor of the Commons,
+hinted that Lord John Russell was small in small things, but, he added
+significantly that, when the issues grew great, he was great also.
+Everyone who looks at Lord John's career in its length and breadth must
+admit the justice of such a criticism. On one occasion he himself said,
+in speaking of the first Lord Halifax, that the favourite of Charles II.
+had 'too keen a perception of errors and faults to act well with
+others,' and the remark might have been applied to himself. There were
+times when Lord John, by acting hastily on the impulse of the moment,
+landed his colleagues in serious and unlooked for difficulties, and
+sometimes it happened that in his anxiety to clear his own soul by
+taking an independent course, he compromised to a serious extent the
+position of others.
+
+Lord Melbourne's cynical remark, to the effect that nobody did anything
+very foolish except from some strong principle, carries with it a
+tribute to motive as well as a censure on action, and it is certain that
+the promptings to which Lord John yielded in the questionable phases of
+his public career were not due to the adroit and calculating temper of
+self-interest. His weaknesses were indeed, after all, trivial in
+comparison to his strength. He rose to the great occasion and was
+inspired by it. All that was formal and hesitating in manner and speech
+disappeared, and under the combined influence of the sense of
+responsibility and the excitement of the hour 'languid Johnny,' to
+borrow Bulwer Lytton's phrase, 'soared to glorious John.' Palmerston,
+like Melbourne, was all things to all men. His easy nonchalance, sunny
+temper, and perfect familiarity with the ways of the world and the
+weaknesses of average humanity, gave him an advantage which Lord John,
+with his nervous temperament, indifferent health, fastidious tastes, shy
+and rather distant bearing, and uncompromising convictions, never
+possessed. Russell's ethical fervour and practical energetic bent of
+mind divided him sharply from politicians who lived from hand to mouth,
+and were never consumed by a zeal for reform in one direction or
+another; and these qualities sometimes threw him into a position of
+singular isolation. The wiles and artifices by which less proud and less
+conscientious men win power, and the opportune compliments and unwatched
+concessions by which too often they retain it, lay amongst the things to
+which he refused to stoop.
+
+  [Sidenote: HIS PRACTICAL SAGACITY]
+
+Men might think Lord John taciturn, angular, abrupt, tenacious, and
+dogmatic, but it was impossible not to recognise his honesty, public
+spirit, pluck in the presence of difficulty, and high interpretation of
+the claims of public duty which marked his strenuous and indomitable
+career. His qualifications for the post of Prime Minister were not open
+to challenge. He was deeply versed in constitutional problems, and had
+received a long and varied training in the handling of great affairs. He
+possessed to an enviable degree the art of lucid exposition, and could
+render intricate proposals luminous to the public mind. He was a shrewd
+Parliamentary tactician, as well as a statesman who had worthily gained
+the confidence of the nation. He was ready in debate, swift to see and
+to seize the opportunity of the hour. He was full of practical sagacity,
+and his personal character lent weight to his position in the country.
+In the more militant stages of his career, and especially when he was
+fighting the battles of Parliamentary reform and religious liberty, he
+felt the full brunt of that 'sullen resistance to innovation,' as well
+as that 'unalterable perseverance in the wisdom of prejudice,' which
+Burke declared was characteristic of the English race. The natural
+conservatism of growing years, it must be frankly admitted, led
+eventually in Lord John's case, as in that of the majority of mankind,
+to the slackening of interest in the new problems of a younger
+generation, but to the extreme verge of life he remained far too great a
+statesman and much too generous a man ever to lapse into the position of
+a mere _laudator temporis acti_. Lord John did not allow the few
+remaining weeks of a protracted and exhaustive session to elapse without
+a vigorous attempt to push the principle of Free Trade to its logical
+issues. He passed a measure which rendered the repeal of the Corn Laws
+total and immediate, and he carried, with the support of Peel and in
+spite of the opposition of Bentinck and Disraeli, the abolition of
+protection to sugar grown in the British Colonies.
+
+Ireland quickly proved itself to be a stone of stumbling and a rock of
+offence to the new Administration. Lord John's appointment of Lord
+Bessborough--his old colleague, Duncannon, in the Committee on Reform in
+1830--as viceroy was popular, for he was a resident Irish landlord, and
+a man who was genuinely concerned for the welfare of the people.
+O'Connell trusted Lord Bessborough, and that, in the disturbed condition
+of the country, counted for much. The task of the new viceroy was hard,
+even with such support, and though Bessborough laboured manfully and
+with admirable tact to better the social condition of the people and to
+exorcise the spirit of discord, the forces arrayed against him proved
+resistless when famine came to their aid. As the summer slipped past,
+crime and outrage increased, and the prospect for the approaching winter
+grew not merely gloomy but menacing. Peel had been turned out of office
+because of his Irish Arms Bill, and Bessborough was no sooner installed
+in Dublin than he made urgent representations to the Cabinet in Downing
+Street as to the necessity of adopting similar repressive measures, in
+view of the prevailing lawlessness and the contempt for life and
+property which in the disaffected districts were only too common. In
+August the crisis was already so acute that the Government, yielding to
+the fears of its Irish advisers, stultified itself by proposing the
+renewal of the Arms Bill until the following spring. The step was ill
+advised, and provoked much hostile criticism. Lord John did not relish
+the measure, but Lord Bessborough declared that Ireland could not be
+governed for the moment without it, and as he also talked of throwing
+up his appointment, and was supported in this view of the situation by
+Mr. Labouchere (afterwards Lord Taunton), who at that time was Chief
+Secretary, the Prime Minister gave way and introduced in the House of
+Commons proposals which were out of keeping with his own antecedents,
+and which he personally disliked. In speaking of Sir Robert Peel's
+Coercion Bill in his published 'Recollections,' Lord John makes no
+secret of his own attitude towards the measure. 'I objected to the Bill
+on Irish grounds. I then thought, and I still think, that it is wrong to
+arrest men and put them in prison on the ground that they _may_ be
+murderers and housebreakers. They may be, on the other hand, honest
+labourers going home from their work.' On the contrary, he thought that
+every means ought to be promptly taken for discovering the perpetrators
+of crime and bringing them to justice, and he also believed in giving
+the authorities on the spot ample means of dealing with the reign of
+terror which agrarian outrages had established.
+
+  [Sidenote: THE IRONY OF THE SITUATION]
+
+If O'Connell had been at Lord John's side at that juncture, England
+might have sent a practical message of good-will to Ireland instead of
+falling back on the old policy of coercion. O'Connell had learnt to
+trust Russell--as far, at least, as it was possible for a leader of the
+Irish people to trust a Whig statesman--and Russell, on the other hand,
+was beginning to understand not merely O'Connell, but the forces which
+lay behind him, and which rendered him, quite apart from his own
+eloquence and gifts, powerful. Unfortunately, the Liberator was by this
+time broken in health, and the Young Ireland party were already in
+revolt against his authority, a circumstance which, in itself, filled
+the Premier with misgivings, and led him to give way, however
+reluctantly, to the demand of the viceroy for repressive measures. Lord
+John was, in fact, only too well aware that force was no remedy. He
+wished, as much as O'Connell, to root up the causes which produced
+crime. Young Ireland, however, seemed determined to kick over the traces
+at the very time when the Liberator was inducing the Whigs to look at
+the question in a practical manner. Lord John knew, to borrow his own
+expression, that the 'armoury of penal legislation was full of the
+weapons of past battles, and yet the victory of order and peace had not
+been gained.' The Liberal party set its face against coercion in any
+shape or form, and the Government withdrew a proposal which they ought
+never to have introduced. This course had scarcely been taken when a new
+and terrible complication of the social problem in Ireland arose.
+
+  [Sidenote: THE IRISH FAMINE]
+
+Famine suddenly made its presence felt, and did so in a manner which
+threw the privation and scarcity of the previous winter altogether into
+the shade. The potato crop was a disastrous failure, and, as the summer
+waned, the distress of an impoverished and thriftless race grew acute.
+The calamity was as crushing as it was rapid. 'On July 27,' are Father
+Mathew's words, 'I passed from Cork to Dublin, and this doomed plant
+bloomed in all the luxuriance of an abundant harvest. Returning on
+August 3 I beheld with sorrow one wide waste of putrefying vegetation.'
+A million and a half of acres were at the moment under cultivation, and
+the blight only spared a quarter of them, whilst, to make matters worse,
+the oat crop, by an unhappy coincidence, proved to a startling extent
+insufficient. The financial loss in that disastrous harvest, in the
+reckoning of experts, amounted to between fifteen and sixteen millions
+sterling. Fever and dysentery made fatal inroads on the dwindling
+strength of the gaunt and famished peasantry, and in one district alone,
+out of a population of 62,000 inhabitants, no less than 5,000 persons
+died, directly or indirectly, of starvation in the course of three
+months. 'All our thoughts,' wrote O'Connell, 'are engrossed with two
+topics--endeavouring to keep the people from outbreaks, and endeavouring
+to get food for them.' In many instances the landlords seemed robbed of
+the characteristics of ordinary humanity, for the ruthless process of
+eviction was carried on with a high hand, and old men and children were
+left unsheltered as well as unfed.
+
+Property had neglected its duties, but, as usual, did not neglect its
+rights, and in that terrible crisis it overrode the rights of humanity.
+Many of the landowners, however, manfully did their best to stay the
+plague, but anything which they could accomplish seemed a mockery amid
+the widespread distress. Readers of Sir Gavan Duffy's 'Four Years of
+Irish History' will recall his vivid description of the manner in which
+some of the landowners, however, saw their cruel opportunity, and
+accordingly 'closed on the people with ejectments, turned them on the
+road, and plucked down their roof-trees,' and also that still more
+painful passage which describes how women with dead children in their
+arms were seen begging for a coffin to bury them. Relief committees
+were, of course, started; the Friends, in particular, busied themselves
+in practical efforts to cope with the distress, and Mr. W. E. Forster,
+who went to Ireland to distribute relief, declared that his wonder was,
+as he passed from village to village, not that the people died, but that
+so many contrived to live.
+
+The Russell Government met the crisis with courage, though scarcely with
+adequate understanding. Ireland remembered with bitterness their Arms
+Bill and their repressive measures. Public feeling ran high over some of
+their proposals, for the people resented Lord John's modification of Sir
+Robert Peel's plan by which the cost of public works was to be defrayed
+by the State and district in which employment was given. Lord John
+determined that the cost should be met in the first instance by
+Government loans, which were to be repaid with an almost nominal
+interest by the people of the district. This was interpreted to mean
+that Ireland was to bear her own burdens, and in her impoverished state
+was to be saddled with the financial responsibilities inseparable from
+so pitiable a collapse of prosperity. Bread riots and agrarian
+disturbances grew common, and the Government met them with rather more
+than becoming sternness, instead of dealing promptly with the
+land-tenure system which lay at the root of so much of the misery. At
+the beginning of the session of 1847 it was stated that 10,000,000_l._
+would be required to meet the exigencies of the situation. Lord George
+Bentinck proposed a grant of 16,000,000_l._ for the construction of
+Irish railways, but Lord John made the question one of personal
+confidence in himself, and threatened resignation if it passed. His
+chief objection to the proposal was based on the fact that seventy-five
+per cent. of the money spent in railway construction would not reach the
+labouring classes. Lord George Bentinck's motion was rejected by a
+sweeping majority, though at a subsequent stage in the session the
+Government consented to advance a substantial sum to three Irish
+railways--a concession which exposed them to the usual taunts of
+inconsistency.
+
+  [Sidenote: MEASURES OF RELIEF]
+
+Measures were also introduced for promoting emigration to the colonies,
+and for the suspension of certain clauses of the Navigation Laws which
+hindered the importation of foreign corn. At one time during the
+distress there were no less than six hundred thousand men employed on
+public works in Ireland, and the Government found it no easy task to
+organise this vast army of labour, or to prevent abuses. Lord
+Bessborough urged that the people should be employed in the improvement
+of private estates, but Lord John met this proposal with disapproval,
+though he at length agreed that the drainage of private land should come
+within the scope of public works. It was further determined to lend
+money in aid of the improvement of private property, the operation of
+the Irish Poor Law was also extended, and in other directions energetic
+measures were taken for the relief of the prevailing destitution. Lord
+John was a keen observer both of men and of movements, and the
+characteristics of the peasantry, and more particularly the personal
+helplessness of the people, and the lack of concerted action among them,
+impressed him. 'There are some things,' he declared, 'which the Crown
+cannot grant and which Parliament cannot enact--the spirit of
+self-reliance and the spirit of co-operation. I must say plainly that I
+should indeed despair of this task were it not that I think I see
+symptoms in the Irish people both of greater reliance on their own
+energies and exertions, and of greater intelligence to co-operate with
+each other. Happy will it be, indeed, if the Irish take for their maxim,
+"Help yourselves and Heaven will help you," and then I think they will
+find there is some use in adversity.'
+
+Lord John Russell's Irish policy has often been misunderstood, and not
+seldom misrepresented, but no one who looks all the facts calmly in the
+face, or takes into account the difficulties which the famine threw in
+his path, will be inclined to harsh criticism. Lady Russell's journal
+at this period reveals how great was her husband's anxiety in view of
+the evil tidings from Ireland, and one extract may be allowed to speak
+for itself. After stating that her husband has much to distress him in
+the state of the country, these words follow: 'God grant him success in
+his labours to amend it--famine, fever, trade failing, and discontent
+growing are evils which it requires all his resolution, sense of duty,
+and love for the public to face. I pray that he may, and believe that he
+will, one day be looked back to as the greatest benefactor of unhappy
+Ireland.' When once the nature of the calamity became apparent, Lord
+John never relaxed his efforts to grapple with the emergency, and,
+though not a demonstrative man, there is proof enough that he felt
+acutely for the people, and laboured, not always perhaps wisely, but at
+least well, for the amelioration of their lot. He was assailed with a
+good deal of personal abuse, and was credited with vacillation and
+apathy, especially in Ireland, where his opponents, acting in the
+capacity of jurymen at inquests on the victims of the famine, sometimes
+went so far as to bring in a verdict of wilful murder against the Prime
+Minister. It is easy enough after the event to point out better methods
+than those devised at the imperious call of the moment by the Russell
+Administration, but there are few fair-minded people in the present day
+who would venture to assert that justice and mercy were not in the
+ascendent during a crisis which taxed to the utmost the resources of
+practical statesmanship.
+
+  [Sidenote: LORD CLARENDON IN IRELAND]
+
+The new Parliament assembled in November, and a Committee of both Houses
+was appointed to take into consideration the depressed condition of
+trade, for symptoms of unmistakable distress were apparent in the great
+centres of industry. Ireland, moreover, still blocked the way, and Lord
+Clarendon, who had succeeded to the viceroyalty, alarmed at the
+condition of affairs, pressed for extraordinary powers. The famine by
+this time was only a memory, but it had left a large section of the
+peasantry in a sullen and defiant mood. As a consequence stormy
+restlessness and open revolt made themselves felt. Armed mobs, sometimes
+five hundred and even a thousand strong, wandered about in lawless
+fashion, pounced upon corn and made raids on cattle, and it seemed
+indeed at times as if life as well as property was imperilled. Lord
+Clarendon was determined to make the disaffected feel that the law could
+not be set aside with impunity. He declared that the majority of these
+disturbers of the peace were not in actual distress, and he made no
+secret of his opinion that their object was not merely intimidation but
+plunder. 'I feel,' were his words as the autumn advanced, 'as if I was
+at the head of a provisional government in a half-conquered country.'
+
+It is easy to assert that Lord Clarendon took a panic-stricken view
+of the situation, and attempts have again and again been made to
+mitigate, if not to explain away, the dark annals of Irish crime.
+The facts, however, speak for themselves, and they seemed at the moment
+to point to such a sinister condition of affairs that Lord John Russell
+felt he had no option but to adopt repressive measures. Sir George
+Grey stated in Parliament that the number of cases of fatal bloodshed
+during the six summer months of 1846 was sixty-eight, whilst in the
+corresponding period in 1847 it had increased to ninety-six. Shooting
+with intent to slay, which in the six months of 1846 had numbered
+fifty-five, now stood at 126. Robbery under arms had also grown with
+ominous rapidity, for in the contrasted half-years of 1846 and 1847
+deeds of violence of this kind were 207 and 530 respectively, whilst
+outrage in another of its most cruel and despicable forms--the firing of
+dwelling-houses--revealed, under the same conditions of time, 116 acts
+of incendiarism in 1847, as against fifty-one in the previous year.
+The disaffected districts of Clare, Limerick, and Tipperary made the
+heaviest contribution to this dismal catalogue of crime; but far beyond
+their borders though with diminished force, the lawless spirit
+prevailed.
+
+Mr. Spencer Walpole, in his standard and authoritative 'Life of Lord
+John Russell,' has shown, by an appeal to his correspondence with Lord
+Clarendon, how reluctant the Prime Minister was to bring forward a new
+Arms Bill. He has also made it plain that it was only the logic of
+events which finally convinced the Prime Minister of the necessity in
+any shape for such a measure. Mr. Walpole has also vindicated, at
+considerable length, Lord John from the familiar charge of having
+adopted in power the proposals which led to the overthrow of the Peel
+Administration. He lays stress on the fact that the Arms Bill, which the
+Government carried at the close of 1847 by a sweeping majority, was, to
+a noteworthy extent, different from that which Sir Robert sought to
+impose on Ireland twelve months earlier, and which the Whigs met with
+strenuous and successful opposition. In Mr. Walpole's words, the new
+proposals 'did not contain any provision for compensating the victims of
+outrages at the expense of the ratepayers; they did not render persons
+congregated in public-houses or carrying arms liable to arrest; above
+all, they did not comprise the brutal clause which made persons out of
+doors at night liable to transportation.' The condition of Ireland was,
+indeed, so menacing that the majority of the English people of all
+shades of political opinion were of one mind as to the necessity for
+stern measures. Sir Robert Peel, with no less candour than chivalry,
+declared that the best reparation which could be made to the last
+Government would be to assist the present Government in passing such a
+law. Perhaps still more significant were the admissions of Mr. John
+Bright. At the General Election the young orator had been returned to
+Parliament, not for a Sleepy Hollow like Durham, which had first sent
+him, but for the commanding constituency of Manchester, and almost at
+once he found himself in opposition to the views of a vast number of the
+inhabitants. He was requested to present a petition against the bill
+signed by more than 20,000 persons in Manchester. In doing so he took
+the opportunity of explaining in the House of Commons the reasons which
+made it impossible for him--friend of peace and goodwill as he assuredly
+was--to support its prayer. He declared that the unanimous statements of
+all the newspapers, the evidence of men of all parties connected with
+Ireland, as well as the facts which were placed before them with
+official authority, made it plain beyond a doubt that the ordinary law
+was utterly powerless, and, therefore, he felt that the case of the
+Government, so far as the necessity for such a bill was concerned, was
+both clear and perfect.
+
+  [Sidenote: JOHN BRIGHT AND IRISH AFFAIRS]
+
+Mr. Bright drew attention to the fact that assassinations in Ireland
+were not looked upon as murders, but rather as executions; and that some
+of them at least were not due to sudden outbursts of passion, but were
+planned with deliberation and carried out in cold blood. He saw no
+reason to doubt that in certain districts public sentiment was 'depraved
+and thoroughly vitiated;' and he added that, since the ordinary law had
+failed to meet the emergency the Government had a case for the demand
+they made for an extension of their present powers, and he thought that
+the bill before the House was the less to be opposed since, whilst it
+strengthened the hands of the Executive, it did not greatly exceed or
+infringe the ordinary law. Mr. Bright at the same time, it is only fair
+to add, made no secret of his own conviction that the Government had not
+grappled with sufficient courage with its difficulties, and he
+complained of the delay which had arisen over promised legislation of a
+remedial character.
+
+Lord John himself was persuaded, some time before Mr. Bright made this
+speech, that it was useless to attempt to meet the captious and selfish
+objections on the question of agrarian reform of the landlord class;
+and, as a matter of fact, he had already drawn up, without consulting
+anyone, the outline of a measure which he described to Lord Clarendon as
+a 'plan for giving some security and some provision to the miserable
+cottiers, who are now treated as brute beasts.' Years before--to be
+exact, in the spring of 1844--he had declared in the House of Commons
+that, whilst the Government of England was, as it ought to be, a
+Government of opinion, the Government of Ireland was notoriously a
+Government of force. Gradually he was forced to the view that centuries
+of oppression and misunderstanding, of class hatred and opposite aims,
+had brought about a social condition which made it necessary that
+judicial authority should have a voice between landlord and tenant in
+every case of ejectment. Lord John's difficulties in dealing with
+Ireland were complicated by the distrust of three-fourths of the people
+of the good intentions of English statesmanship. Political agitators,
+great and small, of the Young Ireland school, did their best to deepen
+the suspicions of an impulsive and ignorant peasantry against the
+Whigs, and Lord John was personally assailed, until he became a sort of
+bogie-man to the lively and undisciplined imagination of a sensitive but
+resentful race.
+
+  [Sidenote: THE TREASON FELONY ACT]
+
+Even educated Irishmen of a later generation have, with scarcely an
+exception, failed to do justice either to the dull weight of prejudice
+and opposition with which Lord John had to contend in his efforts to
+help their country, or to give him due credit for the constructive
+statesmanship which he brought to a complicated and disheartening
+task.[16] Lord John Russell was, in fact, in some directions not only in
+advance of his party but of his times; and, though it has long been the
+fashion to cavil at his Irish policy, it ought not to be forgotten, in
+common fairness, that he not only passed the Encumbered Estates Act of
+1848, but sought to introduce the principle of compensation to tenants
+for the improvements which they had made on their holdings. Vested
+interests proved, however, too powerful, and Ireland stood in her own
+light by persistent sedition. The revolutionary spirit was abroad in
+1848 not only in France, but in other parts of Europe, and the Irish,
+under Mr. Smith O'Brien, Mr. John Mitchel, and less responsible men,
+talked at random, with the result that treasonable conspiracy prevailed,
+and the country was brought to the verge of civil war. The Irish
+Government was forced by hostile and armed movements to proclaim certain
+districts in which rebellion was already rampant. The Treason Felony Act
+made it illegal, and punishable with penal servitude, to write or speak
+in a manner calculated to provoke rebellion against the Crown. This
+extreme stipulation was made at the instance of Lord Campbell. Such an
+invasion of freedom of speech was not allowed to pass unchallenged, and
+Lord John, who winced under the necessity of repression, admitted the
+force of the objection, so far as to declare that this form of irksome
+restraint should not be protracted beyond the necessity of the hour. He
+was not the man to shirk personal danger, and therefore, in spite of
+insurrection and panic, and the threats of agitators who were seeking to
+compass the repeal of the Union by violent measures, he went himself to
+Dublin to consult with Lord Clarendon, and to gather on the spot his own
+impressions of the situation. He found the country once more
+overshadowed by the prospects of famine, and he came to the conclusion
+that the population was too numerous for the soil, and subsequently
+passed a measure for promoting aided emigration. He proposed also to
+assist from the public funds the Roman Catholic clergy, whose livelihood
+had grown precarious through the national distress; but, in deference to
+strong Protestant opposition, this method of amelioration had to be
+abandoned. The leaders of the Young Ireland party set the authorities at
+defiance, and John Mitchel, a leader who advocated an appeal to physical
+force, and Smith O'Brien, who talked wildly about the establishment of
+an Irish Republic, were arrested, convicted, and transported. O'Connell
+himself declared that Smith O'Brien was an exceedingly weak man, proud
+and self-conceited and 'impenetrable to advice.' 'You cannot be sure of
+him for half an hour.' The force of the movement was broken by cliques
+and quarrels, until the spirit of disaffection was no longer formidable.
+In August, her Majesty displayed in a marked way her personal interest
+in her Irish subjects by a State visit to Dublin. The Queen was
+received with enthusiasm, and her presence did much to weaken still
+further the already diminishing power of sedition.
+
+  [Sidenote: SCHOOLS AND SCHOOLMASTERS]
+
+The question of education lay always close to the heart of Lord John
+Russell, who found time even amid the stress of 1847 to advance it. The
+Melbourne Administration had vested the management of Parliamentary
+grants in aid of education in a committee of the Privy Council. In spite
+of suspicion and hostility, which found expression both in Parliament
+and in ecclesiastical circles, the movement extended year by year and
+slowly pervaded with the first beginnings of culture the social life of
+the people. Lord John had taken an active part in establishing the
+authority of the Privy Council in education; he had watched the rapid
+growth of its influence, and had not forgotten to mark the defects which
+had come to light during the six years' working of the system. He
+therefore proposed to remodel it, and took steps in doing so to better
+the position of the teacher, as well as to render primary education more
+efficient. Paid pupil teachers accordingly took the place of unpaid
+monitors, and the opportunity of gaining admittance after this practical
+apprenticeship to training colleges, where they might be equipped for
+the full discharge of the duties of their calling, was thrown open to
+them. As a further inducement, teachers who had gone through this
+collegiate training received a Government grant in addition to the usual
+salary. Grants were also for the first time given to schools which
+passed with success through the ordeal of official inspection.
+
+The passing of the Factory Bill was another effort in the practical
+redress of wrongs to which Lord John Russell lent his powerful aid. The
+measure, which will always be honourably associated with the names of
+Lord Shaftesbury and Mr. Fielden, was a victory for labour which was
+hailed with enthusiasm by artisans and operatives throughout the land.
+It came as a measure of practical relief, not merely to men, but to
+upwards of three hundred and sixty-three thousand women and children,
+employed in monotonous tasks in mill and manufactory. Another change
+which Lord John Russell was directly instrumental in bringing about was
+the creation of the Poor Law Commission into a Ministerial Department,
+responsible to Parliament, and able to explain its work and to defend
+its policy at Westminster, through the lips of the President of the Poor
+Law Board. Regulations were at the same time made for workhouse control,
+meetings of guardians, and the like. The great and ever-growing needs of
+Manchester were recognised in 1847 by the creation of the Bishopric.
+Parliament was dissolved on July 23, and as the adoption of Free Trade
+had left the country for the moment without any great question directly
+before it, no marked political excitement followed the appeal to the
+people. The Conservative party was in truth demoralised by the downfall
+of Peel, and the new forces which were soon to shape its course had as
+yet scarcely revealed themselves, though Lord Stanley, Lord George
+Bentinck, and Mr. Disraeli were manifestly the coming men in Opposition.
+If the general election was distinguished by little enthusiasm either on
+one side or the other, it yet brought with it a personal triumph to Lord
+John, for he was returned for the City at the head of the poll. The
+Government itself not only renewed its strength, but increased it as a
+result of the contest throughout the country. At the same time the
+hostility of the opponents of Free Trade was seen in the return of two
+hundred and twenty-six Protectionists, in addition to one hundred and
+five Conservatives of the new school of Bentinck and Disraeli.
+
+  [Sidenote: DIFFICULTIES OF A PLAIN ENGLISHMAN]
+
+In other directions, meanwhile, difficulties had beset the Government.
+The proposed appointment of a Broad Churchman of advanced views, in the
+person of Dr. Hampden, Regius Professor at Oxford, to the vacant see of
+Hereford filled the High Church party with indignant dismay. Dr. Newman,
+with the courage and self-sacrifice which were characteristic of the
+man, had refused by this time to hold any longer an untenable position,
+and, in spite of his brilliant prospects in the English Church, had
+yielded to conscience and submitted to Rome. Dr. Pusey, however,
+remained, and under his skilful leadership the Oxford Movement grew
+strong, and threw its spell in particular over devout women, whose
+æsthetic instincts it satisfied, and whose aspirations after a
+semi-conventual life it met.[17] Lord John had many of the
+characteristics of the plain Englishman. He understood zealous
+Protestants, and, as his rejected scheme for aiding the priests in
+Ireland itself shows, he was also able to apprehend the position of
+earnest Roman Catholics. He had, however, not so learnt his Catechism or
+his Prayer Book as to understand that the Reformation, if not a crime,
+was at least a blunder, and therefore, like other plain Englishmen, he
+was not prepared to admit the pretensions and assumptions of a new race
+of nondescript priests. Thirteen prelates took the unusual course of
+requesting the Prime Minister to reconsider his decision, but Lord
+John's reply was at once courteous and emphatic. 'I cannot sacrifice the
+reputation of Dr. Hampden, the rights of the Crown, and what I believe
+to be the true interests of the Church, to a feeling which I believe to
+have been founded on misapprehension and fomented by prejudice.'
+Although Dr. Pusey did not hesitate to declare that the affair was 'a
+matter of life and death,'[18] ecclesiastical protest availed nothing,
+and Dr. Hampden was in due time consecrated.
+
+Neither agrarian outrages in Ireland nor clerical agitation in England
+hindered, in the session of 1848, the passing of measures of social
+improvement. The Public Health Act, which was based on the
+representations of Sir Edwin Chadwick and Dr. Southwood Smith, grappled
+with the sanitary question in cities and towns, and thus improved in a
+variety of directions the social life of the people. It had hitherto
+been the fashion of Whigs and Tories alike to neglect practical measures
+of this kind, even though they were so closely linked to the health and
+welfare of the community.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[15] _The Croker Papers_, vol. iii. ch. xxiv. p. 53.
+
+[16] Judge O'Connor Morris, in his interesting retrospect, _Memories and
+Thoughts of a Life_, just published, whilst severely criticising the
+Whig attitude towards Ireland, admits that Russell's Irish policy was
+not only 'well-meant,' but in the main successful.
+
+[17] The first Anglican Sisterhood was founded by Dr. Pusey in London in
+the spring of 1845.
+
+[18] _Life of E. B. Pusey, D.D._, by H. P. Liddon, D.D., vol. iii. p.
+160.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+IN ROUGH WATERS
+
+1848-1852
+
+     The People's Charter--Feargus O'Connor and the crowd--Lord
+     Palmerston strikes from his own bat--Lord John's view of the
+     political situation--Death of Peel--Palmerston and the Court--'No
+     Popery'--The Durham Letter--The invasion scare--Lord John's remark
+     about Palmerston--Fall of the Russell Administration.
+
+
+ENGLAND in 1848 was not destined to escape an outbreak of the
+revolutionary spirit, though the Chartist movement, in spite of the
+panic which it awakened, was never really formidable. The overthrow and
+flight of Louis Philippe, the proclamation in March of the French
+Republic on the basis of universal suffrage and national workshops, and
+the revolutionary movements and insurrections in Austria and Italy,
+filled the artisans and operatives of this country with wild dreams, and
+led them to rally their scattered and hitherto dispirited forces. Within
+six years of the passing of the Reform Bill, in fact, in the autumn
+after the Queen's accession, the working classes had come to the
+conclusion that their interests had been largely overlooked, and that
+the expectations they had cherished in the struggle of 1831-32 had been
+falsified by the apathy and even the reaction which followed the
+victory. Not in one, but in all the great civil and religious struggles
+of the century, they had borne the brunt of the battle; and yet they
+had been thrust aside when it came to the dividing of the spoil.
+
+The middle classes were in a different position: their aspirations were
+satisfied, and they were quite prepared, for the moment at least, to
+rest and be thankful. The sleek complacency of the shopkeeper, moreover,
+and his hostility to further agitation, threw into somewhat dramatic
+relief the restless and sullen attitude of less fortunate conscripts of
+toil. Food was dear, wages were low, work was slack, and in the great
+centres of industry the mills were running half-time, and so keen was
+the struggle for existence that the operatives were at the mercy of
+their taskmasters, and too often found it cruel. Small wonder if social
+discontent was widespread, especially when it is remembered that the
+people were not only hopeless and ill-fed, but housed under conditions
+which set at defiance even the most elementary laws of health. More than
+to any other man in the ranks of higher statesmanship the people looked
+to Lord Durham, the idol of the pitmen of the North, for the redress of
+their wrongs, and no statesman of that period possessed more courage or
+more real acquaintance with the actual needs of the people. Lord Durham,
+though a man of splendid ability, swift vision, and generous sympathy,
+had, unhappily, the knack of making enemies, and the fiery impetuosity
+of his spirit brought him more than once into conflict with leaders
+whose temperament was cold and whose caution was great. The rebellion in
+Canada withdrew Lord Durham from the arena of English politics at the
+beginning of 1838. Then it was that the people recognised to the full
+the temper of the statesmen that were left, and the fact that, if
+deliverance was to come from political and social thraldom, they must
+look to themselves and organise their strength.
+
+The representatives of the working classes in 1838 formulated their
+demand for radical political reform in the famous six points of the
+People's Charter. This declaration claimed manhood suffrage; the
+division of the country into equal electoral districts; vote by ballot;
+annual Parliaments; the abolition of property qualification for a seat
+in the House of Commons; and payment of members of Parliament for their
+services. The People's Charter took the working classes by storm: it
+fired their imagination, inspired their hopes, and drew them in every
+manufacturing town and district into organised association.
+
+  [Sidenote: A SORRY CHAMPION]
+
+The leader of the movement was Feargus O'Connor, an Irish barrister and
+journalist, who had entered Parliament in 1832 as a follower of
+O'Connell and as member for Cork. He quarrelled, however, with the Irish
+leader, a circumstance which was fatal to success as an agitator in his
+own country. Restless and reckless, he henceforth carried his energy and
+devoted his eloquence to the Chartist movement in England, and in 1847
+the popular vote carried him once more to the House of Commons as member
+for Nottingham. He copied the tactics of O'Connell, but had neither the
+judgment nor the strength of the Irish dictator. He seems, indeed, to
+have been rather a poor creature of the vainglorious, bombastic type. A
+year or two later he became hopelessly insane, and in the vaporing
+heroics and parade of gasconade which marked him as the champion of the
+Chartists in the spring of 1848 it is charitable now to discover the
+first seeds of his disorder. However that may be, he was a nine-days'
+wonder, for from All Fools' Day to the morning of April 10 society in
+London was in a state of abject panic. The troubles in Ireland, the
+insurrections and rumours of insurrection on the Continent, the
+revolution in France, the menacing discontent in the provinces, and the
+threatening attitude of the working men in the metropolis, were enough
+to cause alarm among the privileged classes, and conscience made
+cowards, not certainly of them all, but of the majority.
+
+Literature enough and to spare, explanatory, declamatory and the like,
+has grown around a movement which ran like an unfed river, until it lost
+itself in the sand. Three men of genius took up their parable about what
+one of them called the 'Condition of England Question,' and in the pages
+of Carlyle's 'Chartism' and 'Past and Present,' Disraeli's 'Sybil,' and
+last, but not least, in Kingsley's 'Alton Locke,' the reader of to-day
+is in possession of sidelights, vivid, picturesque, and dramatic, on
+English society in the years when the Chartists were coming to their
+power, and in the year when they lost it. Lord John was at first in
+favour of allowing the Chartists to demonstrate to their hearts'
+content. He therefore proposed to permit them to cross Westminster
+Bridge, so that they might deliver their petition at the doors of
+Parliament. He thought that the police might then prevent the re-forming
+of the procession, and scatter the crowd in the direction of Charing
+Cross. Lord John had done too much for the people to be afraid of them,
+and he refused to accept the alarmist view of the situation. But the
+consternation was so widespread, and the panic so general, that the
+Government felt compelled on April 6 to declare the proposed meeting
+criminal and illegal, to call upon all peaceably disposed citizens not
+to attend, and to take extraordinary precautions. It was, however,
+announced that the right of assembly would be respected; but, on the
+advice of Wellington, only three of the leaders were to be allowed to
+cross the bridge. The Bank, the Tower, and the neighbourhood of
+Kennington Common meanwhile were protected by troops of cavalry and
+infantry, whilst the approaches to the Houses of Parliament and the
+Government offices were held by artillery.
+
+  [Sidenote: LONDON IN TERROR]
+
+The morning of the fateful 10th dawned brightly, but no one dared
+forecast how the evening would close, and for a few hours of suspense
+there was a reign of terror. Many houses were barricaded, and in the
+West End the streets were deserted except by the valiant special
+constables, who stood at every corner in defence of law and order. The
+shopkeepers, who were not prepared to take joyfully the spoiling of
+their goods, formed the great mass of this citizen army--one hundred and
+fifty thousand strong. There were, nevertheless, recruits from all
+classes, and in the excitement and peril of the hour odd men rubbed
+shoulders. Lord Shaftesbury, for instance, was on duty in Mount Street,
+Grosvenor Square, with a sallow young foreigner for companion, who was
+afterwards to create a more serious disturbance on his own account, and
+to spring to power as Napoleon III. Thomas Carlyle preferred to play the
+part of the untrammelled man in the street, and sallied forth in search
+of food for reflection. He wanted to see the 'revolution' for himself,
+and strode towards Hyde Park, determined, he tells us, to walk himself
+into a glow of heat in spite of the 'venomous cold wind' which called
+forth his anathemas. The Chelsea moralist found London, westward at
+least, safe and quiet, in spite of 'empty rumours and a hundred and
+fifty thousand oaths of special constables.' He noticed as he passed
+Apsley House that even the Duke had taken the affair seriously, in his
+private as well as his public capacity, for all the iron blinds were
+down. The Green Park was closed. Mounted Guardsmen stood ready on
+Constitution Hill. The fashionable carriage had vanished from
+Piccadilly. Business everywhere was at a standstill, for London knew not
+what that day might bring forth. Presently the rain began to fall, and
+then came down in drenching showers. In spite of their patriotic
+fervour, the special constables grew both damp and depressed. Suddenly a
+rumour ran along the streets that the great demonstration at Kennington
+Common had ended in smoke, and by noon the crowd was streaming over
+Westminster Bridge and along Whitehall, bearing the tidings that the
+march to the House of Commons had been abandoned. Feargus O'Connor had,
+in fact, taken fright, and presently the petition rattled ingloriously
+to Westminster in the safe but modest keeping of a hackney cab. The
+shower swept the angry and noisy rabble homewards, or into neighbouring
+public-houses, and ridicule--as the evening filled the town with
+complacent special constables and their admiring wives and
+sweethearts--did even more than the rain to quench the Chartist
+agitation. It had been boldly announced that one hundred and fifty
+thousand people would meet at Kennington. Less than a third of that
+number assembled, and a considerable part of the crowd had evidently
+been attracted by curiosity. Afterwards, when the monster petition with
+its signatures was examined, it was found to fall short of the boasted
+'five million' names by upwards of three millions. Many of those which
+did appear were palpably fictitious; indeed the rude wit of the London
+apprentice was responsible for scores of silly signatures. Lord John's
+comment on the affair was characteristic. After stating that no great
+numbers followed the cab which contained the petition, and that there
+was no mob at the door of the House of Commons, he adds: 'London
+escaped the fate of Paris, Berlin, and Vienna. For my own part, I saw
+in these proceedings a fresh proof that the people of England were
+satisfied with the Government under which they had the happiness to
+live, did not wish to be instructed by their neighbours in the
+principles of freedom, and did not envy them either the liberty they had
+enjoyed under Robespierre, or the order which had been established among
+them by Napoleon the Great.'
+
+  [Sidenote: PALMERSTON'S OPPORTUNITY]
+
+Lord John's allusion to Paris, Berlin, and Vienna suggests foreign
+politics, and also the growing lack of harmony between Lord Palmerston
+on the one hand and the Court and Cabinet on the other. Although he long
+held the highest office under the Crown, Lord Palmerston's chief claim
+to distinction was won as Foreign Minister. He began his official career
+as a Tory in the Portland Administration of 1807, and two years
+later--at the age of five-and-twenty--was appointed Secretary at War in
+the Perceval Government. He held this post for the long term of eighteen
+years, and when Canning succeeded to power still retained it, with a
+seat in the Cabinet. Palmerston was a liberal Tory of the school of
+Canning, and, when Lord Grey became Premier in 1830, was a man of
+sufficient mark to be entrusted with the seals of the Foreign Office,
+though, until his retirement in 1834, Grey exercised a controlling voice
+in the foreign policy of the nation. It was not until Grey was succeeded
+by Melbourne that Palmerston began to display both his strength and his
+weakness in independent action.
+
+He saw his opportunity and took it. He knew his own mind and disliked
+interference, and this made him more and more inclined to be heedless of
+the aid, and almost of the approval, of his colleagues. Under a
+provokingly pleasant manner lurked, increasingly, the temper of an
+autocrat. Melbourne sat lightly to most things, and not least to
+questions of foreign policy. He was easily bored, and believed in
+_laissez-faire_ to an extent which has never been matched by any other
+Prime Minister in the Queen's reign. The consequence was that for seven
+critical years Palmerston did what was right in his own eyes, until he
+came to regard himself not merely as the custodian of English interests
+abroad, but almost as the one man in the Cabinet who was entitled to
+speak with authority concerning them. If the responsibility of the first
+Afghan war must rest chiefly on his shoulders, it is only fair to
+remember that he took the risk of a war with France in order to drive
+Ibrahim Pacha out of Syria. From first to last, his tenure at the
+Foreign Office covered a period of nearly twenty years. Though he made
+serious mistakes, he also made despots in every part of the world afraid
+of him; whilst struggling nationalities felt that the great English
+Minister was not oblivious of the claims of justice, or deaf to the
+appeal for mercy. Early in the Russell Administration Lord Palmerston's
+high-handed treatment of other members of the Cabinet provoked angry
+comment, and Sir Robert Peel did not conceal his opinion that Lord John
+gave his impetuous colleague too much of his own way. The truth was, the
+Premier's hands, and heart also, were in 1846 and 1847 full of the Irish
+famine, and Lord Palmerston took advantage of the fact. Moreover, Lord
+John Russell was, broadly speaking, in substantial agreement with his
+Foreign Minister, though he cordially disliked his habit of taking swift
+and almost independent action.
+
+  [Sidenote: CLIMBING DOWN]
+
+At the beginning of 1848 Palmerston seemed determined to pick a quarrel
+with France, and in February drew up a threatening despatch on the
+difficulty which had arisen between our Ambassador (Lord Normanby) and
+Louis Philippe, which brought matters to a crisis. Louis Philippe had
+acted a dishonourable part over the Spanish marriages, and Palmerston
+was prepared to go out of his way to humiliate France. At the last
+moment, the affair came to Lord John's knowledge through Lord Clarendon,
+with the result that the communication was countermanded. Lord
+Palmerston appears to have taken the rebuff, humiliating as it was, with
+characteristic nonchalance, and it produced little more than a momentary
+effect. The ignominious flight of Louis Philippe quickly followed, and
+the revolution in France was the signal in Vienna for a revolt of the
+students and artisans, which drove Metternich to find refuge in England
+and the Emperor Ferdinand to seek asylum in the Tyrol. Austrians,
+Hungarians, and Slavs only needed an opportunity, such as the 'year of
+revolutions' afforded, to display their hostility to one another, and
+the racial jealousy brought Austria and Hungary to open war. In Milan,
+in Naples, and Berlin the revolutionary spirit displayed itself, and in
+these centres, as well as in Switzerland, changes in the direction of
+liberty took place.
+
+Lord John Russell, in an important document, which Mr. Walpole has
+printed, and which bears date May 1, 1848, has explained his own view of
+the political situation in Europe at that moment. After a lucid and
+impressive survey of the changes that had taken place in the map of
+Europe since the Congress of Vienna, Lord John lays down the principle
+that it is neither becoming nor expedient for England to proclaim that
+the Treaties of 1815 were invalid. On the contrary, England ought rather
+to promote, in the interests of peace and order, the maintenance of the
+territorial divisions then made. At the same time, England, amid the
+storm, ought not to persist in clinging to a wreck if a safe spar is
+within her reach. He recognised that Austria could hardly restore her
+sway in Italy, and was not in a position to confront the cost of a
+protracted war, in which France was certain to take sides against her.
+He, therefore, thought it advisable that English diplomacy should be
+brought to bear at Vienna, so as to 'produce a frank abandonment of
+Lombardy and Venice on the part of Austria.' He declared that it was not
+to the advantage of England to meddle with the internal affairs of
+Spain; but he thought there was a favourable chance of coming to an
+understanding with Germany, where the Schleswig-Holstein question
+already threatened disturbance. 'It is our interest,' are the final
+words of this significant State paper, 'to use our influence as speedily
+and as generally as possible to settle the pending questions and to fix
+the boundaries of States. Otherwise, if war once becomes general, it
+will spread over Germany, reach Belgium, and finally sweep England into
+its vortex. Should our efforts for peace succeed, Europe may begin a new
+career with more or less of hope and of concord; should they fail, we
+must keep our sword in the scabbard as long as we can, but we cannot
+hope to be neutral in a great European war. England cannot be
+indifferent to the supremacy of France over Germany and Italy, or to the
+advance of Russian armies to Constantinople; still less to the
+incorporation of Belgium with a new French Empire.'
+
+  [Sidenote: OUR POLICY ABROAD]
+
+As usual, Lord Palmerston had his own ideas and the courage of them.
+Within three weeks of the Russell Memorandum to the Cabinet he
+accordingly stood out in his true colours as a frank opportunist. The
+guiding rule of his foreign policy, he stated, was to promote and
+advance, as far as lay in his power, the interests of the country as
+opportunity served and as necessity arose. 'We have no everlasting union
+with this or that country--no identification of policy with another. We
+have no natural enemies--no perpetual friends. When we find a Power
+pursuing that course of policy which we wish also to promote, for the
+time that Power becomes our ally; and when we find a country whose
+interests are at variance with our own, we are involved for a time with
+the Government of that country. We find no fault with other nations for
+pursuing their interests; and they ought not to find fault with us, if,
+in pursuing our interests, our course may be different from theirs.'
+
+Lord Palmerston held that the real policy of this country was to be the
+champion of justice and right, though professing no sympathy with the
+notion that England ought to become, to borrow his own expression, the
+Quixote of the world. 'I hold that England is a Power sufficiently
+strong to steer her own course, and not to tie herself as an unnecessary
+appendage to the policy of any other Government.' He declared that, if
+he might be allowed to gather into one sentence the principle which he
+thought ought to guide an English statesman, he would adopt the
+expression of Canning, and say that with every British Minister the
+interests of England ought to be the shibboleth of his policy.
+Unfortunately, Lord Palmerston, in spite of such statements, was too
+much inclined to throw the moral weight of England into this or that
+scale on his own responsibility, and, as it often seemed to
+dispassionate observers, on the mere caprice of the hour. He took up the
+position that the interests of England were safe in his hands, and
+magnified his office, sometimes to the annoyance of the Court and often
+to the chagrin of the Cabinet. No matter what storm raged, Palmerston
+always contrived to come to the surface again like a cork. He never lost
+his self-possession, and a profound sense of his own infallibility
+helped him, under difficulties and rebuffs which would have knocked the
+spirit out of other men, to adopt the attitude of the patriotic
+statesman struggling with adversity. When the session of 1849 closed he
+was in an extremely difficult position, in consequence of the growing
+dislike in high quarters to his policy, and the coolness which had
+sprung up between himself and the majority of his colleagues; yet we
+find him writing a jaunty note to his brother in the strain of a man who
+had not only deserved success but won it. 'After the trumpetings of
+attacks that were to demolish first one and then another of the
+Government--first me, then Grey, then Charles Wood--we have come
+triumphantly out of the debates and divisions, and end the session
+stronger than we began it.'[19]
+
+  [Sidenote: STRAINED RELATIONS]
+
+Lord Palmerston's passion for personal ascendency was not to be
+repressed, and in the electric condition of Europe it proved perilous as
+well as embarrassing to the Russell Administration. Without the
+knowledge of the Queen or his colleagues, Lord Palmerston, for instance,
+sent a letter to Sir H. Bulwer advising an extension of the basis of the
+Spanish Government, an act of interference which caused so much
+irritation at Madrid that the Spanish Government requested the British
+Ambassador to leave the country. Happily, the breach with Madrid was
+repaired after a few months' anxiety on the part of Palmerston's
+colleagues. The Queen's sense of the indiscretion was apparent in the
+request to Lord Palmerston to submit in future all his despatches to the
+Prime Minister. Other occasions soon arose which increased distrust at
+Windsor, and further strained friendly relations between the Prime
+Minister and the Foreign Secretary. The latter's removal to some less
+responsible post was contemplated, for her Majesty appeared to
+disapprove of everything Lord Palmerston did. Without detailing the
+various circumstances which awakened the Queen's displeasure, it is
+sufficient to draw attention to one event--known in the annals of
+diplomacy as the 'Don Pacifico' affair--which threatened the overthrow
+of the Ministry.
+
+Two British subjects demanded in vain compensation from the Greek
+Government for damage to their property. Lord Palmerston came to their
+defence, and sent private instructions to the Admiral of the British
+fleet at the Dardanelles to seize Greek vessels by way of reprisal,
+which was promptly done. The tidings fell like a thunderbolt upon
+Downing Street. France and Russia made angry protests, and war was
+predicted. At length an offer of mediation from Paris was accepted, and
+the matter was arranged in London. Lord Palmerston, however, omitted to
+inform the English Minister at Athens of the settlement, and, whilst
+everyone in England rejoiced that the storm had blown over, the Admiral
+was laying an embargo on other ships, and at last forced the Greek
+Government to grant compensation. France, indignant at such cavalier
+treatment, recalled M. Drouyn de Lhuys from London, and again the
+war-cloud lowered. Lord Palmerston had the audacity to state in the
+House of Commons that the French Minister had returned to Paris in order
+'presumably to be the medium of communication between the two
+Governments as to these matters.' The truth came out on the morrow, and
+Lord John, in the discreet absence of his colleague, was forced to
+explain as best he might the position of affairs. Although he screened
+Lord Palmerston as far as he was able, he determined to make a change at
+the Foreign Office.
+
+  [Sidenote: PEEL AND PALMERSTON]
+
+In June 1850, Lord Stanley challenged the foreign policy of Lord
+Palmerston in the House of Lords, and carried, by a majority of
+thirty-seven, a resolution of censure. Mr. Roebuck, in the Commons, met
+the hostile vote by a resolution of confidence, and, after four nights'
+debate, secured a majority of forty-six. Lord Palmerston made an able
+defence of his conduct of affairs, and Lord John Russell, who differed
+from him not so much in the matter as in the manner of his decisions,
+not merely refused to leave his colleague in the lurch, but came
+vigorously to his support. The debate was rendered memorable on other
+grounds. Sir Robert Peel, in the course of it, delivered his last speech
+in Parliament. The division, which gave Palmerston a fresh tenure of
+power, was taken at four o'clock on the morning of Saturday, June 29.
+Peel left the House to snatch a few hours' sleep before going at noon to
+a meeting which was to settle the disputed question as to the site of
+the Great Exhibition. He kept his appointment; but later in the day he
+was thrown from his horse on Constitution Hill, and received injuries
+which proved fatal on the night of July 2. His death was a national
+calamity, for at sixty-two he was still in the fulness of his strength.
+There will always be a diversity of judgment concerning his career;
+there is but one opinion about his character. Few statesmen have gone to
+their grave amid more remarkable expressions of regret. Old and young
+colleagues, from the Duke of Wellington to Mr. Gladstone, betrayed by
+their emotion no less than by their words, their grief over the loss of
+a leader who followed his conscience even at the expense of the collapse
+of his power. Lord John Russell, the most distinguished, without doubt,
+of Sir Robert's opponents on the floor of the House, paid a generous
+tribute to his rival's memory. He declared that posterity would regard
+Sir Robert Peel as one of the greatest and most patriotic of statesman.
+He laid stress on that 'long and large experience of public affairs,
+that profound knowledge, that oratorical power, that copious yet exact
+memory, with which the House was wont to be enlightened, interested, and
+guided.' When the offer of a public funeral was declined, in deference
+to Sir Robert's known wishes, Lord John proposed and carried a
+resolution for the erection of a statue in Westminster Abbey. He also
+marked his sense of the loss which the nation had sustained, in the
+disappearance of an illustrious man, by giving his noble-minded and
+broken-hearted widow the refusal of a peerage.
+
+Meanwhile, Lord Palmerston, on the strength of the vote of confidence in
+the Commons, was somewhat of a popular hero. People who believe that
+England can do no wrong, at least abroad, believed in him. His audacity
+delighted the man in the club. His pluck took the platform and much of
+the press by storm. The multitude relished his peremptory despatches,
+and were delighted when he either showed fight or encouraged it in
+others. In course of time 'Pam' became the typical fine old English
+gentleman of genial temper but domineering instincts. Prince Albert
+disliked him; he was too little of a courtier, too much of an off-handed
+man of affairs. Windsor, of course, received early tidings of the
+impression which was made at foreign Courts by the most independent and
+and cavalier Foreign Minister of the century. Occasionally he
+needlessly offended the susceptibilities of exalted personages abroad as
+well as at home. At length the Queen, determined no longer to be put in
+a false position, drew up a sharply-worded memorandum, in which explicit
+directions were given for the transaction of business between the Crown
+and the Foreign Office. 'The Queen requires, first, that Lord Palmerston
+will distinctly state what he proposes in a given case, in order that
+the Queen may know as distinctly to what she is giving her royal
+sanction; secondly, having once given her sanction to a measure, that it
+be not arbitrarily altered or modified by the Minister. Such an act she
+must consider as failing in sincerity towards the Crown, and justly to
+be visited by the exercise of her constitutional right of dismissing
+that Minister. She expects to be kept informed of what passes between
+him and the Foreign Ministers before important decisions are taken,
+based upon that intercourse; to receive the foreign despatches in good
+time; and to have the drafts for her approval sent to her in sufficient
+time to make herself acquainted with their contents before they must be
+sent off.'
+
+No responsible adviser of the Crown during the reign had received such
+emphatic censure, and in August 1850 people were talking as if
+Palmerston was bound to resign. He certainly would have done so if he
+had merely consulted his own feelings; but he declared that to resign
+just then would be to play into the hands of the political adversaries
+whom he had just defeated, and to throw over his supporters at the
+moment when they had fought a successful battle on his behalf. Lord
+Palmerston, therefore, accepted the Queen's instructions with unwonted
+meekness. He assured her Majesty that he would not fail to attend to the
+directions which the memorandum contained, and for a while harmony was
+restored. In the autumn of 1851 Louis Kossuth arrived in England, and
+met with an enthusiastic reception, of the kind which was afterwards
+accorded in London to another popular hero, in the person of Garibaldi.
+Lord Palmerston received Kossuth at the Foreign Office, and, contrary to
+the wishes of the Queen and Prime Minister, deputations were admitted,
+and addresses were presented, thanking Palmerston for his services in
+the cause of humanity, whilst in the same breath allusions to the
+Emperors of Austria and Russia as 'odious and detestable assassins' were
+made. Almost before the annoyance created by this fresh act of
+indiscretion had subsided, Lord Palmerston was guilty of a still more
+serious offence.
+
+  [Sidenote: THE _COUP D'ÉTAT_]
+
+Louis Napoleon had been elected President of the French Republic by five
+and a half million votes. He was thought to be ambitious rather than
+able, and he had pledged himself to sustain the existing Constitution.
+He worked for his own hand, however, and accordingly conciliated first
+the clergy, then the peasants, and finally the army, by fair promises,
+popular acts, and a bold policy. On December 2, 1851, when his term of
+office was expiring, Napoleon suddenly overthrew the Assembly, which had
+refused a month or two previously to revise the Constitution in order to
+make the President eligible for re-election, and next morning all Europe
+was startled with tidings of the _Coup d'État_. Both the English Court
+and Cabinet felt that absolute neutrality must be observed during the
+tumult which followed in Paris, and instructions to that effect were
+accordingly transmitted to Lord Normanby. But when that diplomatist made
+known this official communication, he was met with the retort that Lord
+Palmerston, in a conversation with the French Ambassador in London, had
+already declared that the _Coup d'État_ was an act of self-defence, and
+in fact was the best thing under the circumstances for France. Lord
+Palmerston, in a subsequent despatch to Lord Normanby, which was not
+submitted either to the Queen or the Prime Minister, reiterated his
+opinion.
+
+  [Sidenote: 'THERE WAS A PALMERSTON!']
+
+Under these circumstances, Lord John Russell had no alternative except
+to dismiss Lord Palmerston. He did so, as he explained when Parliament
+met in February, on the ground that the Foreign Secretary had
+practically put himself, for the moment, in the place of the Crown. He
+had given the moral approbation of England to the acts of the President
+of the Republic of France, though he knew, when he was doing so, that he
+was acting in direct opposition to the wishes of the sovereign and the
+policy of the Government. Lord John stated in the House of Commons that
+he took upon himself the sole and entire responsibility of advising her
+Majesty to require the resignation of Lord Palmerston. He added that,
+though the Foreign Secretary had neglected what was due to the Crown and
+his colleagues, he felt sure that he had not intended any personal
+disrespect. Greville declared that, in all his experience of scenes in
+Parliament, he could recall no such triumph as Lord Russell achieved on
+this occasion, nor had he ever witnessed a discomfiture more complete
+than that of Palmerston. Lord Dalling, another eye-witness of the
+episode, has described, from the point of view of a sympathiser with
+Palmerston, the manner in which he seemed completely taken by surprise
+by the 'tremendous assault' which Lord John, by a damaging appeal to
+facts, made against him. In his view, Russell's speech was one of the
+most powerful to which he had ever listened, and its effect was
+overwhelming. Disraeli, meeting Lord Dalling by chance next day on the
+staircase of the Russian Embassy, exclaimed as he passed, with
+significant emphasis, 'There _was_ a Palmerston!' The common opinion at
+the clubs found expression in a phrase which passed from lip to lip,
+'Palmerston is smashed;' but, though driven for the moment to bay, the
+dismissed Minister was himself of another mind.
+
+Lord Palmerston was offered the Irish Viceroyalty, but he declined to
+take such an appointment. He accepted his dismissal with a
+characteristic affectation of indifference, and in the course of a
+laboured defence of his action in the House of Commons, excused his
+communication to the French Ambassador on the plea that it was only the
+expression of an opinion on passing events, common to that 'easy and
+familiar personal intercourse, which tends so usefully to the
+maintenance of friendly relations with foreign Governments.' Lady
+Russell wrote down at the time her own impressions of this crisis in her
+husband's Cabinet, and the following passage throws a valuable sidelight
+on a memorable incident in the Queen's reign: 'The breach between John
+and Lord Palmerston was a calamity to the country, to the Whig party,
+and to themselves; and, although it had for some months been a
+threatening danger on the horizon, I cannot but feel that there was
+accident in its actual occurrence. Had we been in London or at Pembroke
+Lodge, and not at Woburn Abbey, at the time, they would have met, and
+talked over the subject of their difference; words spoken might have
+been equally strong, but would have been less cutting than words
+written, and conciliatory expressions on John's part would have led the
+way to promises on Lord Palmerston's.... They two kept up the character
+of England, as the sturdy guardians of her rights against other nations,
+and the champions of freedom and independence abroad. They did so both
+before and after the breach of 1851, which was, happily, closed in the
+following year, when they were once more colleagues in office. On
+matters of home policy Lord Palmerston remained the Tory he had been in
+his earlier days, and this was the cause of many a trial to John.'
+
+The Russell Administration, as the Premier himself frankly recognised,
+was seriously weakened by the dismissal of Lord Palmerston; and its
+position was not improved when Lord Clarendon, on somewhat paltry
+grounds, refused the Foreign Office. Lord John's sagacity was shown by
+the prompt offer of the vacant appointment to Lord Granville, who, at
+the age of thirty-six, entered the Cabinet, and began a career which was
+destined to prove a controlling force in the foreign policy of England
+in the Victorian era.
+
+  [Sidenote: ROME AND OXFORD]
+
+Meanwhile fresh difficulties had arisen. In the autumn of 1850--a year
+which had already been rendered memorable in ecclesiastical circles by
+the Gorham case--Pius IX. issued a Bull by which England became a
+province of the Roman Catholic Church. Dr. Wiseman was created Cardinal
+Archbishop of Westminster, and England was divided into twelve sees with
+territorial titles. The assumption by Pius IX. of spiritual authority
+over England was a blunder; indeed, no better proof in recent times of
+the lack of infallibility at Rome could well be discovered. One swallow,
+proverbially, does not make a spring; and when Newman took refuge in
+flight, other leaders of the Oxford Movement refused to accept his logic
+and to follow his example. Englishmen have always resented anything in
+the shape of foreign dictation, and deep in the national heart there yet
+survives a rooted hostility to the claims of the Vatican. Napoleon's
+_Coup d'État_, which followed quickly on the heels of this dramatic act
+of Papal aggression, scarcely took the nation more completely by
+surprise. No Vatican decree could well have proved more unpopular, and
+even Canon Liddon is obliged to admit that the bishops, with one
+solitary exception, 'threw the weight of their authority on the side of
+popular and short-sighted passion.'[20]
+
+Pius IX. knew nothing of the English character, but Cardinal Wiseman, at
+least, could not plead ignorance of the real issues at stake; and
+therefore his grandiloquent and, under all the circumstances, ridiculous
+pastoral letter, which he dated 'From out of the Flaminian Gate at
+Rome,' was justly regarded as an insult to the religious convictions of
+the vast majority of the English people. Anglicans and Nonconformists
+alike resented such an authoritative deliverance, and presently the old
+'No Popery' cry rang like a clarion through the land. Dr. Newman, with
+the zeal of a pervert, preached a sermon on the revival of the Catholic
+Church, and in the course of it he stated that the 'people of England,
+who for so many years have been separated from the See of Rome, are
+about, of their own will, to be added to the Holy Church.' The words
+were, doubtless, spoken in good faith, for the great leader of the
+Oxford Movement naturally expected that those who had espoused his
+views, like honest men, would follow his example. Dr. Pusey, however,
+was a more astute ecclesiastical statesman than Cardinal Wiseman. He was
+in favour of a 'very moderate' declaration against Rome, for the
+resources of compromise were evidently in his eyes not exhausted. The
+truth was, Pusey and Keble, by a course of action which to this day
+remains a standing riddle to the Papacy on the one hand, and to
+Protestantism on the other, threw dust in the eyes of Pius IX., and
+were the real authors of Papal aggression. Lord John Russell saw this
+quite clearly, and in proof of such an assertion it is only necessary to
+appeal to his famous Durham Letter. He had watched the drift of
+ecclesiastical opinion, and had seen with concern that the tide was
+running swiftly in the direction of Rome.
+
+England had renounced the Papal supremacy for the space of 300 years,
+and had grown strong in the liberty which had followed the downfall of
+such thraldom. Oxford had taught Rome to tempt England; the leaders of
+the so-called Anglican revival were responsible for the flourish of
+trumpets at the Vatican. Lord John's ecclesiastical appointments called
+forth sharp criticism. He was a Protestant of the old uncompromising
+type, with leanings towards advanced thought in Biblical criticism. He
+knew, moreover, what Puritanism had done for the English nation in the
+seventeenth century, and made no secret of his conviction that it was
+the Nonconformists, more than any other class, who had rendered civil
+and religious liberty possible. He moreover knew that in his own time
+they, more than any other part of the community, had carried the Reform
+Bill, brought about the abolition of slavery, and established Free
+Trade. He had been brought into contact with their leaders, and was
+beginning to perceive, with the nation at large, how paltry and
+inadequate were the claims of a rigid Churchmanship, since the true
+apostolical succession is a matter of altitude of spiritual devotion,
+and borrows none of its rights from the pretensions of clerical caste.
+
+  [Sidenote: THE DURHAM LETTER]
+
+The Durham Letter was written from Downing Street, on November 4, 1850.
+It gained its name because it was addressed to the Premier's old friend
+Dr. Maltby, Bishop of Durham, and appeared in the newspapers on the day
+on which it was dated. Lord John declared that he had not only promoted
+to the utmost of his power the claims of Roman Catholics to all civil
+rights, but had deemed it not merely just, but desirable, that that
+Church should impart religious instruction to the 'numerous Irish
+immigrants in London and elsewhere, who, without such help, would have
+been left in heathen ignorance.' He believed that this might have been
+accomplished without any such innovation as that which the Papacy now
+contemplated. He laid stress on the assumption of power made in all the
+documents on the subject which had come from Rome, and he protested
+against such pretensions as inconsistent with the Queen's supremacy,
+with the rights of the bishops and clergy, and with the spiritual
+independence of the nation. He confessed that his alarm was not equal to
+his indignation, since Englishmen would never again allow any foreign
+prince or potentate to impose a yoke on their minds and consciences. He
+hinted at legislative action on the subject, and then proceeded to take
+up his parable against the Tractarians in the following unmistakeable
+terms: 'There is a danger, however, which alarms me much more than the
+aggression of a foreign sovereign. Clergymen of our Church who have
+subscribed the Thirty-nine Articles and have acknowledged in explicit
+terms the Queen's supremacy, have been the most forward in leading their
+flocks, step by step, to the verge of the precipice. The honour paid to
+saints, the claim of infallibility for the Church, the superstitious use
+of the sign of the Cross, the muttering of the Liturgy so as to disguise
+the language in which it was written, the recommendation of auricular
+confession, and the administration of penance and absolution--all these
+things are pointed out by clergymen as worthy of adoption, and are now
+openly reprehended by the Bishop of London in his Charge to the clergy
+of his diocese. What, then, is the danger to be apprehended from a
+foreign prince of no power, compared to the danger within the gates from
+the unworthy sons of the Church of England herself? I have but little
+hope that the propounders and framers of these innovations will desist
+from their insidious course; but I rely with confidence on the people of
+England, and I will not bate a jot of heart or life so long as the
+glorious principles and the immortal martyrs of the Reformation shall be
+held in reverence by the great mass of a nation, which look with
+contempt on the mummeries of superstition, and with scorn at the
+laborious endeavours which are now being made to confine the intellect
+and enslave the soul.'
+
+  [Sidenote: 'NO POPERY']
+
+Lord John's manifesto was as fuel to the flames. All over the kingdom
+preparations were in progress at the moment for a national carnival--now
+fallen largely into disrepute. Guy Fawkes was hastily dethroned, and the
+Pope and Cardinal Wiseman were paraded in effigy through the streets of
+London, Exeter, and other cities, and burnt at nightfall amid the jeers
+of the crowd. Petitions began to pour in against Papal aggression, and
+the literature of the subject, in controversial tract, pamphlet, and
+volume, grew suddenly not less bewildering than formidable. The arrival
+in London of Father Gavazzi, an ex-priest of commanding presence and
+impassioned oratory, helped to arouse still further the Protestant
+spirit of the nation. The Press, the pulpit, the platform, formed a
+triple alliance against the Vatican, and the indignant rejection of the
+Pope's claims may be said to have been carried by acclamation. Clamour
+ran riot through the land, and spent its force in noisy demonstrations.
+The Catholics met the tumult, on the whole, with praiseworthy
+moderation, and presently signs of the inevitable reaction began to
+appear. Lord John's colleagues were not of one mind as to the wisdom of
+the Durham Letter, for if there is one taunt before which an ordinary
+Englishman quails, it is the accusation of religious bigotry.
+
+The Durham Letter was an instance in which Lord John's zeal outran his
+discretion.[21] Lord Shaftesbury, who was in the thick of the tumult,
+and has left a vivid description of it in his journal,[22] declared that
+Cardinal Wiseman's manifesto, in spite of its audacity, was likely to
+prove 'more hurtful to the shooter than to the target.' Looking back at
+the crisis, after an interval of more than forty years, the same
+criticism seems to apply with added force to the Durham Letter. Lord
+John overshot the mark, and his accusations wounded those whom he did
+not intend to attack, and in the recoil of public opinion his own
+reputation suffered. He resented, with pardonable warmth, the attitude
+of the Vatican, and was jealous of any infringement, from that or any
+other quarter, of the Queen's supremacy in her own realms. The most
+damaging sentences in the Durham Letter were not directed against the
+Catholics, either in Rome, England, or Ireland, but against the
+Tractarian clergymen--men whom he regarded as 'unworthy sons of the
+Church of England.' The Catholics, incensed at the denial of the Pope's
+supremacy, were, however, in no mood to make distinctions, and they have
+interpreted Lord John's strictures on Dr. Pusey and his followers as an
+attack on their own religious faith. The consequence was that the
+manifesto was regarded, especially in Ireland, not merely as a protest
+against the politics of the Vatican, but as a sweeping censure on the
+creed of Rome. Lord John's character and past services might have
+shielded him from such a construction being placed upon his words, for
+he had proved, on more than one historic occasion, his devotion to the
+cause of religious liberty. Disraeli, writing to his sister in November,
+said: 'I think John Russell is in a scrape. I understand that his party
+are furious with him. The Irish are frantic. If he goes on with the
+Protestant movement he will be thrown over by the Papists; if he
+shuffles with the Protestants, their blood is too high to be silent now,
+and they will come to us. I think Johnny is checkmated.'[23]
+
+  [Sidenote: UNDER WHICH FLAG?]
+
+For the moment, however, passion and prejudice everywhere ran riot, and
+on both sides of the controversy common sense and common fairness were
+forgotten. A representative Irish politician of a later generation has
+not failed to observe the irony of the position. 'It was a curious
+incident in political history,' declares Mr. Justin McCarthy, 'that Lord
+John Russell, who had more than any Englishman then living been
+identified with the principles of religious liberty, who had sat at the
+feet of Fox, and had for his closest friend the Catholic poet Thomas
+Moore, came to be regarded by Roman Catholics as the bitterest enemy of
+their creed and their rights of worship.'[24] It is easy to cavil at
+Lord John Russell's interpretation of the Oxford Movement, and to assert
+that the accusations of the Durham Letter were due to bigotry and panic.
+He believed, in common with thousands of other distressed Churchmen,
+that the Tractarians were foes within the gates of the Establishment. He
+regarded them, moreover, as ministers of religion who were hostile to
+the work of the Reformation, and therefore he deemed that they were in a
+false position in the Anglican Church. Their priestly claims and
+sacerdotal rites, their obvious sympathies and avowed convictions,
+separated them sharply from ordinary clergymen, and were difficult to
+reconcile with adherence to the principles of Protestantism. Like many
+other men at the time, and still more of to-day, he was at a loss to
+discover how ecclesiastics of such a stamp could remain in the ministry
+of the Church of England, when they seemed to ordinary eyes to be in
+league with Rome. The prelates, almost to a man, were hotly opposed to
+the Tractarians when Lord John wrote the Durham Letter. They shared his
+convictions and applauded his action. Since then many things have
+happened. The Oxford Movement has triumphed, and has done so largely by
+the self-sacrificing devotion of its adherents. It has summoned to its
+aid art and music, learning and eloquence; it has appealed to the
+æsthetic and emotional elements in human nature; it has led captive the
+imagination of many by its dramatic revival of mediæval ideas and
+methods; and it has stilled by its assumption of authority the
+restlessness of souls, too weary to argue, too troubled to rebel. The
+bishops of to-day have grown either quite friendly towards the Oxford
+Movement, or else discreetly tolerant. Yet, when all this is admitted,
+it does nothing towards proving that Lord John Russell was a mistaken
+alarmist. The Durham Letter and its impassioned protest have been
+justified by the logic of events. It is easy for men to be charitable
+who have slipped their convictions.
+
+Possibly it was not judicious on Lord John's part to be so zealously
+affected in the matter. That is, perhaps, open to dispute, but the
+question remains: Was he mistaken in principle? He saw clergymen of the
+English Church, Protestant at least in name, 'leading their flocks step
+by step to the very verge of the precipice,' and he took up his parable
+against them, and pointed out the danger to the hitherto accepted faith
+and practice of the English Church. One of the most distinguished
+prelates of the Anglican Church in the Queen's reign has not hesitated
+to assert that the tenets against which Lord John Russell protested in
+the Durham Letter were, in his judgment, of a kind which are
+'destructive of all reasonable faith, and reduce worship to a mere
+belief in spells and priestcraft.' Cardinal Vaughan, it is needless to
+say, does not sympathise with such a view. He, however, has opinions on
+the subject which are worthy of the attention of those who think that
+Lord John was a mere alarmist. His Eminence delivered a suggestive
+address at Preston on September 10, 1894, on the 'Re-Union of
+Christendom.' He thinks--and it is idle to deny that he has good ground
+for thinking--that, in spite of bishops, lawyers, and legislature,
+Delphic judgments at Lambeth, and spasmodic protests up and down the
+country, a change in doctrine and ritual is in progress in the Anglican
+Church which can only be described as a revolution. He asserts that the
+'Real Presence, the sacrifice of the Mass, offered for the living and
+the dead, no infrequent reservation of the Sacrament, regular auricular
+confession, Extreme Unction, Purgatory, prayers for the dead, devotions
+to Our Lady, to her Immaculate Conception, the use of her Rosary, and
+the invocation of saints, are doctrines taught and accepted, with a
+growing desire and relish for them, in the Church of England.'
+
+Cardinal Vaughan also declares that the present churches of the
+Establishment are 'often distinguishable only with extreme difficulty
+from those belonging to the Church of Rome.' Such statements are either
+true or false. If false, they are open to contradiction; if true, they
+justify in substance the position taken up in the Durham Letter. Towards
+the close of his life, Lord John told Mr. Lecky that he did not regret
+his action, and to the last he maintained that he was right in the
+protest which he made in the Durham Letter. Yet he acknowledged, as he
+looked back upon the affair, that he might have softened certain
+expressions in it with advantage. Parliament met on February 4, 1851,
+and the Queen's Speech contained the following passage: 'The recent
+assumption of certain ecclesiastical titles conferred by a foreign Power
+has excited strong feelings in this country; and large bodies of my
+subjects have presented addresses to me expressing attachment to the
+Throne, and praying that such assumptions should be resisted. I have
+assured them of my resolution to maintain the rights of my crown and the
+independence of the nation against all encroachments, from whatsoever
+quarter they may proceed.'
+
+  [Sidenote: THE GIST OF THE WHOLE MATTER]
+
+Three days later, Lord John introduced the Ecclesiastical Titles Bill.
+The measure prohibited the assumption of territorial titles by Roman
+Catholic bishops; but there is truth in the assertion that no enactment
+of the kind could prevent other persons from giving the dignitaries of
+the Catholic Church such titles, and, as a matter of fact, the attempt
+to deprive them of the distinction led to its ostentatious adoption. The
+proposal to render null and void gifts or religious endowments acquired
+by the new prelates was abandoned in the course of the acrimonious
+debates which followed. Other difficulties arose, and Ireland was
+declared to be exempt from the operation of the measure. The object of
+the bill, declared Lord John Russell, was merely to assert the supremacy
+of the Crown. Nothing was further from his thought than to play the part
+of a religious persecutor. He merely wished to draw a sharp and
+unmistakeable line of demarcation between the spiritual jurisdiction of
+the Pope over the adherents of the Roman Catholic Church in the Queen's
+realms, and such an act of Papal aggression as was involved in the claim
+of Pius IX. to grant ecclesiastical titles borrowed from places in the
+United Kingdom.
+
+The bill satisfied neither the friends nor the foes of Roman
+Catholicism. It was persistently regarded by the one as an attack on
+religious liberty, and by the other as quite inadequate as a bulwark of
+Protestantism. Nevertheless it became law, but not before the summer of
+1851, when the agitation had spent its force. It was regarded almost as
+a dead letter from the first, and, though it remained on the
+Statute-book for twenty years, its repeal was a foregone conclusion.
+When it was revoked in 1871 the temper of the nation had changed, and no
+one was inclined to make even a passing protest. John Leech, in a
+cartoon in _Punch_, caught the droll aspect of the situation with even
+more than his customary skill. Lord John relished the joke, even though
+he recognised that it was not likely to prove of service to him at the
+next General Election. In conversation with a friend he said: 'Do you
+remember a cartoon in _Punch_ where I was represented as a little boy
+writing "No Popery" on a wall and running away?' The answer was a smile
+of assent. 'Well,' he added, 'that was very severe, and did my
+Government a great deal of harm, but I was so convinced that it was not
+maliciously meant that I sent for John Leech, and asked him what I
+could do for him. He said that he should like a nomination for his son
+to the Charterhouse, and I gave it to him. That is how I used my
+patronage.'
+
+  [Sidenote: A MINISTERIAL CRISIS]
+
+Meanwhile, when the Ecclesiastical Titles Bill was still under
+discussion, a Ministerial crisis had arisen. Finance was never the
+strong point of the first Russell Administration, and Sir Charles Wood's
+Budget gave widespread dissatisfaction. Mr. Locke King heightened the
+embarrassment of the moment by bringing forward a motion for placing the
+county and borough franchise on an equal basis; and before the
+discussion of the Budget could be renewed this motion was carried
+against the Government, though in a small House, by a majority of almost
+two to one. Lord John Russell met the hostile vote by immediate
+resignation; and Lord Stanley--who four months later became Earl of
+Derby--was summoned to Windsor and attempted to form a Ministry. His
+efforts were, however, unsuccessful, for Peel had left the Tory party
+not merely disorganised but full of warring elements. Lord John,
+therefore, returned to office in March, and Locke King's measure was
+promptly thrown out by a majority of more than two hundred. The London
+season of that year was rendered memorable by the opening of the Great
+Exhibition, amid universal plaudits and dreams of long-continued peace
+amongst the nations. As the year closed Lord Palmerston's ill-advised
+action over the _Coup d'État_ in France brought about, as we have
+already seen, his dismissal, a circumstance which still further weakened
+the Russell Cabinet.
+
+The year 1852 opened darkly for Lord John. Difficulties, small and
+great, seemed thickening around him. He had been called to power at a
+singularly trying moment, and no one who looks dispassionately at the
+policy which he pursued between the years 1846 and 1852 can fail to
+recognise that he had at least tried to do his duty. There is a touch of
+pathos in the harassed statesman's reply to a letter of congratulation
+which reached him on the threshold of the new year from a near relative,
+and it is worthy of quotation, since it reveals the attitude of the man
+on far greater questions than those with which he was beset at the
+moment: 'I cannot say that the new year is a happy one to me. Political
+troubles are too thick for my weak sight to penetrate them, but we all
+rest in the mercy of God, who will dispose of us as He thinks best.'[25]
+When Parliament met in February, Lord Palmerston's opportunity came. On
+the heels of the panic about Papal aggression came widespread alarm as
+to the policy which Napoleon III. might pursue towards this country. The
+fear of invasion grew strong in the land, and patriotic fervour
+restlessly clamoured for prompt legislative action. Forty years ago, in
+every town and village of England there were people who could speak from
+personal knowledge concerning the reign of terror which the first
+Napoleon, by his conquering march over Europe and his threatened descent
+on the English shores, had established, and, as a consequence, though
+with diminished force, the old consternation suddenly revived.
+
+  [Sidenote: PALMERSTON'S 'TIT-FOR-TAT']
+
+Lord John Russell had no more real fear of Napoleon than he had of the
+Pope, but he rose to the occasion and brought before Parliament a
+measure for the reorganisation of the local Militia. He believed that
+such a force, with national enthusiasm at its back, was sufficient to
+repel invasion--a contingency which, in common with other responsible
+statesmen, he did not regard as more than remote. Lord Palmerston,
+however, posing as the candid friend of the nation, and the
+exceptionally well-informed ex-Foreign Minister, professed to see rocks
+ahead, and there were--at all events for the Russell Administration. In
+England, any appeal to the Jingo instincts of the populace is certain to
+meet with a more or less hysterical welcome, and Palmerston more than
+once took advantage of the fact. He expressed his dissatisfaction with
+Lord John's Militia Bill, and by a majority of eleven carried an
+amendment to it. Lord John met the hostile demonstration by resignation,
+and, though Palmerston professed to be surprised at such a result, his
+real opinion leaps to light in the historic sentence which he wrote to
+his brother on February 24: 'I have had my tit-for-tat with John
+Russell, and I turned him out on Friday last.' One hitherto unpublished
+reminiscence of that crisis deserves to be recorded, especially as it
+throws into passing relief Lord John's generosity of temper: 'I
+remember,' states his brother-in-law and at one time private secretary,
+the Hon. George Elliot, 'being indignant with Lord Palmerston, after he
+had been dismissed by Lord John, bringing forward a verbal amendment on
+the Militia Bill in 1852--a mere pretext by which the Government was
+overthrown. But Lord John would not at all enter into my feelings, and
+said, "It's all fair. I dealt him a blow, and he has given me one in
+return."'
+
+Lord John's interest in the question of Parliamentary Reform was
+life-long. It was one of the subjects on which his views were in
+complete divergence with those of Lord Palmerston. Just before the
+'tit-for-tat' amendment, the Premier brought forward a new scheme on the
+subject which he had reluctantly waived in 1849 in deference to the
+wishes of the majority of his colleagues, who then regarded such a
+proposal as premature. At the beginning of 1852 Lord John had overcome
+such obstacles, and he accordingly introduced his new Reform Bill, as if
+anxious to wipe out before his retirement from office the reproach which
+the sobriquet of 'Finality Jack' had unjustly cast upon him. He proposed
+to extend the suffrage by reducing the county qualification to 20_l._,
+and the borough to 5_l._, and by granting the franchise to persons
+paying forty shillings yearly in direct taxation. He also proposed to
+abolish the property qualification of English and Irish members of
+Parliament, and to extend the boundaries of boroughs having less than
+500 electors. Lord Palmerston's hostile action of course compelled the
+abandonment of this measure, and it is worthy of passing remark that, on
+the night before his defeat, Lord John made a chivalrous and splendid
+defence of Lord Clarendon, in answer to an attack, not merely on the
+policy, but on the personal character of the Viceroy of Ireland.
+
+  [Sidenote: A CONFLICT OF OPINION]
+
+Sudden as the fall of the Russell Administration was, it can hardly be
+described as unexpected, and many causes, most of which have already
+been indicated in these pages, contributed to bring it about. Albany
+Fonblanque, one of the shrewdest contemporary observers of men and
+movements, gathered the political gossip of the moment together in a
+paragraph which sets forth in graphic fashion the tumult of opinion in
+the spring of 1852. 'Lord John Russell has fallen, and all are agreed
+that he is greatly to blame for falling; but hardly any two men agree
+about the immediate cause of his fall. "It was the Durham Letter," says
+one. "Not a jot," replies another; "the Durham Letter was quite right,
+and would have strengthened him prodigiously if it had been followed up
+by a vigorous anti-Papal measure: it was the paltry bill that destroyed
+him." "The Ecclesiastical Titles Bill," interposes a third, "did just
+enough in doing next to nothing: no, it was the house tax in the Budget
+that did the mischief." "The house tax might have been got over," puts
+in another, "but the proposal of the income tax, with all its injustices
+unmitigated, doomed Lord John." "Not a whit," rejoins a Radical
+reformer, "the income tax is popular, especially with people who don't
+pay it; Lord John's opposition to Locke King's motion sealed his fate."
+"Locke King's division was a flea-bite," cries a staunch Protestant,
+"the Pope has done it all."'
+
+Stress has been laid in these pages on the attempts of the Russell
+Administration to deal with an acute and terrible phase of the eternal
+Irish problem, as well as to set forth in outline the difficulties which
+it encountered in regard to its foreign policy through the cavalier
+attitude and bid for personal ascendency of Lord Palmerston. The five or
+six years during which Lord John Russell was at the head of affairs were
+marked by a succession of panics which heightened immeasurably the
+difficulties of his position. One was purely commercial, but it threw
+gloom over the country, brought stagnation to trade, and political
+discontent followed in its train, which in turn reacted on the prospects
+of the Government. The Irish famine and the rebellion which followed in
+its wake taxed the resources of the Cabinet to the utmost, and the
+efforts which were made by the Ministry to grapple with the evil have
+scarcely received even yet due recognition. The Chartist movement, the
+agitation over the Papal claims and the fear of invasion, are landmarks
+in the turbulent and menacing annals of the time.
+
+The repeal of the Navigation Act bore witness to Lord John's zealous
+determination to extend the principles of Free Trade, and the Jewish
+Disabilities Bill--which was rejected by the House of Lords--is itself a
+sufficient answer to those who, because of his resistance, not to the
+spiritual claims, but to the political arrogance of the Vatican, have
+ventured to charge him with a lack of religious toleration. He himself
+once declared that as a statesman he had received as much favour as he
+had deserved; he added that, where his measures had miscarried, he did
+not attribute the failure to animosity or misrepresentation, but rather
+to errors which he had himself committed from mistaken judgment or an
+erroneous interpretation of facts. No one who looks at Lord John
+Russell's career with simple justice, to say nothing of generosity, can
+doubt the truth of his words. 'I believe, I may say, that my ends have
+been honest. I have looked to the happiness of my country as the object
+to which my efforts ought to be directed.'
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[19] _Life of Lord Palmerston_, by the Hon. Evelyn Ashley, vol. ii. p.
+95.
+
+[20] _Life of E. B. Pusey, D.D._, by H. P. Liddon, D.D., vol. iii. p.
+292. Longmans & Co.
+
+[21] Cobden described it as 'a Guy Fawkes outcry,' and predicted the
+fall of the Ministry.
+
+[22] See _Life and Work of the Seventh Earl of Shaftesbury_, by Edwin
+Hodder, pp. 429-435.
+
+[23] _Lord Beaconsfield's Correspondence with his Sister_ (1832-1852),
+p. 249. London: John Murray.
+
+[24] _History of Our Own Times_, by Justin McCarthy, M.P. vol. ii. pp.
+85, 86.
+
+[25] _Life of Lord John Russell_, by Spencer Walpole, vol. ii p. 143.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+COALITION BUT NOT UNION
+
+1852-1853
+
+     The Aberdeen Ministry--Warring elements--Mr. Gladstone's
+     position--Lord John at the Foreign Office and Leader of the
+     House--Lady Russell's criticism of Lord Macaulay's statement--A
+     small cloud in the East--Lord Shaftesbury has his doubts
+
+
+THERE is no need to linger over the history of the next few months, for
+in a political sense they were barren and unfruitful. The first Derby
+Administration possessed no elements of strength, and quickly proved a
+mere stop-gap Cabinet. Its tenure of power was not only brief but
+inglorious. The new Ministers took office in February, and they left it
+in December. Lord Palmerston may be said to have given them their
+chance, and Mr. Gladstone gave them their _coup de grâce_. The Derby
+Administration was summoned into existence because Lord Palmerston
+carried his amendment on the Militia Bill, and it refused to lag
+superfluous on the stage after the crushing defeat which followed Mr.
+Gladstone's brilliant attack on the Budget of Mr. Disraeli. The chief
+legislative achievement of this short-lived Government was an extension
+of the Bribery Act, which Lord John Russell had introduced in 1841. A
+measure was now passed providing for a searching investigation of
+corrupt practices by commissioners appointed by the Crown. The affairs
+of New Zealand were also placed on a sound political basis. A General
+Election occurred in the summer, but before the new Parliament met in
+the autumn the nation was called to mourn the death of the Duke of
+Wellington. The old soldier had won the crowning victory of Waterloo
+four years before the Queen's birth, and yet he survived long enough to
+grace with his presence the opening ceremony of the Great
+Exhibition--that magnificent triumph of the arts of peace which was held
+in London in the summer of 1851. The remarkable personal ascendency
+which the Duke of Wellington achieved because of his splendid record as
+a soldier, though backed by high personal character, was not thrown on
+the side of either liberty or progress when the hero transferred his
+services from the camp to the cabinet. As a soldier, Wellington shone
+without a rival, but as a statesman he was an obstinate reactionary.
+Perhaps his solitary claim to political regard is that he, more than any
+other man, wrung from the weak hands of George IV. a reluctant consent
+to Catholic Emancipation--a concession which could no longer be refused
+with safety, and one which had been delayed for the lifetime of a
+generation through rigid adherence in high places to antiquated
+prejudices and unreasoning alarm.
+
+The strength of parties in the new Parliament proved to be nearly evenly
+balanced. Indeed, the Liberals were only in a majority of sixteen, if
+the small but compact phalanx of forty Peelites be left for the moment
+out of the reckoning. The Conservatives had, in truth, gained ground in
+the country through the reverses of one kind and another which had
+overtaken their opponents. Lord Palmerston, always fond, to borrow his
+own phrase, of striking from his own bat, declared in airy fashion that
+Lord John had given him with dismissal independence, and, though Lord
+Derby offered him a seat in his Cabinet, he was too shrewd and
+far-seeing a statesman to accept it. The Liberal party was divided about
+Lord Palmerston, and that fact led to vacillation at the polling booths.
+Ardent Protestants were disappointed that the Durham Letter had been
+followed by what they regarded as weak and insufficient legislative
+action, whilst some of the phrases of that outspoken manifesto still
+rankled in the minds of ardent High Churchmen. The old Conservative
+party had been smashed by Peel's adoption of Free Trade, and the new
+Conservative party which was struggling into existence still looked
+askance at the pretensions of Mr. Disraeli, who, thanks to his own
+ability and to the persistent advocacy of his claims in earlier years by
+his now departed friend, Lord George Bentinck, was fairly seated in the
+saddle, and inclined to use both whip and spurs.
+
+  [Sidenote: DISRAELI'S POSITION]
+
+In the autobiography recently published of the late Sir William
+Gregory[26] a vivid description will be found of the way in which the
+aristocracy and the squires 'kicked at the supremacy of one whom they
+looked at as a mountebank;' and on the same page will be found the
+remarkable assertion that it was nothing but Mr. Disraeli's claim to
+lead the Conservative party which prevented Mr. Gladstone from joining
+it in 1852.[27] Disraeli's borrowed heroics in his pompous oration in
+the House of Commons on the occasion of the death of Wellington, and his
+errors in tactics and taste as leader of the House, heightened the
+prevailing impression that, even if the result of the General Election
+had been different, the Derby Administration was doomed to failure. All
+through the autumn the quidnuncs at the clubs were busy predicting the
+probable course of events, and more or less absurd rumours ran round the
+town concerning the statesmen who were likely to succeed to power in the
+event of Derby's resignation. The choice in reality lay between Russell,
+Palmerston, and Aberdeen, for Lansdowne was out of health, and therefore
+out of the question.
+
+As in a mirror Lady Russell's journal reflects what she calls the alarm
+in the Whig camp at the rumour of the intended resignation of the Derby
+Cabinet if Disraeli's financial proposals were defeated, and the hurried
+consultations which followed between Lord Lansdowne, Lord Aberdeen, and
+Lord John, Sir James Graham, Mr. Cobden, and Mr. Bright. Two days before
+the division which overthrew the Government on December 17, Lord John
+was at Woburn, and his brother, the Duke of Bedford, asked him what
+course he thought the Queen should adopt in case the Ministry was
+beaten. He replied that her Majesty, under such circumstances, ought to
+send for Lord Lansdowne and Lord Aberdeen. This was the course which the
+Queen adopted, but Lord Lansdowne, old and ill, felt powerless to
+respond to the summons. Meanwhile, Lord John, who certainly possessed
+the strongest claims--a circumstance which was recognised at the time by
+Mr. Gladstone--had determined from a sense of public duty not to press
+them, for he recognised that neither Palmerston nor the Peelites, who,
+for the moment, in the nice balance of parties, commanded the situation,
+would serve under him. He had led the Liberal forces for a long term of
+years, both in power and in opposition, and neither his devotion nor his
+ability was open to question, in spite of the offence which he had
+given, on the one hand to a powerful colleague, and on the other to
+powerful interests.
+
+  [Sidenote: LORD ABERDEEN]
+
+Lord Aberdeen was regarded by the followers of Peel as their leader. He
+was a favourite at Court, and a statesman of established reputation of
+the doctrinaire type, but he was not a man who ever excited, or probably
+was capable of exciting, popular enthusiasm. On the day after Disraeli's
+defeat Lord Aberdeen met Lord John by chance in the Park, and the
+latter, waiving personal ambition, told him that, though he could say
+nothing decisive for the moment, he thought he should accept office
+under him. On the morrow Lord Aberdeen was summoned to Osborne, and
+accepted the task of forming an Administration. Next day her Majesty
+wrote to Lord John announcing the fact, and the letter ended with the
+following passage: 'The Queen thinks the moment to have arrived when a
+popular, efficient, and durable Government could be formed by the
+sincere and united efforts of all professing Conservative and Liberal
+opinions. The Queen, knowing that this can only be effected by the
+patriotic sacrifice of personal interests and feelings to the public,
+trusts that Lord John Russell will, as far as he is able, give his
+valuable and powerful assistance to the realisation of this object.'
+This communication found Lord John halting between two opinions.
+Palmerston had declined to serve under him, and he might, with even
+greater propriety, in his turn have refused to serve under Aberdeen. His
+own health, which was never strong, had suffered through the long strain
+of office in years which had been marked by famine and rebellion. He had
+just begun to revel, to quote his own words, in 'all the delights of
+freedom from red boxes, with the privilege of fresh air and mountain
+prospects.'
+
+  [Sidenote: 'SHOEBLACK' TO ABERDEEN]
+
+He had already found the recreation of a busy man, and was engrossed in
+the preparation of the 'Memoirs and Journal' of his friend, Thomas
+Moore. The poet had died in February of that year, and Lord John, with
+characteristic goodwill, had undertaken to edit his voluminous papers in
+order to help a widow without wounding her pride. In fact, on many
+grounds he might reasonably have stood aside, and he certainly would
+have done so if personal motives had counted most with him, or if he had
+been the self-seeker which some of his detractors have imagined. Here
+Lord Macaulay comes to our help with a vivid account of what he terms an
+eventful day--one of the dark days before Christmas--on which the
+possibility of a Coalition Government under Aberdeen was still doubtful.
+Macaulay states that he went to Lansdowne House, on December 20, on a
+hasty summons to find its master and Lord John in consultation over the
+Queen's letter. He was asked his opinion of the document and duly gave
+it. 'Then Lord John said that of course he should try to help Lord
+Aberdeen: but how? There were two ways. He might take the lead of the
+Commons with the Foreign Office, or he might refuse office, and give his
+support from the back benches. I adjured him not to think of this last
+course, and I argued it with him during a quarter of an hour with, I
+thought, a great flow of thoughts and words. I was encouraged by Lord
+Lansdowne, who nodded, smiled, and rubbed his hands at everything I
+said. I reminded him that the Duke of Wellington had taken the Foreign
+Office after having been at the Treasury, and I quoted his own pretty
+speech to the Duke. "You said, Lord John, that we could not all win
+battles of Waterloo, but that we might all imitate the old man's
+patriotism, sense of duty, and indifference to selfish interests; and
+vanities when the public welfare was concerned; and now is the time for
+you to make a sacrifice. Your past services and your name give us a
+right to expect it." He went away, evidently much impressed by what had
+been said, and promising to consult others. When he was gone, Lord
+Lansdowne told me that I had come just as opportunely as Blücher did at
+Waterloo.'[28] It is only right to state that Lady Russell demurs to
+some parts of this account of her husband's attitude at the crisis.
+Nothing could be further from the truth than that Lord John's
+vacillation was due to personal motives, or that his hesitation arose
+from his reluctance to take any office short of the Premiership. Lady
+Russell adds 'this never for one moment weighed with him, so that he did
+not require Lord Macaulay or Lord Lansdowne to argue him out of the
+objection.' Lord John's difficulty was based upon the 'improbability of
+agreement in a Cabinet so composed, and therefore the probable evil to
+the country.' Letters written by Lady Russell at the moment to a
+relative, of too private a character to quote, give additional weight to
+this statement. One homely remark made at the time may, however, be
+cited. Lady Russell declared that her husband would not mind being
+'shoeblack to Lord Aberdeen' if it would serve the country.
+
+The Aberdeen Ministry came into existence just as the year 1852 was
+ending. It was, in truth, a strange bit of mosaic work, fashioned with
+curious art, as the result of negotiations between the Whigs and the
+Peelites which had extended over a period of nearly six months. It
+represented the triumph of expediency, but it awakened little enthusiasm
+in spite of the much-vaunted ability and experience of its members.
+Derby and Disraeli were left out on the one side and Cobden and Bright
+on the other, a circumstance, however, which did not prevent men
+comparing the Coalition Government to the short-lived but famous
+Ministry of all the Talents. The nation rubbed its eyes and wondered
+whether good or evil was in store when it saw Peel's lieutenants rowing
+in the same boat with Russell. The vanished leader, however, was
+responsible for such a strange turn of the wheel, for everyone
+recognised that Sir Robert had 'steered his fleet into the enemy's
+port.' His followers came to power through the dilemma of the moment and
+the temporary eclipse of politicians of more resolute convictions. The
+Whigs were divided, and with Ireland they were discredited, whilst the
+Radicals were still clamouring at the doors of Downing Street with small
+chance of admission, in spite of their growing power in the country. The
+little clique of Peelites played their cards adroitly, and though they
+were, to a large extent, a party without followers, they were masters of
+the situation, and Russell and Palmerston, in consequence, were the only
+men of commanding personality, outside their own ranks, who were
+admitted to the chief seats in the new Cabinet. Russell became Foreign
+Secretary, whilst Palmerston took control of the Home Office.
+
+  [Sidenote: ONE OF LIFE'S LITTLE IRONIES]
+
+So great was the rush for place that Lord Derby with a smile informed
+the Queen that, as so many former Ministers expected a seat, he thought
+that less than thirty-two could hardly be the number of the new Cabinet.
+Tories of the old school looked on with amazement, and Radicals of the
+new with suspicion. All things seemed possible in the excitement of
+parties. 'Tom Baring said to me last night,' Greville remarks, '"Can't
+you make room for Disraeli in this Coalition Government?" I said: "Why,
+will you give him to us?" "Oh yes," he said, "you shall have him with
+pleasure."' Great expectations were, however, ruthlessly nipped in the
+bud, and the Cabinet, instead of being unwieldy, was uncommonly small,
+for it consisted only of thirteen members--an unlucky start, if old
+wives' fables are to be believed. Five of Sir Robert Peel's
+colleagues--the Premier, the Duke of Newcastle, Sir James Graham, Mr.
+Sidney Herbert, and Mr. Gladstone--represented the moderately
+progressive views of their old leader. Russell and Palmerston
+represented the Whigs, but, thanks to one of life's little ironies, the
+statesman who passed the Reform Bill was installed for the moment at the
+Foreign Office, and the Minister who was a Liberal abroad and a
+Conservative at home was intrusted with the internal affairs of the
+nation. The truth was, Lord Palmerston was impossible at the Foreign
+Office if Lord Aberdeen was at the Treasury, for the two men were
+diametrically opposed in regard to the policy which England ought to
+adopt in her relations with Europe in general, and Russia in particular.
+In fact, if Lord John Russell was for the moment out of the reckoning as
+Premier, Lord Palmerston ought unquestionably to have had the reversion
+of power. Unfortunately, though growingly popular in the country, he had
+rendered himself unwelcome at Court, where Lord Aberdeen, on the
+contrary, had long been a trusted adviser.
+
+Even if it be granted that neither Russell nor Palmerston was admissible
+as leader, it was a palpable blunder to exclude from Cabinet rank men
+of clean-cut convictions like Cobden and Bright. They had a large
+following in the country, and had won their spurs in the Anti-Corn-Law
+struggle. They represented the aspirations of the most active section of
+the Liberal Party, and they also possessed the spell which eloquence and
+sincerity never fail to throw over the imagination of the people. They
+were not judged worthy, however, and Milner Gibson, in spite of his
+services as a member of the Russell Cabinet, was also debarred from
+office; whilst Mr. Charles Villiers, whose social claims could not be
+entirely overlooked, found his not inconsiderable services to the people
+rewarded by subordinate rank. The view which was taken at Court of the
+Aberdeen Ministry is recorded in the 'Life of the Prince Consort.' The
+Queen regarded the Cabinet as 'the realisation of the country's and our
+own most ardent wishes;'[29] and in her Majesty's view the words
+'brilliant' and 'strong' described the new Government. Brilliant it
+might be, but strong it assuredly was not, for it was pervaded by the
+spirit of mutual distrust, and circumstances conspired to accentuate the
+wide divergence of opinion which lurked beneath the surface harmony.
+However such a union of warring forces might be agreeable to the Queen,
+the belief that it realised the 'most ardent wishes' of the nation was
+not widely held outside the Court, for 'England,' to borrow Disraeli's
+familiar but significant phrase, 'does not love Coalitions.' In the
+Aberdeen Cabinet, party interests were banded together in office; but
+the vivifying influences of unity of conviction and common sentiment
+were absent from its deliberations. After all, as Sir Edward Bulwer
+Lytton drily remarked when the inevitable crisis arose, there is 'one
+indisputable element of a Coalition Government, and that is that its
+members should coalesce.' As a matter of fact, they not only drifted
+into war but drifted apart. 'It is a powerful team and will require good
+driving,' was the comment of a shrewd political observer. 'There are
+some odd tempers and queer ways among them.'
+
+  [Sidenote: ABERDEEN AS DRIVER]
+
+Lord Aberdeen had many virtues, but he was not a good driver, and when
+the horses grew restive and kicked over the traces, he lacked nerve,
+hesitated, and was lost. Trained for political life at the side of
+Pitt,[30] after a distinguished career in diplomacy, which made him
+known in all the Courts of Europe, he entered the Cabinet of the Duke of
+Wellington in 1828, and afterwards held the post of Secretary for the
+Colonies in the first Peel Administration of 1834, and that of Secretary
+for Foreign Affairs during Sir Robert's final spell of power in the
+years 1841-46. He never sat in the House of Commons, but, though a Tory
+peer, he voted for Catholic Emancipation. He swiftly fell into line,
+however, with his party, and recorded his vote against the Reform Bill.
+He never, perhaps, quite understood the temper of a popular assembly,
+for he was a shy, reserved man, sparing in speech and punctilious in
+manner. Close association with Wellington and Peel had, of course, done
+much to shape his outlook on affairs, and much acquaintance with the
+etiquette of foreign Courts had insensibly led him to cultivate the
+habit of formal reserve. Born in the same year as Palmerston, the
+Premier possessed neither the openness to new ideas nor the vivacity of
+his masterful colleague; in fact, Lord Aberdeen at sixty-eight, unlike
+Lord Palmerston, was an old man in temperament, as well as conservative,
+in the sense of one not given to change. Yet, it is only fair to add
+that, if Aberdeen's views of foreign policy were of a somewhat
+stereotyped kind, he was, at all events at this period in their careers,
+more progressive on home policy than Palmerston, who was too much
+inclined not to move for the social welfare of the people before he was
+compelled.
+
+The new Ministry ran well until it was hindered by complications in the
+East. In the middle of February, a few days after the meeting of
+Parliament, Lord John retired from the Foreign Office, and led the House
+through the session with great ability, but without taking office. It is
+important to remember that he had only accepted the Foreign Office under
+strong pressure, and as a temporary expedient. It was, however,
+understood that he was at liberty at any moment to relinquish the
+Foreign Office in favour of Lord Clarendon, if he found the duties too
+onerous to discharge in conjunction with the task of leadership in the
+Commons. The session of 1853 was rendered memorable by the display of
+Mr. Gladstone's skill in finance; and the first Budget of the new
+Chancellor of the Exchequer was in every sense in splendid contrast with
+the miserable fiasco of the previous year, when Mr. Disraeli was
+responsible for proposals which, as Sir George Cornewall Lewis said,
+were of a kind that flesh and blood could not stand. The trade of the
+country had revived, and, with tranquility, some degree of prosperity
+had returned, even to Ireland. Lord John Russell, true to his policy of
+religious equality, brought forward the Jewish Disabilities Bill, but
+the House of Lords, with equal consistency, threw out the measure. The
+Law of Transportation was altered, and a new India Bill was passed,
+which threw open the Civil Service to competition. Many financial
+reforms were introduced, a new proposal was made for a wider extent of
+elementary education, and much legislative activity in a variety of
+directions was displayed.
+
+  [Sidenote: THE COALITION GOVERNMENT]
+
+Lord Aberdeen had taken office under pressure and from a sense of duty.
+It had few attractions for him, and he looked forward with quiet
+satisfaction to release from its cares. Lord Stanmore's authority can be
+cited for the statement that in the summer of 1853 his father deemed
+that the time had come when he might retire in Lord John Russell's
+favour, in accordance with an arrangement which had been made in general
+terms when the Cabinet was formed. There were members of the Coalition
+Government who were opposed to this step; but Lord Aberdeen anticipated
+no serious difficulty in carrying out the proposal. Suddenly the aspect
+of affairs grew not merely critical but menacing, and the Prime Minister
+found himself confronted by complications abroad, from which he felt it
+would be despicable to retreat by the easy method of personal
+resignation. There is not the slightest occasion, nor, indeed, is this
+the place, to recount the vicissitudes of the Aberdeen Administration in
+its baffled struggles against the alternative of war. The achievements
+of the Coalition Government, no less than its failures, with much of its
+secret history, have already been told with praiseworthy candour and
+intimate knowledge by Lord Stanmore, who as a young man acted as private
+secretary to his father, Lord Aberdeen, through the stress and storm of
+those fateful years. It is therefore only necessary in these pages to
+state the broad outlines of the story, and to indicate Lord John
+Russell's position in the least popular Cabinet of the Queen's reign.
+
+Lord Shaftesbury jotted down in his journal, when the new Ministry came
+into office, these words, and they sum up pretty accurately the
+situation, and the common verdict upon it: 'Aberdeen Prime Minister,
+Lord John Russell Minister for Foreign Affairs. Is it possible that this
+arrangement should prosper? Can the Liberal policy of Lord John square
+with the restrictive policy of Lord Aberdeen? I wish them joy and a safe
+deliverance.'
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[26] _Sir William Gregory, K.C.M.G.: an Autobiography_, edited by Lady
+Gregory, pp. 92, 93.
+
+[27] Mr. Gladstone's comment on this statement is that it is interesting
+as coming from an acute contemporary observer. At the same time it
+expresses an opinion and presents no facts. Mr. Gladstone adds that he
+is not aware that the question of re-union with the Conservative party
+was ever presented to him in such a way as to embrace the relations to
+Mr. Disraeli.
+
+[28] _Life and Letters of Lord Macaulay_, by the Right Hon. Sir George
+Otto Trevelyan, M.P., vol. ii. p. 340.
+
+[29] Sir Theodore Martin's _Life of the Prince Consort_, vol. ii. p.
+483.
+
+[30] Pitt became guardian to the young Lord Haddo in 1792.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+DOWNING STREET AND CONSTANTINOPLE
+
+1853
+
+     Causes of the Crimean War--Nicholas seizes his opportunity--The
+     Secret Memorandum--Napoleon and the susceptibilities of the
+     Vatican--Lord Stratford de Redcliffe and the Porte--Prince
+     Menschikoff shows his hand--Lord Aberdeen hopes against hope--Lord
+     Palmerston's opinion of the crisis--The Vienna Note--Lord John
+     grows restive--Sinope arouses England--The deadlock in the Cabinet.
+
+
+MANY causes conspired to bring about the war in the Crimea, though the
+pretext for the quarrel--a dispute between the monks of the Latin and
+Greek Churches concerning the custody of the Holy Places in
+Palestine--presents no element of difficulty. It is, however, no easy
+matter to gather up in a few pages the reasons which led to the war.
+Amongst the most prominent of them were the ambitious projects of the
+despotic Emperor Nicholas. The military revolt in his own capital at the
+period of his accession, and the Polish insurrections of 1830 and 1850,
+had rendered him harsh and imperious, and disinclined to concessions on
+any adequate scale to the restless but spasmodic demands for political
+reform in Russia. Gloomy and reserved though the Autocrat of All the
+Russias was, he recognised that it would be a mistake to rely for the
+pacification of his vast empire on the policy of masterly inactivity.
+His war with Persia, his invasion of Turkey, and the army which he sent
+to help Austria to settle her quarrel with Hungary, not only appealed
+to the pride of Russia, but provided so many outlets for the energy and
+ambition of her ruler. It was in the East that Nicholas saw his
+opportunity, and his policy was a revival, under the changed conditions
+of the times, of that of Peter the Great and Catherine II.
+
+Nicholas had long secretly chafed at the exclusion of his war-ships--by
+the provisions of the treaty of 1841--from access through the Black Sea
+to the Mediterranean, and he dreamed dreams of Constantinople, and saw
+visions of India. Linked to many lawless instincts, there was in the
+Emperor's personal character much of the intolerance of the fanatic.
+Religion and pride alike made the fact rankle in his breast that so many
+of the Sultan's subjects were Sclavs, and professed the Russian form of
+Christianity. He was, moreover, astute enough to see that a war which
+could be construed by the simple and devout peasantry as an attempt to
+uplift the standard of the Cross in the dominions of the Crescent would
+appeal at once to the clergy and populace of Holy Russia. Nicholas had
+persuaded himself that, with Lord Aberdeen at the head of affairs, and
+Palmerston in a place of safety at the Home Office, England was scarcely
+in a condition to give practical effect to her traditional jealousy of
+Russia. In the weakness of her divided counsels he saw his opportunity.
+It had become a fixed idea with the Emperor that Turkey was in a
+moribund condition; and neither Orloff nor Nesselrode had been able to
+disabuse his mind of the notion.
+
+  [Sidenote: NICHOLAS AND THE 'SICK MAN']
+
+Everyone is aware that in January 1853 the Emperor told the English
+Ambassador, Sir Hamilton Seymour, that Turkey was the 'sick man' of
+Europe, and ever since then the phrase has passed current and become
+historic. It was often on the lips of Nicholas, for he talked freely,
+and sometimes showed so little discretion that Nesselrode once declared,
+with fine irony, that the White Czar could not claim to be a
+diplomatist. The phrase cannot have startled Lord Aberdeen. It must have
+sounded, indeed, like the echo of words which the Emperor had uttered in
+London in the summer of 1844. Nicholas, on the occasion of his visit to
+England in that year, spoke freely about the Eastern Question, not
+merely to the Duke of Wellington, whose military prowess he greatly
+admired, but also to Sir Robert Peel and Lord Aberdeen, who was then
+Minister for Foreign Affairs. He told the latter in so many words that
+Turkey was a dying man, and did his best to impress the three English
+statesmen with the necessity for preparation in view of the approaching
+crisis. He stated that he foresaw that the time was coming when he would
+have to put his armies in movement, and added that Austria would be
+compelled to do the same. He protested that he made no claim to an inch
+of Turkish soil, but was prepared to dispute the right of anyone else to
+an inch of it--a palpable allusion to the French support of Mehemet Ali.
+It was too soon to stipulate what should be done when the 'sick man's'
+last hour had run its course. All he wanted, he maintained, was the
+basis of an understanding.
+
+In Nicholas's opinion England ought to make common cause with Russia and
+Austria, and he did not disguise his jealousy of France. It was clear
+that he dreaded the growth of close union between England and France,
+and for Louis Philippe then, as for Louis Napoleon afterwards, his
+feeling was one of coldness if not of actual disdain. The Emperor
+Nicholas won golden opinions amongst all classes during his short stay
+in England. Sir Theodore Martin's 'Life of the Prince Consort,' and
+especially the letter which is published in its pages from the Queen to
+King Leopold, showed the marked impression which was made at Windsor by
+his handsome presence, his apparently unstudied confidences, the
+simplicity and charm of his manners, and the adroitness of his
+well-turned compliments. Whenever the Autocrat of All the Russias
+appeared in public, at a military review, or the Opera, or at Ascot, he
+received an ovation, and Baron Stockmar, with dry cynicism, has not
+failed to record the lavish gifts of 'endless snuff-boxes and large
+presents' which made his departure memorable to the Court officials. Out
+of this visit grew, though the world knew nothing of it then, the Secret
+Memorandum, drawn up by Peel, Wellington, and Aberdeen, and signed by
+them as well as by the Emperor himself. This document, though it
+actually committed England to nothing more serious than the recognition
+in black and white of the desperate straits of the Porte, and the fact
+that England and Russia were alike concerned in maintaining the _status
+quo_ in Turkey, dwelt significantly on the fact that, in the event of a
+crisis in Turkey, Russia and England were to come to an understanding
+with each other as to what concerted action they should take. The
+agreement already existing between Russia and Austria was significantly
+emphasised in the document, and stress was laid on the fact that if
+England joined the compact, France would have no alternative but to
+accept the decision.
+
+  [Sidenote: A FRIEND AT COURT]
+
+There can be no question that Nicholas attached an exaggerated
+importance to this memorandum. It expressed his opinion rather than the
+determination of the Peel Administration; but a half-barbaric despot not
+unnaturally imagined that when the responsible advisers of the Crown
+entered into a secret agreement with him, no matter how vague its terms
+might appear when subjected to critical analysis, England and himself
+were practically of one mind. When the Coalition Government was formed,
+two of the three statesmen, whom the Emperor Nicholas regarded as his
+friends at Court, were dead, but the third, in the person of Lord
+Aberdeen, had succeeded, by an unexpected turn of the wheel, to the
+chief place in the new Ministry. Long before the Imperial visit to
+London the Emperor had honoured Lord Aberdeen with his friendship, and,
+now that the Foreign Minister of 1844 was the Prime Minister of 1853,
+the opportune moment for energetic action seemed to have arrived.
+Nicholas, accordingly, now hinted that if the 'sick man' died England
+should seize Egypt and Crete, and that the European provinces of Turkey
+should be formed into independent states under Russian protection. He
+met, however, with no response, for the English Cabinet by this time saw
+that the impending collapse of Turkey, on which Nicholas laid such
+emphatic stress, was by no means a foregone conclusion. Napoleon and
+Palmerston had, moreover, drawn France and England into friendly
+alliance. There was no shadow of doubt that the Christian subjects of
+Turkey were grossly oppressed, and it is only fair to believe that
+Nicholas, as the head of the Greek Church, was honestly anxious to rid
+them of such thraldom. At the same time no one imagined that he was
+exactly the ruler to expend blood and treasure, in the risks of war, in
+the _rôle_ of a Defender of the Faith.
+
+Count Vitzthum doubts whether the Emperor really contemplated the taking
+of Constantinople, but it is plain that he meant to crush the Turkish
+Empire, and England, knowing that the man had masterful instincts and
+ambitious schemes--that suggest, at all events, a passing comparison
+with Napoleon Bonaparte--took alarm at his restlessness, and the menace
+to India, which it seemed to suggest. 'If we do not stop the Russians on
+the Danube,' said Lord John Russell, 'we shall have to stop them on the
+Indus.' It is now a matter of common knowledge that, when the Crimean
+War began, Nicholas had General Duhamel's scheme before him for an
+invasion of India through Asia. Such an advance, it was foreseen, would
+cripple England's resources in Europe by compelling her to despatch an
+army of defence to the East. It certainly looks, therefore, as if
+Russia, when hostilities in the Crimea actually began, was preparing
+herself for a sudden descent on Constantinople. Napoleon III., eager to
+conciliate the religious susceptibilities of his own subjects, as well
+as to gratify the Vatican, wished the Sultan to make the Latin monks the
+supreme custodians of the Holy Places. Complications, the issue of which
+it was impossible to forecast, appeared inevitable, and for the moment
+there seemed only one man who could grapple with the situation at
+Constantinople. Lord Palmerston altogether, and Lord John Russell in
+part, sympathised with the clamour which arose in the Press for the
+return of the Great Elchi to the Porte.
+
+  [Sidenote: LORD STRATFORD DE REDCLIFFE]
+
+In the entire annals of British diplomacy there is scarcely a more
+picturesque or virile figure than that of Lord Stratford de Redcliffe.
+Capacity for public affairs ran in the blood of the Cannings, as the
+three statues which to-day stand side by side in Westminster Abbey
+proudly attest. Those marble memorials represent George Canning, the
+great Foreign Minister, who in the famous, if grandiloquent, phrase
+'called the New World into existence to redress the balance of the Old;'
+his son Charles, Earl Canning, first Viceroy of India; and his cousin,
+Stratford Canning, Viscount Stratford de Redcliffe, who for a long term
+of years sought to quicken into newness of social and political life the
+broken and demoralised forces of the Ottoman Empire, and who practically
+dictated from Constantinople the policy of England in the East. He was
+born in 1786 and died in 1880. He entered the public service as a
+_précis_-writer at the Foreign Office, and rose swiftly in the
+profession of diplomacy. His acquaintance with Eastern affairs began in
+1808, when he was appointed First Secretary to Sir Robert Adair, whom he
+succeeded two years later at Constantinople as Minister Plenipotentiary.
+The Treaty of Bucharest, which in 1812 brought the war, then in progress
+between Russia and Turkey, to an end, was the first of a brilliant
+series of diplomatic triumphs, which established his reputation in all
+the Councils of Europe, and made him, in Lord Tennyson's words, 'The
+voice of England in the East.' After services in Switzerland, in
+Washington, and at the Congress of Vienna, Canning, in 1825, returned to
+Constantinople with the rank of Ambassador.
+
+He witnessed the overthrow of the Janissaries by Sultan Mahmoud II., and
+had his own experience of Turkish atrocities in the massacre which
+followed. He took a prominent part in the creation of the modern kingdom
+of Greece, and resigned his appointment in 1828, because of a conflict
+of opinion with Lord Aberdeen in the early stages of that movement.
+Afterwards, he was gazetted Ambassador to St. Petersburg; but the
+Emperor Nicholas, who by this time recognised the masterful qualities of
+the man, refused to receive him--a conspicuous slight, which Lord
+Stratford, who was as proud and irascible as the Czar, never forgave.
+Between the years 1842 and 1858 he again filled his old position as
+Ambassador to Constantinople, and during those years he won a unique
+ascendency--unmatched in the history of diplomacy--over men and
+movements in Turkey. He brought about many reforms, and made it his
+special concern to watch over the interests of the Christian subjects at
+the Porte, who styled him the 'Padishah of the Shah,' and that
+title--Sultan of the Sultan--exactly hit off the authority which he
+wielded, not always wisely, but always with good intent. It was an
+unfortunate circumstance that Lord Stratford, after his resignation in
+1852, should have been summoned back for a further spell of six years'
+tenure of power exactly at the moment when Nicholas, prompted by the
+knowledge of the absence from Constantinople of the man who had held him
+in check, and of the accession to power in Downing Street of a statesman
+of mild temper and friendly disposition to Russia, was beginning once
+more to push his claims in the East. Lord Stratford had many virtues,
+but he had also a violent and uncertain temper. He was a man of
+inflexible integrity, iron will, undeniable moral courage, and
+commanding force of character. Yet, for a great Ambassador, he was at
+times strangely undiplomatic, whilst the keenness of his political
+judgment and forecasts sometimes suffered eclipse through the strength
+of his personal antipathies.
+
+  [Sidenote: FAREWELL TO THE FOREIGN OFFICE]
+
+Meanwhile, Lord John Russell, who had expressly stipulated when the
+Cabinet was formed that he was only to hold the seals of the Foreign
+Office for a few weeks, convinced already that the position was
+untenable to a man of his views, insisted on being relieved of the
+office. The divergent views in the Cabinet on the Eastern Question were
+making themselves felt, and Lord Aberdeen's eminently charitable
+interpretation of the Russian demands was little to the minds of men of
+the stamp of Palmerston and Russell, neither of whom was inclined to pin
+his faith so completely to the Czar's assurances. When Parliament met in
+February, Lord John quitted the Foreign Office and led the House of
+Commons without portfolio. His quick recognition of Mr. Gladstone's
+great qualities as a responsible statesman was not the least pleasing
+incident of the moment. In April, Lord Aberdeen once more made no secret
+of his determination to retire at the end of the session, and this
+intimation no doubt had its influence with the more restive of his
+colleagues.
+
+When Parliament rose, Lord John Russell's position in the country was
+admitted on all hands to be one of renewed strength, for, set free from
+an irksome position, he had thrown himself during the session with
+ardour into the congenial work of leader of the House of Commons. The
+resolution of the Cabinet to send Lord Stratford to Constantinople has
+already been stated. He received his instructions on February 25; in
+fact, he seems to have dictated them, for Lord Clarendon, who had just
+succeeded to the Foreign Office, made no secret of the circumstance that
+they were largely borrowed from the Ambassador's own notes. He was told
+that he was to proceed first to Paris, and then to Vienna, in order that
+he might know the minds of France and Austria on the issues at stake.
+Napoleon III. was to be assured that England relied on his cordial
+co-operation in maintaining the integrity and independence of the
+Turkish Empire. The young Emperor of Austria was to be informed that her
+Majesty's Government gladly recognised the fact that his attitude
+towards the Porte had not been changed by recent events, and that the
+policy of Austria in the East was not likely to be altered. Lord
+Stratford was to warn the Sultan and his advisers that the crisis was
+one which required the utmost prudence on their part if peace was to be
+preserved.
+
+The Sultan and his Ministers were practically to be told by Lord
+Stratford that they were the authors of their own misfortunes, and that,
+if they were to be extricated from them, they must place the 'utmost
+confidence in the sincerity and soundness of the advice' that he was
+commissioned to give them. He was further to lay stress on palpable
+abuses, and to urge the necessity of administrative reforms. 'It
+remains,' added Lord Clarendon, 'only for me to say that in the event,
+which her Majesty's Government earnestly hope may not arise, of imminent
+danger to the existence of the Turkish Government, your Excellency will
+in such case despatch a messenger to Malta requesting the Admiral to
+hold himself in readiness; but you will not direct him to approach the
+Dardanelles without positive instructions from her Majesty's
+Government.' The etiquette of Courts has to be respected, especially by
+Ambassadors charged with a difficult mission, but Lord Stratford's
+diplomatic visits to Paris and Vienna were unduly prolonged, and
+occupied more time than was desirable at such a crisis. He arrived at
+Constantinople on April 5, and was received, to his surprise, with a
+remarkable personal ovation. In Kinglake's phrase, his return was
+regarded as that 'of a king whose realm had been suffered to fall into
+danger.'
+
+The Czar's envoy, Prince Menschikoff, had already been on the scene for
+five weeks. If Russia meant peace, the choice of such a representative
+was unfortunate. Menschikoff was a brusque soldier, rough and impolitic
+of speech, and by no means inclined to conform to accepted methods of
+procedure. He refused to place himself in communication with the
+Foreign Minister of the Porte; and this was interpreted at Stamboul as
+an insult to the Sultan. The Grand Vizier, rushing to the conclusion
+that his master was in imminent danger, induced Colonel Rose, the
+British Chargé d'Affaires, to order the Mediterranean Fleet, then at
+Malta, to proceed to Vourla. The Admiral, however, refused to lend
+himself to the panic, and sent back word that he waited instructions
+from London, a course which was afterwards approved by the Cabinet. The
+commotion at Stamboul was not lost upon Napoleon, though he knew that
+the English Cabinet was not anxious to precipitate matters. Eager to
+display his newly acquired power, he promptly sent instructions to the
+French Fleet to proceed to Salamis. Meanwhile Prince Menschikoff, who
+had adopted a more conciliatory attitude on the question of the Holy
+Places, with the result that negotiations were proceeding
+satisfactorily, assumed shortly before the arrival of Lord Stratford a
+more defiant manner, and startled the Porte by the sudden announcement
+of new demands. He claimed that a formal treaty should be drawn up,
+recognising in the most ample, not to say abject, terms, the right of
+Russia to establish a Protectorate over the Christian subjects of the
+Porte. This meant, as Lord Clarendon pointed out at the time, that
+fourteen millions of people would henceforth regard the Czar as their
+defender, whilst their allegiance to the Sultan would become little more
+than nominal, and the position of the Turkish ruler would inevitably
+dwindle from independence to vassalage.
+
+  [Sidenote: TAKING THE BULL BY THE HORNS]
+
+Lord Stratford at once took the bull by the horns. Acting on his advice,
+the Porte refused even to entertain such proposals until the question of
+the Holy Places was settled. Within a month, through Lord Stratford's
+firmness, Russia and Turkey came to terms over the original point in
+dispute; but on the following day Menschikoff placed an ultimatum
+before the Porte, demanding that, within five days, his master's claim
+for the acknowledgment of the Russian Protectorate over the Sultan's
+Greek subjects should be accepted. The Sultan's Ministers, who
+interpreted the dramatic return of Lord Stratford to mean that they had
+England at their back, declined to accede, and their refusal was
+immediately followed by the departure of Prince Menschikoff. Repulsed in
+diplomacy, the Czar, on July 2, marched forty thousand troops across the
+frontier river, the Pruth, and occupied Moldavia and Wallachia. The
+Imperial manifesto stated that it was not the Czar's intention to
+commence war, but only to obtain such security as would ensure the
+restoration of the rights of Russia. This was, of course, high ground to
+take, and a conference of the Great Powers was hastily summoned, with
+the result that the French view of the situation was embodied by the
+assembled diplomatists in the Vienna Note, which was despatched
+simultaneously to Russia and Turkey. Lord John Russell, even before the
+arrival of Lord Stratford at Constantinople, had come to the conclusion
+that the Emperor of Russia was determined to pick a quarrel with Turkey;
+but Lord Aberdeen and his Peelite following were of another mind, and
+even Lord Clarendon seems for the moment to have been hoodwinked by the
+Czar's protestations.
+
+A month or two later the Foreign Minister saw matters in a different
+light, for he used in the House of Lords, in the summer of 1853, an
+expression which has become historic: 'We are drifting into war.' The
+quarrel at this stage--for the susceptibilities of France and of Rome
+had been appeased by the settlement of the question of the Holy
+Places--lay between Russia and Turkey, and England might have compelled
+the peace of Europe if she had known her own mind, and made both
+parties recognise in unmistakeable terms what was her policy. Lord John
+Russell had a policy, but no power to enforce it, whilst Lord Aberdeen
+had no policy which ordinary mortals could fathom, and had the power to
+keep the Cabinet--though scarcely Lord Stratford de Redcliffe--from
+taking any decided course. The Emperor Nicholas, relying on the Protocol
+which Lord Aberdeen had signed--under circumstances which, however, bore
+no resemblance to existing conditions--imagined that, with such a
+statesman at the head of affairs, England would not take up arms against
+Russia. Lord Aberdeen, to add to the complication, seemed unable to
+credit the hostile intentions of the Czar, even after the failure of the
+negotiations which followed the despatch of the Vienna Note. Yet as far
+back as June 19, Lord John Russell, in a memorandum to his colleagues,
+made a clear statement of the position of affairs. He held that, if
+Russia persisted in her demands and invaded Turkey, the interests of
+England in the East would compel us to aid the Sultan in defending his
+capital and his throne. On the other hand, if the Czar by a sudden
+movement seized Constantinople, we must be prepared to make war on
+Russia herself. In that case, he added, we ought to seek the alliance of
+France and Austria. France would willingly join; and England and France
+together might, if it were worth while, obtain the moral weight, if not
+the material support, of Austria in their favour.
+
+  [Sidenote: CAUTION HAS ITS PERFECT WORK]
+
+Lord Aberdeen responded with characteristic caution. He refused to
+entertain warlike forecasts, and wished for liberty to meet the
+emergency when it actually arose. Lord Palmerston, a week or two later,
+made an ineffectual attempt to persuade the Cabinet to send the Fleet to
+the Bosphorus without further delay. 'I think our position,' were his
+words on July 7, 'waiting timidly and submissively at the back door,
+whilst Russia is violently threatening and arrogantly forcing her way
+into the house, is unwise, with a view to a peaceful settlement.' Lord
+Aberdeen believed in the 'moderation' of a despot who took no pains to
+disguise his sovereign contempt for 'les chiens Turcs.' Lord Palmerston,
+on the other hand, made no secret of his opinion that it was the
+invariable policy of Russia to push forward her encroachment 'as fast
+and as far as the apathy or want of firmness' of other Governments would
+allow. He held that her plan was to 'stop and retire when she was met
+with decided resistance,' and then to wait until the next favourable
+opportunity arose to steal once more a march on Europe. There was, in
+short, a radical divergence in the Cabinet. When the compromise
+suggested in the Vienna Note was rejected, the chances of a European war
+were sensibly quickened, and all the more so because Lord Stratford,
+with his notorious personal grudge against the Czar, was more than any
+other man master of the situation. What that situation had become in the
+early autumn of 1853 is pithily expressed in a letter of Sir George
+Cornewall Lewis's to Sir Edmund Head: 'Everything is in a perplexed
+state at Constantinople. Russia is ashamed to recede, but afraid to
+strike. The Turks have collected a large army, and have blown up their
+fanaticism, and, reckoning on the support of England and France, are
+half inclined to try the chances of war. I think that both parties are
+in the wrong--Russia in making unjust demands, Turkey in resisting a
+reasonable settlement. War is quite on the cards, but I still persist in
+thinking it will be averted, unless some accidental spark fires the
+train.'[31]
+
+  [Sidenote: THE VIENNA NOTE]
+
+The Vienna Note was badly worded, and it failed as a scheme of
+compromise between the Porte and Russia. When it was sent in a draft
+form to St. Petersburg the Czar accepted it, doubtless because he saw
+that its statements were vague in a sense which might be interpreted to
+his advantage. At Constantinople the document swiftly evoked protest,
+and the Divan refused to sanction it without alteration. England,
+France, and Austria recognised the force of the amendments of Turkey,
+and united in urging Russia to adopt them. The Emperor Nicholas,
+however, was too proud a man to submit to dictation, especially from the
+Sultan, with Lord Stratford at his elbow, and declined to accede to the
+altered proposals. Lord John deemed that Turkey had a just cause of
+complaint, not in the mere fact of the rejection of her alterations to
+the Vienna Note, but because they were rejected after they had been
+submitted to the Czar. He told Lord Aberdeen that he hoped that Turkey
+would reject the new proposals, but he added that that would not wipe
+away the shame of their having been made. In a speech at Greenock, on
+September 19, Lord John said: 'While we endeavour to maintain peace, I
+certainly should be the last to forget that if peace cannot be
+maintained with honour, it is no longer peace. It becomes then but a
+truce--a precarious truce, to be denounced by others whenever they may
+think fit--whenever they may think that an opportunity has occurred to
+enforce by arms their unjust demands either upon us or upon our allies.'
+
+England and France refused to press the original Vienna Note on Turkey;
+but as Austria and Prussia thought that their reasons for abandoning
+negotiations were scarcely of sufficient force, they in turn declined to
+adopt the same policy. The concert of Europe was, in fact, broken by
+the failure of the Vienna Note, and the chances of peace grew suddenly
+remote. There is a saying that a man likes to believe what he wishes to
+be the fact, and its truth was illustrated at this juncture by both
+parties to the quarrel. The Czar persuaded himself that Austria and
+Prussia would give him their aid, and that England, under Aberdeen, was
+hardly likely to proceed to the extremity of war. The Sultan, on the
+other hand, emboldened by the movements of the French and English
+fleets, and still more by the presence and counsels of Lord Stratford,
+who was, to all intents and purposes, the master spirit at
+Constantinople, trusted--and with good reason as the issue proved--on
+the military support of England and France. It was plain enough that
+Turkey would go to the wall in a struggle with Russia, unless other
+nations which dreaded the possession of Constantinople by the Czar came,
+in their own interests, to her help. With the rejection by Russia of the
+Turkish amendments to the Vienna Note, and the difference of opinion
+which at once arose between the four mediating Powers as to the policy
+which it was best under the altered circumstances to pursue, a complete
+deadlock resulted.
+
+  [Sidenote: HOSTILITIES ON THE DANUBE]
+
+Lord John's view of the situation was expressed in a memorandum which he
+placed before the Cabinet, and in which he came to these conclusions:
+'That if Russia will not make peace on fair terms, we must appear in the
+field as the auxiliaries of Turkey; that if we are to act in conjunction
+with France as principals in the war, we must act not for the Sultan,
+but for the general interests of the population of European Turkey. How,
+and in what way, requires much further consideration, and concert
+possibly with Austria, certainly with France.' He desired not merely to
+resist Russian aggression, but also to make it plain to the Porte that
+we would in no case support it against its Christian subjects. The
+Cabinet was not prepared to adopt such a policy, and Lord John made no
+secret of his opinion that Lord Aberdeen's anxiety for peace and
+generous attitude toward the Czar were, in reality, provoking war. He
+believed that the Prime Minister's vacillation was disastrous in its
+influence, and that he ought, therefore, to retire and make way for a
+leader with a definite policy. The Danube, for the moment, was the great
+barrier to war, and both Russia and Turkey were afraid to cross it. Lord
+John believed that energetic measures in Downing Street at this juncture
+would have forestalled, and indeed prevented, activity of a less
+peaceful kind on the Danube. Meanwhile, despatches, projects, and
+proposals passed rapidly between the Great Powers, for never, as was
+remarked at the time by a prominent statesman, did any subject produce
+so much writing. Turkey--perhaps still more than Russia--was eager for
+war. Tumults in favour of it had broken out at Constantinople; and, what
+was more to the purpose, the finances and internal government of the
+country were in a state of confusion. Therefore, when the concert of the
+four Powers had been shattered, the Turks saw a better chance of drawing
+both England and France into their quarrel. At length, on October 10,
+the Porte sent an ultimatum to the commander of the Russian troops which
+had invaded Moldavia and Wallachia, demanding that they should fall back
+beyond the Pruth within fifteen days. On October 22 the war-ships of
+England and France passed the Dardanelles in order to protect and defend
+Turkish territory from any Russian attack. The Czar met what was
+virtually a declaration of war by asserting that he would neither retire
+nor act on the aggressive. Ten days after the expiration of the
+stipulated time, Omar Pacha, the Ottoman commander in Bulgaria, having
+crossed the Danube, attacked and vanquished the Russians on November 4
+at Oltenitza. The Czar at once accepted the challenge, and declared that
+he considered his pledge not to act on the offensive was no longer
+binding. The Russian fleet left Sebastopol, and, sailing into the
+harbour of Sinope, on the southern coast of the Black Sea, destroyed, on
+November 30, the Turkish squadron anchored in that port, and slew four
+thousand men.
+
+A significant light is thrown on the crisis in Sir Theodore Martin's
+'Life of the Prince Consort,'[32] where it is stated that the Czar
+addressed an autograph letter to the Queen, 'full of surprise that there
+should be any misunderstanding between her Majesty's Government and his
+own as to the affairs of Turkey, and appealing to her Majesty's "good
+faith" and "wisdom" to decide between them.' This letter, it is added,
+was at once submitted to Lord Clarendon for his and Lord Aberdeen's
+opinion. The Queen replied that Russia's interpretation of her treaty
+obligations in the particular instance in question was, in her Majesty's
+judgment and in the judgment of those best qualified to advise her, 'not
+susceptible of the extended meaning' put upon it. The Queen intimated in
+explicit terms that the demand which the Czar had made was one which the
+Sultan could hardly concede if he valued his own independence. The
+letter ended with an admission that the Czar's intentions towards Turkey
+were 'friendly and disinterested.' Sir Theodore Martin states that this
+letter, dated November 14, was submitted to Lord Aberdeen and Lord
+Clarendon, and was by them 'thought excellent.' Scarcely more than a
+fortnight elapsed when Russia's 'friendly and disinterested' feelings
+were displayed in her cruel onslaught at Sinope, and the statesmen who
+had prompted her Majesty's reply received a rude awakening. It became
+plain in the light of accomplished events that the wisdom which is
+profitable to direct had deserted her Majesty's chief advisers.
+
+  [Sidenote: MAKING HASTE SLOWLY]
+
+Lord Aberdeen always made haste slowly, and when other statesmen had
+abandoned hope he continued to lay stress on the resources of diplomacy.
+He admitted that he had long regarded the possibility of war between
+England and Russia with the 'utmost incredulity;' but even before Sinope
+his confidence in a peaceful solution of the difficulty was beginning to
+waver. He distrusted Lord Stratford, and yet he refused to recall him;
+he talked about the 'indignity' which Omar Pacha had inflicted on the
+Czar by his summons to evacuate the Principalities, although nothing
+could justify the presence of the Russian troops in Moldavia and
+Wallachia, and they had held their ground there for the space of three
+months. Even Lord Clarendon admitted that the Turks had displayed no
+lack of patience under the far greater insult of invasion. The
+'indignity' of notice to quit was, in fact, inevitable if the Sultan was
+to preserve a vestige of self-respect. Lord Aberdeen was calmly drafting
+fresh plans of pacification, requiring the Porte to abstain from
+hostilities 'during the progress of the negotiations undertaken on its
+behalf'[33] a fortnight after Turkey had actually sent her ultimatum to
+Russia; and the battle of Oltenitza was an affair of history before the
+despatch reached Constantinople. Lord Stanmore is inclined to blame Lord
+John Russell for giving the Turks a loophole of escape by inserting in
+the document the qualifying words 'for a reasonable time;' but his
+argument falls to the ground when it is remembered that this despatch
+was written on October 24, whilst the Turkish ultimatum had been sent to
+Russia on October 10. Sinope was a bitter surprise to Lord Aberdeen, and
+the 'furious passion' which Lord Stanmore declares it aroused in England
+went far to discredit the Coalition Ministry.
+
+Unfortunately, all through the crisis Lord Aberdeen appears to have
+attached unmerited weight to the advice of the weak members of his own
+Cabinet--men who, to borrow a phrase of Lord Palmerston's, were
+'inconvenient entities in council,' though hardly conspicuous either in
+their powers of debate or in their influence in the country. Politicians
+of the stamp of the Duke of Newcastle, Mr. Sidney Herbert, and Sir James
+Graham played a great part in Downing Street, whilst for the moment men
+of superior ability like Palmerston and Russell found their advice
+unheeded. More than any other man, Sir James Graham, now almost a
+forgotten statesman, was Lord Aberdeen's trusted colleague, and the
+wisdom of his advice was by no means always conspicuous; for rashness
+and timidity were oddly blended in his nature. 'The defeat of the Turks
+at Sinope upon our element, the sea,' wrote the Prince Consort to Baron
+Stockmar, 'has made the people furious; it is ascribed to Aberdeen
+having been bought over by Russia.'[34] The rumour which the Prince
+mentions about Lord Aberdeen was, of course, absurd, and everyone who
+knew the lofty personal character of the Prime Minister laughed it at
+once to scorn. Nevertheless, the fact that the Prince Consort should
+have thought such a statement worth chronicling is in itself
+significant; and though no man of brains in the country held such a
+view, at least two-thirds of the educated opinion of the nation
+regarded the Prime Minister with increasing disfavour, as a man who had
+dragged England, through humiliating negotiations, to the verge of war.
+
+  [Sidenote: ENGLAND RESENTS SINOPE]
+
+The destruction of the Turkish squadron at Sinope under the shadow of
+our fleet touched the pride of England to the quick. The nation lost all
+patience--as the contemptuous cartoons of 'Punch' show--with the endless
+parleyings of Aberdeen, and a loud and passionate cry for war filled the
+country. Lord Stanmore thinks that too much was made in the excitement
+of the 'massacre' of the Turkish sailors, and perhaps he is right.
+However that may be, the fact remains that the Russians at Sinope
+continued to storm with shot and shell the Turkish ships when those on
+board were no longer able to act on the defensive--a naval engagement
+which cannot be described as distinguished for valour. Perhaps the
+indignation might not have been so deep and widespread if the English
+people had not recognised that the Coalition Government had strained
+concession to the breaking point in the vain attempt to propitiate the
+Czar. All through the early autumn Lord Palmerston was aware that those
+in the Cabinet who were jealous of Russia had to reckon with 'private
+and verbal communications, given in all honesty, but tinctured by the
+personal bias of the Prime Minister,' to Baron Brunnow, which were doing
+'irreparable mischief' at St. Petersburg.[35] The nation did not relish
+Lord Aberdeen's personal friendship with the Czar, and now that Russia
+was beginning to show herself in her true colours, prejudice against a
+Prime Minister who had sought to explain away difficulties was natural,
+however unreasonable. The English people, moreover, had not forgotten
+that Russia ruthlessly crippled Poland in 1831, and lent her aid to the
+subjugation of Hungary in 1849. If the Sultan was the Lord of Misrule to
+English imagination in 1853, the Czar was the embodiment of despotism,
+and even less amenable to the modern ideas of liberty and toleration.
+The Manchester School, on the other hand, had provoked a reaction. The
+Great Exhibition had set a large section of the community dreaming, not
+of the millennium, but of Waterloo. Russia was looked upon as a standing
+menace to England's widening heritage in the East, and neither the logic
+of Cobden nor the rhetoric of Bright was of the least avail in stemming
+the torrent of national indignation.
+
+  [Sidenote: THE CONCLUSION OF THE WHOLE MATTER]
+
+When the Vienna Note became a dead letter Lord Aberdeen ought either to
+have adopted a clean-cut policy, which neither Russia nor Turkey could
+mistake, or else have carried out his twice-repeated purpose of
+resignation. Everyone admits that from the outset his position was one
+of great difficulty, but he increased it greatly by his practical
+refusal to grasp the nettle. He was not ambitious of power, but, on the
+contrary, longed for his quiet retreat at Haddo. He was on the verge of
+seventy and was essentially a man of few, but scholarly tastes. There
+can be no doubt that considerable pressure was put upon him both by the
+Court and the majority of his colleagues in the Cabinet, and this, with
+the changed aspect of affairs, and the mistaken sense of duty with
+regard to them, determined his course. His decision 'not to run away
+from the Eastern complication,' as Prince Albert worded it, placed both
+himself and Lord John Russell in somewhat of a false position. If Lord
+Aberdeen had followed his own inclination there is every likelihood that
+he would have carried out his arrangement to retire in favour of Lord
+John. His colleagues were not in the dark in regard to this arrangement
+when they joined the Ministry, and if not prepared to fall in with the
+proposal, they ought to have stated their objections at the time. There
+is some conflict of opinion as to the terms of the arrangement; but even
+if we take it to be what Lord Aberdeen's own friends represent it--not
+an absolute but a conditional pledge to retire--Lord Aberdeen was surely
+bound to ascertain at the outset whether the condition was one that
+could possibly be fulfilled. If the objection of his colleagues to
+retain office under Lord John as Prime Minister was insurmountable, then
+the qualified engagement to retire--if the Government would not be
+broken up by the process--was worthless, and Lord John was being drawn
+into the Cabinet by assurances given by the Prime Minister alone, but
+which he was powerless to fulfil without the co-operation of his
+colleagues. Lord Aberdeen was therefore determined to remain at his
+post, because Lord John was unpopular with the Cabinet, and Palmerston
+with the Court, and because he knew that the accession to power of
+either of them would mean the adoption of a spirited foreign policy.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[31] _Letters of Sir George Cornewall Lewis, Bart._, edited by his
+brother, Canon Frankland Lewis, p. 270.
+
+[32] Sir Theodore Martin's _Life of the Prince Consort_, ii. 530, 531.
+
+[33] Lord Stanmore's _Earl of Aberdeen_, p. 234.
+
+[34] Sir Theodore Martin's _Life of the Prince Consort_, ii. 534.
+
+[35] _Life of Lord Palmerston_, by the Hon. Evelyn Ashley, ii. 282.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+WAR HINDERS REFORM
+
+1854-1855
+
+     A Scheme of Reform--Palmerston's attitude--Lord John sore let and
+     hindered--Lord Stratford's diplomatic triumph--The Duke of
+     Newcastle and the War Office--The dash for
+     Sebastopol--Procrastination and its deadly work--The
+     Alma--Inkerman--The Duke's blunder--Famine and frost in the
+     trenches.
+
+
+ALL through the autumn of 1854 Lord John Russell was busy with a scheme
+of Parliamentary reform. The Government stood pledged to bring forward
+the measure, though a section of the Cabinet, and, notably Lord
+Palmerston, were opposed to such a course. As leader of the House, Lord
+John had announced that the question would be introduced to Parliament
+in the spring, and the Cabinet, therefore, took the subject into
+consideration when it resumed its meetings in November. A special
+committee was appointed, and Lord John placed his proposals before it.
+Every borough with less than three hundred electors was to be
+disfranchised, and towns with less than five hundred electors were to
+lose one of their representatives. Seventy seats, he argued, would be
+gained by this plan, and he suggested that they should be divided
+between the largest counties and the great towns. He proposed greatly
+diminishing the qualifications alike in counties and boroughs. He laid
+stress on the necessity of calling into existence triangular
+constituencies, in which no elector should have the power to vote for
+more than two of the three candidates, and wished also to deprive the
+freemen of their guild qualification. Lord Palmerston had no relish for
+the subject. His predilections, in fact, leaned in quite the opposite
+direction. If his manner was genial, his temper was conservative, and he
+was inclined to smile, if not to scoff, at politicians who met such
+problems of government with other than a light heart. He was therefore
+inclined at this juncture to adopt Lord Melbourne's attitude, and to
+meet Lord John with that statesman's famous remark, 'Why can't you let
+it alone?'
+
+  [Sidenote: PALMERSTON AND REFORM]
+
+Devotion to one idea, declared Goethe, is the condition of all
+greatness. Lord John was devoted from youth to age to the idea of
+Parliamentary reform, and in season and out was never inclined to
+abandon it. Probably Lord Palmerston would have adopted a less hostile
+attitude if he had been in his proper element at the Foreign Office; but
+being Home Secretary, he was inclined to kick against a measure which
+promised to throw into relief his own stationary position on one of the
+pet subjects of the party of progress. Whilst the Cabinet was still
+engaged in thrashing the subject out, tidings of the battle of Sinope
+reached England, and the popular indignation against Russia, which had
+been gathering all the autumn, burst forth, as has already been stated,
+into a fierce outcry against the Czar. Two days after the news of
+Russia's cowardly attack had been confirmed, Palmerston saw his
+opportunity, and promptly resigned. Doubtless such a step was determined
+by mixed motives. Objections to Lord John's proposals for Parliamentary
+reform at best only half explains the position, and behind such
+repugnance lay hostility to Lord Aberdeen's vacillating policy on the
+Eastern Question. The nation accepted Lord Palmerston's resignation in a
+matter-of-fact manner, which probably surprised no one more than
+himself. The Derbyites, oddly enough, made the most pother about the
+affair; but a man on the verge of seventy, and especially one like Lord
+Palmerston with few illusions, is apt to regard the task of forming a
+new party as a game which is not worth the candle. The truth is,
+Palmerston, like other clever men before and since, miscalculated his
+strength, and on Christmas Eve was back again in office. He had received
+assurances from his colleagues that the Reform proposals were still open
+to discussion; and, as the Cabinet had taken in his absence a decision
+on Turkish affairs which was in harmony with the views that he had
+persistently advocated, he determined to withdraw his resignation.
+
+The new year opened darkly with actual war, and with rumours of it on a
+far more terrible scale. 'My expectation is,' wrote Sir G. C. Lewis on
+January 4, 'that before long England and France will be at war with
+Russia; and as long as war lasts all means of internal improvement must
+slumber. The Reform Bill must remain on the shelf--if there is war; for
+a Government about to ask for large supplies and to impose war taxes,
+cannot propose a measure which is sure to create dispersion and to
+divide parties.' France, in spite of the action of the Emperor over the
+question of the Holy Places, had not displayed much interest in the
+quarrel; but a contemptuous retort which Nicholas made to Napoleon
+III.'s final letter in the interests of peace put an end to the national
+indifference. The words 'Russia will prove herself in 1854 what she was
+in 1812,' cut the national pride to the quick, and the cry on that side
+of the Channel as on this, was for war with Russia. The Fleets were
+ordered to enter the Black Sea, and on February 27 England and France
+sent a joint ultimatum to St. Petersburg, demanding that the Czar's
+troops should evacuate the Principalities by April 30.
+
+  [Sidenote: AN INDIGNANT PROTEST]
+
+The interval of suspense was seized by Lord John to place the Reform
+proposals of the Government before the House of Commons; but the nation
+was by this time restless, dissatisfied, and preoccupied, for the blast
+of the trumpet seemed already in the air. The second reading of the
+measure was fixed for the middle of March; but the increasing strain of
+the Eastern Question led Lord John to announce at the beginning of that
+month that the Government had decided not to bring forward the second
+reading until the end of April. This announcement led to a personal
+attack, and one member, whose name may be left in the oblivion which has
+overtaken it, had the audacity to hint that the leader of the House had
+never intended to proceed with the measure. Stung into sudden
+indignation by the taunt, Lord John promptly expressed his disdain of
+the opinion of a politician who had no claim whatever to speak in the
+name of Reform, and went on, with a touch of pardonable pride, to refer
+to his own lifelong association with the cause. When he turned to his
+opponent with the words, 'Does the honourable gentleman think he has a
+right to treat me----,' the House backed and buried his protest with its
+generous cheers. Lord John Russell, in power or out of it, was always
+jealous for the reputation of the responsible statesmen of the nation,
+and he did not let this occasion pass without laying emphasis on that
+point. 'I should be ashamed of myself if I were to prefer a concern for
+my own personal reputation to that which I understood to be for the
+interests of my country. But it seems to me that the character of the
+men who rule this country--whether they be at the moment in office or
+in opposition--is a matter of the utmost interest to the people of this
+country, and that it is of paramount importance that full confidence
+should be reposed in their character. It is, in fact, on the confidence
+of the people in the character of public men that the security of this
+country in a great degree depends.'
+
+A few days later it became plain that war was at hand, and a strong
+feeling prevailed in Parliament that the question of Reform ought to be
+shelved for a year. Lord John's position was one of great difficulty. He
+felt himself pledged on the subject, and, though recognising that a
+great and unexpected emergency had arisen, which altered the whole
+political outlook, he knew that with Lord Palmerston and others in the
+Ministry the question was not one of time, but of principle. The sinews
+of war had to be provided. Mr. Gladstone proposed to double the income
+tax, and Lord John urged that a period of increased taxation ought to be
+a period of widened political franchise. He therefore was averse to
+postponement, unless in a position to assure his Radical following that
+the Government recognised that it was committed to the question. Lord
+Aberdeen was only less anxious than Lord John for the adoption of a
+progressive and enlightened home policy; in fact, his attitude in his
+closing years on questions like Parliamentary reform was in marked
+contrast to his rigidly conservative views on foreign policy. He
+therefore determined to sound the Cabinet advocates of procrastination
+as to their real feeling about Reform, with the result that he saw
+clearly that Lord John Russell's fears were not groundless, since Lord
+Palmerston and Lord Lansdowne bluntly declared that they meant to retire
+from office if the Government went forward with the Bill.
+
+  [Sidenote: 'GOD DEFEND THE RIGHT']
+
+Lord John felt that he could not withdraw the Bill unconditionally, and
+therefore resignation seemed the only honourable course which was left.
+After deliberate consideration he could see no other choice in the
+matter, and, on April 8, relinquished his seat in the Cabinet. The
+Court, the Prime Minister and his colleagues saw at once the gravity of
+the position, for the Liberal party were restive enough under Lord
+Aberdeen, without the withdrawal from his Cabinet of a statesman of the
+first rank, who was not anxious for peace at any price. Lord John's
+position in the country at the moment rendered it probable that a
+quarrel with him would bring about the downfall of the Government. His
+zeal for Reform won him the respect and support of the great towns, and
+the determination which he shared with Palmerston to resist the
+intolerable attitude of the Czar made him popular with the crowd. A
+recent speech, delivered when Nicholas had recalled his Ambassador from
+London, had caught, moreover, the sympathies of all classes of the
+community. 'For my part, if most unexpectedly the Emperor of Russia
+should recede from his former demands, we shall all rejoice to be spared
+the pain, the efforts, and the burdens of war. But if peace is no longer
+consistent with our duty to England, with our duty to Europe, with our
+duty to the world, we can only endeavour to enter into this contest with
+a stout heart. May God defend the right, and I, for my part, shall be
+willing to bear my share of the burden and the responsibility.'
+
+John Leech, in one of his inimitable cartoons in 'Punch,' caught the
+situation with a flash of insight which almost amounted to genius, and
+Lord John became the hero of the hour. One verse out of a spirited poem
+entitled 'God defend the Right,' which appeared in 'Punch' at the time,
+may be quoted in passing, especially as it shows the patriotic fervour
+and the personal enthusiasm which Lord John Russell's speech evoked in
+the country:
+
+   'From humble homes and stately domes the cry goes through the air,
+     With the loftiness of challenge, the lowliness of prayer,
+   Honour to him who spoke the words in the Council of the Land,
+     To find faith in old England's heart, force in old England's hand.'
+
+A week before the appearance of these lines, the cartoon in 'Punch'
+represented Lord Aberdeen, significantly arrayed in Windsor uniform,
+vainly attempting to hold back the struggling British lion, which sees
+the Russian bear in the distance, and exclaiming, 'I _must_ let him go.'
+
+Lord John's resignation meant much, perhaps everything, to the
+Government. Great pressure was put upon him. The Queen and the Cabinet
+alike urged him to abandon his intention of retirement; whilst Lord
+Palmerston, with that personal chivalry which was characteristic of him,
+declared that in a moment of European crisis he could be better spared,
+and was ready to resign if Lord John insisted upon such terms, as the
+price for his own continuance in office. Every day the situation abroad
+was becoming more critical, and Lord John saw that it might imperil
+greater interests than any which were bound up with the progress of a
+party question to resist such appeals. He, therefore, on April 11
+withdrew his resignation, and received an ovation in the House of
+Commons when he made it plain that he was willing to thrust personal
+considerations aside in the interests of his colleagues, and for the
+welfare of his country. Mr. Edward Miall has described the scene. '"If
+it should be thought that the course he was taking would damage the
+cause of Reform"--the noble Lord paused, choked with the violence of his
+own emotions. Then arose a cheer from both sides of the House, loud and
+long continued.... Every eye was glistening with sudden moisture, and
+every heart was softened with genuine sympathy.... The effect was
+electric. Old prejudices long pent up, grudges, accumulated discontents,
+uncharitable suspicions, all melted away before that sudden outburst of
+a troubled heart.'[36]
+
+  [Sidenote: THE PLAN OF CAMPAIGN]
+
+Throughout the spring diplomacy was still busy, though it became every
+week more and more apparent that hostilities were inevitable. Lord
+Stratford achieved, what Lord Clarendon did not hesitate to term, a
+'great diplomatic triumph' when he won consent from the Porte to fresh
+terms in the interests of peace, which met with the approval, not only
+of England and France, but also of Austria and Prussia. The Czar began
+at length to realise the gravity of the situation when Austria moved in
+February fifty thousand men to the frontier of the territory which
+Russia had seized. When the Russian troops, a few months later,
+evacuated the Principalities, Austria and Prussia, whose alliance had
+been formed in defence of the interests of Germany, were no longer
+directly concerned in the quarrel. Thus the war which England and France
+declared at the end of March against Russia was one which they were left
+to pursue, with the help of Turkey, alone. Lord John Russell urged that
+it should be short and sharp, and with characteristic promptitude
+sketched out, with Lord Panmure's help, a plan of campaign. He urged
+that ten thousand men should at once be raised for the Army, five
+thousand for the Navy, and that the services of fifteen thousand more be
+added to the Militia. He laid stress on the importance of securing the
+active aid of Austria, for he thought that her co-operation might make
+the difference between a long and a short war. He proposed that Sweden
+should be drawn into the Alliance, with the view of striking a blow at
+Russia in the North as well as on her southern frontier. He also
+proposed that English and French troops should be massed at
+Constantinople, and submitted a plan of operations for the consideration
+of the Cabinet.
+
+Lord John knew perfectly well that radical changes were imperative in
+the administration of the Army. The Secretary for War was, oddly
+enough, Secretary for the Colonies as well, and there was also a
+Secretary at War, who controlled the finances at the bidding of the
+Commander-in-Chief. The Ordnance Department was under one management,
+the Commissariat under another, whilst the Militia fell within the
+province of a third, in the shape of the Home Office. Lord John Russell
+had seen enough of the outcome of divided counsels in the Cabinet, and
+insisted, in emphatic terms, on the necessity of separating the duties
+of the War and Colonial Departments, and of giving the Minister who held
+the former post undisputed control over all branches of the executive.
+
+It was perhaps an undesigned coincidence, but none the less unfortunate,
+that the statesmen in the Aberdeen Government who were directly
+concerned with the war were former colleagues of Sir Robert Peel. Lord
+Aberdeen's repugnance to hostilities with Russia was so notorious that
+the other Peelites in the Cabinet fell under the suspicion of apathy;
+and the nation, exasperated at the Czar's bombastic language and
+high-handed action, was not in the mood to make fine distinctions. The
+Duke of Newcastle and his friend, Mr. Sidney Herbert, were regarded,
+perhaps unjustly, as lukewarm about the approaching campaign; but it was
+upon the former that the brunt of public censure ultimately fell. The
+Duke was Secretary for War and the Colonies. It was an odd combination
+of offices which had existed for more than half a century. The tradition
+is that it had been brought about in order that the Secretary for the
+Colonies, who at the beginning of the century had comparatively little
+to do, but who possessed large patronage, might use that patronage on
+behalf of deserving military men.
+
+  [Sidenote: THE DUKE OF NEWCASTLE'S FAILURE]
+
+In the immediate prospect of hostilities, it was felt to be imperative
+that two posts of such responsibility should not be held by the same
+Minister; but the Duke was adverse to the proposed change. It was,
+however, brought about in the early summer, and the Duke was given his
+choice of the two posts. He decided to relinquish the Colonies, and thus
+the burden of the approaching conflict fell upon him by his own
+deliberate act. Sir George Grey was appointed to the vacant office. The
+Duke of Newcastle's ambition outstripped his ability, and the choice
+which he made was disastrous both to himself and to the nation. Because
+some men are born great, they have greatness of another kind thrust upon
+them; and too often it happens that responsibility makes plain the lack
+of capacity, which the glamour neither of rank nor of place can long
+conceal. The Duke of Newcastle was born to greatness--for in the middle
+of the century the highest rank in the Peerage counted for more in
+politics than it does to-day--but he certainly did not achieve it as War
+Minister.
+
+There is no need to relate here the more than twice-told story of the
+Crimean War. Its incidents have been described by historians and
+soldiers; and, of late, gallant officers who took part in it have
+retraced its course and revived its memories. In one sense it is a
+glorious chapter in the annals of the Queen's reign, and yet there are
+circumstances connected with it which every Englishman, worthy of the
+name, would gladly forget. Although the nation did not take up arms with
+a light heart, its judgment was clouded by passion; and the first great
+war since Waterloo caught the imagination of the people, especially as
+Lord Raglan, one of the old Peninsular heroes, was in command of the
+Army of Invasion. England and France were not satisfied merely to
+blockade the Black Sea and crush the commerce of Russia. They determined
+to strike at the heart of the Czar's power in the East, and therefore
+the Allies made a dash at the great arsenal and fort of Sebastopol. It
+did not enter into their reckoning that there might be a protracted
+siege. What they anticipated was a swift march, a sudden attack, and the
+capture of the stronghold by bombardment. The allied forces--25,000
+English soldiers, 23,000 French, and about 5,000 Turks--landed in the
+Crimea in September, 1854, and stormed the heights of the Alma on the
+20th of that month. Then they hesitated, and their chance of reducing
+Sebastopol that autumn was lost. 'I have been very slow to enter into
+this war,' said Lord Aberdeen to an alderman at a banquet in the City.
+'Yes,' was the brusque retort, 'and you will be equally slow to get out
+of it.'
+
+  [Sidenote: BALACLAVA AND INKERMAN]
+
+Divided counsels prevailed in the camp as well as in the Cabinet.
+Cholera attacked the troops, and stores began to fail. Prince
+Menschikoff, defeated at Alma, seized the opportunity which the delay
+gave him to render the harbour of Sebastopol impassable to hostile
+ships; and General Todleben brought his skill as an engineer to the task
+of strengthening by earthworks the fortifications of the Russian
+stronghold. The Allies made the blunder of marching on Sebastopol from
+the southern instead of the northern side of the harbour, and this gave
+time to the enemy to receive strong reinforcements, with the result that
+120,000 men were massed behind the Russian fortifications. Meanwhile a
+rumour that Sebastopol had fallen awakened short-lived rejoicings in
+England and France. The tidings were contradicted in twenty-four hours,
+but most people thought, on that exciting 3rd of October, that the war
+was virtually at an end. The Emperor Napoleon announced the imaginary
+victory of their comrades in arms to his assembled troops. Even Mr.
+Gladstone was deceived for the moment, and there is a letter of his in
+existence to one of the most prominent of his colleagues, full of
+congratulation at such a result. The chagrin of the nation was great
+when it learnt that the Russians were not merely holding their own, but
+were acting on the aggressive; whilst the disappointment was quickened
+by the lack of vigour displayed by the Cabinet. The Allies fought, on
+October 25, the glorious yet indecisive battle of Balaclava, which was
+for ever rendered memorable by the useless but superb charge of the
+Light Brigade. Less than a fortnight later, on November 5, the Russians
+renewed the attack, and took the English by surprise. A desperate
+hand-to-hand struggle against overwhelming odds ensued. Then the French
+came to the aid of the English troops, and the battle of Inkerman was
+won.
+
+As the winter approached, the position of the Allies grew perilous, and
+it seemed likely that the plans of the invaders would miscarry, and the
+besieging Allies be reduced to the position of the besieged. Before the
+middle of November winter set in with severity along the shores of the
+Black Sea, and a hurricane raged, which destroyed the tents of the
+troops, and wrecked more than a score of ships, which were carrying
+stores of ammunition and clothing. As the winter advanced, with bleak
+winds and blinding snow, the shivering, ill-fed soldiers perished in
+ever-increasing numbers under the twofold attack of privation and
+pestilence. The Army had been despatched to the Crimea in the summer,
+and, as no one imagined that the campaign would last beyond the early
+autumn, the brave fellows in the trenches of Sebastopol were called to
+confront the sudden descent of winter without the necessary stores. It
+was then that the War Office awoke slowly to the terrible nature of the
+crisis. Lord John Russell had made his protest months before against the
+dilatory action of that department, and, though he knew that personal
+odium was sure to follow, endeavoured at the eleventh hour to persuade
+Lord Aberdeen to take decisive action. 'We are in the midst of a great
+war,' were his words to the Premier on November 17. 'In order to carry
+on that war with efficiency, either the Prime Minister must be
+constantly urging, hastening, completing the military preparations, or
+the Minister of War must be strong enough to control other departments.'
+He went on to contend that the Secretary of State for War ought to be in
+the House of Commons, and that he ought, moreover, to be a man who
+carried weight in that assembly, and who brought to its debates not only
+vigour of mind but experience of military details. 'There is only one
+person belonging to the Government,' added Lord John, 'who combines
+these advantages. My conclusion is that before Parliament meets Lord
+Palmerston should be entrusted with the seals of the War Department.'
+
+  [Sidenote: INCAPACITY IN HIGH PLACES]
+
+This was, of course, an unwelcome proposition to Lord Aberdeen, and he
+met it with the declaration that no one man was competent to undertake
+the duties of Secretary of State for War and those of Secretary at War.
+He considered that the latter appointment should be held in connection
+with the finances of the Army, and in independence of the Secretary for
+the War Department. Lord John replied that 'either the Prime Minister
+must himself be the acting and moving spirit of the whole machine, or
+else the Secretary for War must have delegated authority to control
+other departments,' and added, 'neither is the case under the present
+_régime_.' Once more, nothing came of the protest, and, when Parliament
+met on December 12, to indulge in the luxury of dull debates and bitter
+personalities, the situation remained unchanged, in spite of the growing
+sense of disaster abroad and incapacity at home. The Duke of Newcastle
+in the Lords made a lame defence, and his monotonous and inconclusive
+speech lasted for the space of three hours. 'The House went to sleep
+after the first half hour,' was the cynical comment of an Opposition
+peer. As the year ended the indignation in the country against the Duke
+of Newcastle grew more and more pronounced, and he, in common with Lord
+Aberdeen, was thought in many quarters to be starving the war. The truth
+was, the Duke was not strong enough for the position, and if he had gone
+to the Colonial Office, when that alternative was offered him, his
+reputation would not now be associated with the lamentable blunders
+which, rightly or wrongly, are laid to his charge. It is said that he
+once boasted that he had often kept out of mischief men who, he frankly
+admitted, were his superiors in ability. However that may be, the Duke
+of Newcastle ignominiously failed, at the great crisis in his public
+career, to keep out of mischief men who were his subordinates in
+position, and, in consequence, to arrest the fatal confusion which the
+winter campaign made on the military resources of the nation. Lord
+Hardinge, who on the death of the Duke of Wellington had succeeded to
+the post of Commander-in-Chief, assured Lord Malmesbury in January 1855
+that the Duke of Newcastle had never consulted him on any subject
+connected with the war. He added, with considerable heat, that not a
+single despatch had been submitted to him; in fact, he had been left to
+gather what the War Minister was doing through the published statements
+in the newspapers.
+
+The Duke of Newcastle was a sensible, well-intentioned man, but allowed
+himself to be involved in the management of the details of his office,
+instead of originating a policy and directing the broad course of
+affairs with vigour and determination. He displayed a degree of industry
+during the crisis which was praiseworthy in itself, and quite phenomenal
+in the most exalted branch of the Peerage, but he lacked the power of
+initiative, and had not sufficient force and decision of character to
+choose the right men for the emergency.
+
+The Cabinet might falter and the War Office dawdle, the faith of the
+soldiers in the authorities might be shaken and their hopes of personal
+succour be eclipsed, but the charity of womanhood failed not to respond
+to the call of the suffering, or to the demands of self-sacrifice.
+Florence Nightingale, and the nurses who laboured at her side in the
+hospital at Scutari not only soothed the dying and nursed the sick and
+wounded, but thrilled the heart of England by their modest heroism and
+patient devotion.
+
+Before Parliament met in December, Lord John Russell, in despair of
+bringing matters to a practical issue, informed his colleagues that,
+though he was willing to remain in the Cabinet, and to act as Leader of
+the House during the short session before Christmas, it was his
+intention to relinquish office at the close of the year. The objection
+was raised that it was unconstitutional for him to meet Parliament in a
+responsible position if he had arrived at this fixed but unannounced
+resolution. He met this expression of opinion by requesting Lord
+Aberdeen to submit his resignation to the Queen on December 7. The
+correspondence between Lord Lansdowne and Lord John, and the important
+memorandum which the latter drew up on December 30, which Mr. Walpole
+has printed, speak for themselves.[37] It will be seen that Lord John
+once more insisted that the Secretary of State for the War Department
+ought immediately to be invested with all the more important functions
+hitherto exercised by the Secretary at War, and he again laid stress on
+the necessity in such a crisis that the War Minister should be a member
+of the House of Commons. He complained that, though he was responsible
+in the Commons, Lord Aberdeen did not treat him with the confidence
+which alone could enable a Leader of the House to carry on the business
+of the Government with satisfaction. He declared that Lord Grey treated
+Lord Althorp in a different fashion, and that Lord Melbourne, to bring
+the matter nearer home, had shown greater consideration towards himself.
+He added that he felt absolved from the duty of defending acts and
+appointments upon which he had not been consulted.
+
+  [Sidenote: LORD LANSDOWNE AS PEACEMAKER]
+
+  [Sidenote: A FRANK STATEMENT]
+
+Lord Lansdowne succeeded for the moment in patching up an unsatisfactory
+peace, but it was becoming every day more and more obvious that the
+Aberdeen Government was doomed. The memorandum which Lord John drew up,
+at the suggestion of Lord Lansdowne, describes in pithy and direct terms
+the privations of the soldiers, and the mortality amongst men and
+horses, which was directly due to hunger and neglect. He shows that
+between the end of September and the middle of November there was at
+least six weeks when all kinds of supplies might have been landed at
+Balaclava, and he points out that the stores only needed to be carried
+seven or eight miles to reach the most distant division of the Army. He
+protested that there had been great mismanagement, and added: 'Soldiers
+cannot fight unless they are well fed.' He stated that he understood
+Lord Raglan had written home at the beginning of October to say that, if
+the Army was to remain on the heights during the winter, huts would be
+required, since the barren position which they held did not furnish wood
+to make them. Nearly three months had, however, passed, and winter in
+its most terrible form had settled on the Crimea, and yet the huts still
+appeared not to have reached the troops, though the French had done
+their best to make good the discreditable breakdown of our commissariat.
+'There appears,' concludes Lord John, 'a want of concert among the
+different departments. When the Navy forward supplies, there is no
+military authority to receive them; when the military wish to unload a
+ship, they find that the naval authority has already ordered it away.
+Lord Raglan and Sir Edmund Lyons should be asked to concert between them
+the mode of remedying this defect. Neither can see with his own eyes to
+the performance of all the subordinate duties, but they can choose the
+best men to do it, and arm them with sufficient authority. For on the
+due performance of these subordinate duties hangs the welfare of the
+Army. Lord Raglan should also be informed exactly of the amount of
+reinforcements ordered to the Crimea, and at what time he may expect
+them. Having furnished him with all the force in men and material which
+the Government can send him, the Government is entitled to expect from
+him in return his opinion as to what can be done by the allied armies to
+restore the strength and efficiency of the armies for the next campaign.
+Probably the troops first sent over will require four months' rest
+before they will be able to move against an enemy.' Procrastination was,
+however, to have its perfect work, and Lord John, chilled and indignant,
+told Lord Aberdeen on January 3 that nothing could be less satisfactory
+than the result of the recent Cabinets. 'Unless,' he added, 'you will
+direct measures, I see no hope for the efficient prosecution of the
+war;' for by this time it was perfectly useless, he saw, to urge on Lord
+Aberdeen the claims of Lord Palmerston.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[36] _Life of Edward Miall, M.P._, by A. Miall, p. 179.
+
+[37] _Life of Lord John Russell_, by Spencer Walpole, vol. ii. 232-235.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+THE VIENNA DIFFICULTY
+
+1855
+
+     Blunders at home and abroad--Roebuck's motion--'General Février
+     turns traitor'--France and the Crimea--Lord John at Vienna--The
+     pride of the nation is touched--Napoleon's visit to Windsor--Lord
+     John's retirement--The fall of Sebastopol--The Treaty of Paris.
+
+
+PARLIAMENT met on January 23, and the general indignation at once found
+expression in Mr. Roebuck's motion--the notice of which was cheered by
+Radicals and Tories alike--to 'inquire into the condition of our Army
+before Sebastopol, and into the conduct of those Departments of the
+Government whose duty it has been to minister to the wants of that
+Army.' Lord John, in view of the blunders at home and abroad, did not
+see how such a motion was to be resisted, and at once tendered to Lord
+Aberdeen his resignation. His protests, pointed and energetic though
+they had been, had met with no practical response. Even the reasonable
+request that the War Minister should be in the Commons to defend his own
+department had passed unheeded. Peelites, like Sir James Graham and Mr.
+Sidney Herbert, might make the best of a bad case, but Lord John felt
+that he could not honestly defend in Parliament a course of action which
+he had again and again attacked in the Cabinet. Doubtless it would have
+been better both for himself and for his colleagues if he had adhered
+to his earlier intention of resigning; and his dramatic retreat at this
+juncture unquestionably gave a handle to his adversaries. Though
+prompted by conscientious motives, sudden flight, in the face of what
+was, to all intents and purposes, a vote of censure, was a grave
+mistake. Not unnaturally, such a step was regarded as a bid for personal
+power at the expense of his colleagues. It certainly placed the Cabinet
+in a most embarrassing position, and it is easy to understand the
+irritation which it awakened. In fact, it led those who were determined
+to put the worst possible construction on Lord John's action to hint
+that he wished to rid himself of responsibility and to stand clear of
+his colleagues, so that when the nation grew tired of the war he might
+return to office and make peace. Nothing could well have been further
+from the truth.
+
+  [Sidenote: ROEBUCK'S MOTION]
+
+Lord John's retirement was certainly inopportune; but it is almost
+needless to add--now that it is possible to review his whole career, as
+well as all the circumstances which marked this crisis in it--that he
+was not actuated by a self-seeking spirit. Looking back in after life,
+Lord John frankly admitted that he had committed an error in resigning
+office under Lord Aberdeen at the time and in the manner in which he did
+it. He qualified this confession, however, by declaring that he had
+committed a much greater error in agreeing to serve under Lord Aberdeen
+as Prime Minister: 'I had served under Lord Grey and Lord Melbourne
+before I became Prime Minister, and I served under Lord Palmerston after
+I had been Prime Minister. In no one of these cases did I find any
+difficulty in allying subordination with due counsel and co-operation.
+But, as it is proverbially said, "Where there is a will there is a way,"
+so in political affairs the converse is true, "Where there is no will
+there is no way."' He explained his position in a personal statement in
+the House of Commons on the night of Mr. Roebuck's motion. 'I had to
+consider whether I could fairly and honestly say, "It is true that evils
+have arisen. It is true that the brave men who fought at the Alma, at
+Inkerman, and at Balaclava are perishing, many of them from neglect; it
+is true that the heart of the whole of England throbs with anxiety and
+sympathy on this subject; but I can tell you that such arrangements have
+been made--that a man of such vigour and efficiency has taken the
+conduct of the War Department, with such a consolidation of offices as
+to enable him to have the entire control of the whole of the War
+Offices--so that any supply may be immediately furnished, and any abuse
+instantly remedied." I felt I could not honestly make such a
+declaration; I therefore felt that I could come only to one conclusion,
+and that as I could not resist inquiry--by giving the only assurances
+which I thought sufficient to prevent it--my duty was not to remain any
+longer a member of the Government.' In the course of a powerful speech
+Lord John added that he would always look back with pride on his
+association with many measures of the Aberdeen Government, and more
+particularly with the great financial scheme which Mr. Gladstone brought
+forward in 1853.
+
+  [Sidenote: OPEN CONFESSION]
+
+He refused to admit that the Whigs were an exclusive party, and he
+thought that such an idea was refuted by the fact that they had
+consented to serve in a Coalition Government. 'I believe that opinion to
+have been unjust, and I think that the Whig party during the last two
+years have fully justified the opinion I entertained. I will venture to
+say that no set of men ever behaved with greater honour or with more
+disinterested patriotism than those who have supported the Government
+of the Earl of Aberdeen. It is my pride, and it will ever be my pride to
+the last day of my life, to have belonged to a party which, as I
+consider, upholds the true principles of freedom; and it will ever be my
+constant endeavour to preserve the principles and to tread in the paths
+which the Whig party have laid down for the guidance of their conduct.'
+Lord John made no attempt to disguise the gravity of the crisis, and the
+following admission might almost be said to have sealed the fate of the
+Ministry: 'Sir, I must say that there is something, with all the
+official knowledge to which I have had access, that to me is
+inexplicable in the state of our army. If I had been told, as a reason
+against the expedition to the Crimea last year, that your troops would
+be seven miles from the sea, and that--at that seven miles'
+distance--they would be in want of food, of clothing, and of shelter to
+such a degree that they would perish at the rate of from ninety to a
+hundred a day, I should have considered such a prediction as utterly
+preposterous, and such a picture of the expedition as entirely fanciful
+and absurd. We are all, however, forced to confess the notoriety of that
+melancholy state of things.' Three days later, after a protracted and
+heated debate, Mr. Roebuck's motion was carried in a House of 453
+members by the sweeping majority of 157. 'The division was curious,'
+wrote Greville. 'Some seventy or eighty Whigs, ordinary supporters of
+Government, voted against them, and all the Tories except about six or
+seven.' There was no mistaking the mandate either of Parliament or of
+the people. Lord Aberdeen on the following day went down to Windsor and
+laid his resignation before the Queen, and in this sorry fashion the
+Coalition Government ignominiously collapsed, with hardly an expression
+of regret and scarcely a claim to remembrance.
+
+The Queen's choice fell upon Lord Derby, but his efforts to form an
+Administration proved unavailing. Lord Lansdowne was next summoned, and
+he suggested that Lord John Russell should be sent for, but in his case,
+also, sufficient promises of support were not forthcoming. In the end
+Her Majesty acquiesced in the strongly-expressed wish of the nation, and
+Lord Palmerston was called to power on February 5. For the moment Lord
+John was out of office, and Lord Panmure took the place of the Duke of
+Newcastle as War Minister, but all the other members of the defeated
+Administration, except, of course, Lord Aberdeen, entered the new
+Cabinet. Lord Palmerston knew the feeling of the country, and was not
+afraid to face it, and, therefore, determined to accept Mr. Roebuck's
+proposals for a searching investigation of the circumstances which had
+attended the conduct of the war. Loyalty to their late chief, as well as
+to their former colleague, the Duke of Newcastle, led Sir James Graham,
+Mr. Sidney Herbert, Mr. Gladstone, and other Peelites to resign. Lord
+John, urged by Lord Palmerston, became Colonial Secretary. Palmerston
+shared Lord Clarendon's view that no Government calling itself Liberal
+had a chance of standing without Lord John. Sir G. C. Lewis succeeded
+Mr. Gladstone as Chancellor of the Exchequer, and Sir Charles Wood took
+Sir James Graham's vacant place at the Admiralty.
+
+  [Sidenote: 'GENERAL FÉVRIER TURNS TRAITOR']
+
+Changes of a more momentous character quickly followed. Early in the
+winter, when tidings of the sufferings of the Allies reached St.
+Petersburg, the Emperor Nicholas declared, with grim humour, that there
+were two generals who were about to fight for him, 'Janvier et Février;'
+but the opening month of the year brought terrible privations to the
+Russian reinforcements as they struggled painfully along the rough
+winter roads on the long march to the Crimea. The Czar lost a quarter of
+a million of men before the war ended, and a vast number of them fell
+before the cold or the pestilence. Omar Pasha defeated the Russian
+troops at Eupatoria in the middle of February. The fact that his troops
+had been repulsed by the hated Turks touched the pride of Nicholas to
+the quick, and is believed to have brought on the fatal illness which
+seized him a few days later. On February 27, just after the Emperor had
+left the parade-ground on which he had been reviewing his troops, he was
+struck down by paralysis, and, after lingering in a hopeless condition
+for a day or two, died a baffled and disappointed man. The irony of the
+situation was reflected with sombre and dramatic realism in a political
+cartoon which appeared in 'Punch.' It represented a skeleton in armour,
+laying an icy hand, amid the falling snow, on the prostrate Czar's
+heart. The picture--one of the most powerful that has ever appeared,
+even in this remarkable mirror of the times--was entitled, 'General
+Février turned Traitor,' and underneath was the dead Emperor's cruel
+boast, 'Russia has two generals on whom she can confide--Generals
+Janvier and Février.' Prior to the resignation of the Peelites the
+second Congress of Vienna assembled, and Lord John Russell attended it
+as a plenipotentiary for England; and France, Austria, Turkey, and
+Russia were also represented. The 'four points' which formed the basis
+of the negotiations were that Russia should abandon all control over
+Moldavia, Wallachia, and Servia; that the new Czar, Alexander II.,
+should surrender his claim to command the entrance of the Danube; that
+all treaties should be annulled which gave Russia supremacy in the Black
+Sea; and that she should dismiss her pretensions to an exclusive right
+to protect in her own fashion the Christians in the Ottoman Empire.
+Nicholas, though at one time favourable to this scheme as a basis of
+peace, eventually fell back on the assertion that he would not consent
+to any limitation of his naval power in the Black Sea. Though the
+parleyings at Vienna after his death were protracted, the old difficulty
+asserted itself again, with the result that the second Congress proved,
+as spring gave way to summer, as futile as the first.
+
+Although subjects which vitally affected the Turkish Empire were under
+consideration, the Turkish Ambassador at Vienna had received anything
+but explicit directions, and Lord John was forced to the conclusion that
+the negotiations were not regarded as serious at Constantinople. Indeed,
+he had, in Mr. Spencer Walpole's words, 'reason to suspect that the
+absence of a properly credited Turk was not due to the dilatory
+character of the Porte alone but to the perverse action of Lord
+Stratford de Redcliffe.'[38] Lord Clarendon did not hesitate to declare
+that Lord Stratford was inclined to thwart any business which was not
+carried on in Constantinople, and the English Ambassador kept neither
+Lord John in Vienna nor the Cabinet in Downing Street acquainted with
+the views of the Porte. Lord John declared that the Turkish
+representative at Vienna, from whom he expected information about the
+affairs of his own country, was 'by nature incompetent, and by
+instruction silent.' Two schemes, in regard to the point which was
+chiefly in dispute, were before the Congress; they are best stated in
+Lord John's own words: 'One, called limitation, proposed that only four
+ships of the line should be maintained in the Black Sea by Russia, and
+two each by the allies of Turkey. The other mode, proposed by M. Drouyn
+de Lhuys, contemplated a much further reduction of force--namely, to
+eight or ten light vessels, intended solely to protect commerce from
+pirates and perform the police of the coast.' Although a great part of
+the Russian fleet was at the bottom of the sea, and the rest of it
+hemmed in in the harbour of Sebastopol, Prince Gortschakoff announced,
+with the air of a man who was master of the situation, that the Czar
+entirely refused to limit his power in the Euxine.
+
+  [Sidenote: COUNT BUOL'S COMPROMISE]
+
+At this juncture Count Buol proposed a compromise, to the effect that
+Russia should maintain in the Black Sea a naval force not greater than
+that which she had had at her disposal there before the outbreak of the
+war; that any attempt to evade this limitation should be interpreted as
+a _casus belli_, by France, England, and Austria, which were to form a
+triple treaty of alliance to defend the integrity and independence of
+Turkey in case of aggression. Lord Palmerston believed, to borrow his
+own phrase, that Austria was playing a treacherous game, but that was
+not the opinion at the moment either of Lord John Russell or of M.
+Drouyn de Lhuys. They appear to have thought that the league of Austria
+with England and France to resist aggression upon Turkey would prove a
+sufficient check on Russian ambition, and did not lay stress enough on
+the objections, which at once suggested themselves both in London and
+Paris. The Prince Consort put the case against Count Buol's scheme in a
+nutshell: 'The proposal of Austria to engage to make war when the
+Russian armaments should appear to have become excessive is of no kind
+of value to the belligerents, who do not wish to establish a case for
+which to make war hereafter, but to obtain a security upon which they
+can conclude peace now.' Lord John Russell, in a confidential interview
+with Count Buol, declared that he was prepared to recommend the English
+Cabinet to accept the Austrian proposals. It seemed to him that, if
+Russia was willing to accept the compromise and to abandon the attitude
+which had led to the war, the presence of the Allies in the Crimea was
+scarcely justifiable. M. Drouyn de Lhuys took the same view, and both
+plenipotentiaries hastened back to urge acquiescence in proposals which
+seemed to promise the termination of a war in which, with little result,
+blood and treasure had already been lavishly expended.
+
+Lord Palmerston and Lord Clarendon, backed by popular sentiment, refused
+to see in Russia's stubborn demand about her fleet in the Black Sea
+other than a perpetual menace to Turkey. They argued that England had
+made too heavy a sacrifice to patch up in this fashion an inglorious and
+doubtful peace. The attitude of Napoleon III. did more than anything
+else to confirm this decision. The war in the Crimea had never been as
+popular in France as it was in England. The throne which Napoleon had
+seized could only be kept by military success, and there is no doubt
+whatever that personal ambition, and the prestige of a campaign, with
+England for a companion-in-arms, determined the despatch of French
+troops to the Crimea. On his return, Lord John at once saw the
+difficulty in which his colleagues were landed. The internal tranquility
+of France was imperilled if the siege of Sebastopol was abandoned. 'The
+Emperor of the French,' he wrote, 'had been to us the most faithful ally
+who had ever wielded the sceptre or ruled the destinies of France. Was
+it possible for the English Government to leave the Emperor to fight
+unaided the battle of Europe, or to force him to join us in a peace
+which would have sunk his reputation with his army and his people?' He
+added, that this consideration seemed to him so weighty that he ceased
+to urge on Lord Palmerston the acceptance of the Austrian terms, and
+Lord Clarendon therefore sent a reply in which Count Buol's proposals
+were rejected by the Cabinet. Lord Palmerston laid great stress on Lord
+John's presence in his ministry, and Mr. Walpole has shown that the
+latter only consented to withdraw his resignation after not merely an
+urgent, but a thrice-repeated personal request from the Premier.
+
+  [Sidenote: PRESSURE FROM PALMERSTON]
+
+He ought unquestionably, at all hazards to Lord Palmerston's Government,
+to have refused to remain a member of it when his colleagues intimated
+that they were not in a position to accept his view of the situation
+without giving mortal offence to the Emperor of the French. Under the
+circumstances, Lord Palmerston ought not to have put the pressure on
+Lord John. The latter stayed in order to shield the Government from
+overthrow by a combined Radical and Tory attack at a moment when
+Palmerston was compelled to study the susceptibilities of France and
+Napoleon III.'s fears concerning his throne. There is a published
+letter, written by the Prince Consort at this juncture to his brother
+the Duke of Saxe-Coburg, which throws light on the situation. The Prince
+hints that the prospects of the Allies in the Crimea had become more
+hopeful, just as diplomatic affairs at Vienna had taken an awkward turn.
+He states that in General Pélissier the French 'have at last a leader
+who is determined and enterprising, and who will once more raise the
+spirit of the army, which has sunk through Canrobert's mildness.' He
+adds that the English troops 'are again thirty thousand men under arms,
+and their spirit is excellent. At home, however, Gladstone and the
+Peelites are taking up the cry for peace, and declaring themselves
+against all further continuation of the war; whilst Lord Derby and the
+Protectionists are all for making common cause with Layard and others,
+in order to overthrow Palmerston's Ministry.' Disraeli, significantly
+adds the Prince, has been 'chiefly endeavouring to injure' Lord John
+Russell.
+
+Towards the end of May, Mr. Disraeli introduced a resolution condemning
+the conduct of the Government, and calling attention to Lord John
+Russell's attitude at the Vienna Conference. Lord John had fulfilled the
+promise which he had given to Count Buol before leaving Vienna; but Lord
+Palmerston was determined to maintain the alliance with France, and
+therefore, as a member of his Government, Lord John's lips were sealed
+when he rose to defend himself. He stated in a powerful speech the
+reasons which had led to the failure of the Conference, and ended
+without any allusion to the Austrian proposals or his own action in
+regard to them. Irritated at the new turn of affairs, Count Buol
+disclosed what had passed behind the scenes in Vienna, and Lord John
+found himself compelled to explain his explanations. He declared that he
+had believed before leaving Vienna that the Austrian scheme held out the
+promise of peace, and, with this conviction in his mind, he had on his
+return to London immediately advised its acceptance by Lord Palmerston.
+He was not free, of course, to state with equal frankness the true
+reason of its rejection by the Cabinet, and therefore was compelled to
+fall back on the somewhat lame plea that it had been fully considered
+and disallowed by his colleagues. Moreover he felt, as a
+plenipotentiary, it was his duty to submit to the Government which had
+sent him to Vienna, and as a member of the Cabinet it was not less his
+duty to yield to the decision of the majority of his colleagues.
+
+  [Sidenote: AN EMBARRASSING POSITION]
+
+Lord John's explanations were not deemed satisfactory. He was in the
+position of a man who could only defend himself and make his motives
+plain to Parliament and the country by statements which would have
+embarrassed his colleagues and have shattered the French alliance at a
+moment when, not so much on national as on international grounds, it
+seemed imperative that it should be sustained. The attacks in the Press
+were bitter and envenomed; and when Lord John, in July, told Lord
+Palmerston it was his intention to retire, the latter admitted with an
+expression of great regret that the storm was too strong to be resisted,
+though, he added, 'juster feelings will in due time prevail.' A few days
+later Lord John, in a calm and impressive speech, anticipated Sir E. B.
+Lytton's hostile motion on the Vienna Conference by announcing his
+intention to the House. Though he still felt in honour obliged to say
+nothing on the real cause of his withdrawal, his dignified attitude on
+that occasion made its own impression, and all the more because of the
+sweeping abuse to which he was at the moment exposed. It was of this
+speech that Sir George Cornewall Lewis said that it was listened to with
+attention and respect by an audience partly hostile and partly
+prejudiced. He declared that he was convinced it would go far to remove
+the imputations, founded on error and misrepresentation, under which
+Lord John laboured. He added, with a generosity which, though
+characteristic, was rare at that juncture: 'I shall be much surprised
+if, after a little time and a little reflection, persons do not come to
+the conclusion that never was so small a matter magnified beyond its
+true proportions.'
+
+Within twenty-four hours of his resignation Lord John had an opportunity
+of showing that he bore no malice towards former colleagues. Mr.
+Roebuck, with characteristic denunciations, attacked the Government on
+the damaging statements contained in the report of the Sebastopol
+Committee. He proposed a motion censuring in severe terms every member
+of the Cabinet whose counsels had led to such disastrous results.
+Whatever construction might be placed on Lord John's conduct of affairs
+in Vienna, he at least could not be charged with lukewarmness or apathy
+in regard to the administration of the army and the prosecution of the
+war. He had, in fact, irritated Lord Aberdeen and the Duke of Newcastle
+by insisting again and again on the necessity of undivided control of
+the military departments, and on the need of a complete reorganisation
+of the commissariat. A less magnanimous man would have seized the
+opportunity of this renewed attack to declare that he, at least, had
+done his best at great personal cost to prevent the deplorable confusion
+and collapse which had overtaken the War Office. He disdained, however,
+the mean personal motive, and made, what Lord Granville called, a
+'magnificent speech,' in which he declared that every member without
+exception remained responsible for the consequences which had overtaken
+the Expedition to the Crimea, Mr. Kinglake once asserted that, though
+Lord John Russell was capable of coming to a bold, abrupt, and hasty
+decision, not duly concerted with men whose opinions he ought to have
+weighed, no statesman in Europe surpassed him on the score of courage or
+high public spirit. The chivalry which he displayed in coming to the
+help of the Government on the morrow of his own almost compulsory
+retirement from office was typical of a man who made many mistakes, but
+was never guilty, even when wounded to the quick, of gratifying the
+passing resentments of the hour at the expense of the interests of the
+nation.
+
+  [Sidenote: WARLIKE COUNSELS PREVAIL]
+
+During the summer of 1855 the feeling of the country grew more and more
+warlike. The failure of the negotiations at Vienna had touched the
+national pride. The State visit in the spring to the English Court of
+the Emperor Napoleon, and his determination not to withdraw his troops
+from the Crimea until some decisive victory was won, had rekindled its
+enthusiasm. The repulse at the Redan, the death of Lord Raglan, and the
+vainglorious boast of Prince Gortschakoff, who declared 'that the hour
+was at hand when the pride of the enemies of Russia would be lowered,
+and their armies swept from our soil like chaff blown away by the wind,'
+rendered all dreams of diplomatic solution impossible, and made England,
+in spite of the preachers of peace at any price, determined to push
+forward her quarrel to the bitter end. The nation, to borrow the phrase
+of one of the shrewdest political students of the time, had now begun to
+consider the war in the Crimea as a 'duel with Russia,' and pride and
+pluck were more than ever called into play, both at home and abroad, in
+its maintenance. The war, therefore, took its course. Ample supplies and
+reinforcements were despatched to the troops, and the Allies, under the
+command of General Simpson and General Pélissier, pushed forward the
+campaign with renewed vigour. Sardinia and Sweden had joined the
+alliance, and on August 16 the troops of the former, acting in concert
+with the French, drove back the Russians, who had made a sortie along
+the valley of the Tchernaya. After a month's bombardment by the Allies,
+the Malakoff, a redoubt which commanded Sebastopol, was taken by the
+French; but the English troops were twice repulsed in their attack on
+the Redan. Gortschakoff and Todleben were no longer able to withstand
+the fierce and daily renewed bombardment. The forts on the south side
+were, therefore, blown up, the ships were sunk, and the army which had
+gallantly defended the place retired to a position of greater security
+with the result that Sebastopol fell on September 8, and the war was
+virtually over. Sir Evelyn Wood lately drew attention to the fact that
+forty out of every hundred of the soldiers who served before Sebastopol
+in the depth of that terrible winter of 1854 lie there, or in the
+Scutari cemetery--slain, not by the sword, but by privation, exposure,
+disease, and exertions beyond human endurance.
+
+  [Sidenote: ALL FOR NAUGHT]
+
+France was clamouring for peace, and Napoleon was determined not to
+prolong the struggle now that his troops had come out of the siege of
+Sebastopol with flying colours. Russia, on her part, had wellnigh
+exhausted her resources. Up to the death of the Emperor Nicholas, she
+had lost nearly a quarter of a million of men, and six months later, so
+great was the carnage and so insidious the pestilence, that even that
+ominous number was doubled. The loss of the Allies in the Crimean war
+was upwards of eighty-seven thousand men, and more than two-thirds of
+the slain fell to France. Apart from bloodshed, anguish, and pain, the
+Crimean war bequeathed to England an increase of 41,000,000_l._ in the
+National Debt. No wonder that overtures for the cessation of hostilities
+now met with a welcome which had been denied at the Vienna Conference.
+After various negotiations, the Peace of Paris was signed on March 30,
+1856. Russia was compelled to relinquish her control over the Danube and
+her protectorate over the Principalities, and was also forbidden to
+build arsenals on the shores of the Black Sea, which was declared open
+to all ships of commerce, but closed to all ships of war. Turkey, on the
+other hand, confirmed, on paper at least, the privileges proclaimed in
+1839 to Christians resident in the Ottoman Empire; but massacres at
+Damascus, in the Lebanon, and later in Bulgaria, and recently in
+Armenia, have followed in dismal sequence in spite of the Treaty of
+Paris. The neutrality of the Black Sea came to an end a quarter of a
+century ago, and the substantial gains--never great even at the
+outset--of a war which was costly in blood and treasure have grown small
+by degrees until they have almost reached the vanishing point.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[38] _Life of Lord John Russell_, vol. ii. p. 251.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+LITERATURE AND EDUCATION
+
+     Lord John's position in 1855--His constituency in the City--Survey
+     of his work in literature--As man of letters--His historical
+     writings--Hero-worship of Fox--Friendship with Moore--Writes the
+     biography of the poet--'Don Carlos'--A book wrongly attributed to
+     him--Publishes his 'Recollections and Suggestions'--An opinion of
+     Kinglake's--Lord John on his own career--Lord John and National
+     Schools--Joseph Lancaster's tentative efforts--The formation of the
+     Council of Education--Prejudice blocks the way--Mr. Forster's
+     tribute.
+
+
+MEN talked in the autumn of 1855 as if Lord John Russell's retirement
+was final, and even his brother, the Duke of Bedford, considered it
+probable that his career as a responsible statesman was closed. His
+health had always been more or less delicate, and he was now a man of
+sixty-three. He had been in Parliament for upwards of forty years, and
+nearly a quarter of a century had passed since he bore the brunt of the
+wrath and clamour and evil-speaking of the Tories at the epoch of
+Reform. He had been leader of his party for a long term of difficult
+years, and Prime Minister for the space of six, and in that capacity had
+left on the statute book an impressive record of his zeal on behalf of
+civil and religious liberty. No statesman of the period had won more
+distinction in spite of 'gross blunders,' which he himself in so many
+words admitted. He was certainly entitled to rest on his laurels; but
+it was nonsense for anyone to suppose that the animosity of the Irish,
+or the indignation of the Ritualists, or the general chagrin at the
+collapse--under circumstances for which Lord John was by no means alone
+responsible--of the Vienna Conference, could condemn a man of so much
+energy and courage, as well as political prescience, to perpetual
+banishment from Downing Street.
+
+There were people who thought that Lord John was played out in 1855, and
+there were many more who wished to think so, for he was feared by the
+incompetent and apathetic of his own party, as well as by those who had
+occasion to reckon with him in honourable but strenuous political
+conflict. The great mistake of his life was not the Durham Letter, which
+has been justified, in spite of its needless bitterness of tone, by the
+inexorable logic of accomplished events. It was not his attitude towards
+Ireland in the dark years of famine, which was in reality far more
+temperate and generous than is commonly supposed. It was not his action
+over the Vienna Conference, for, now that the facts are known, his
+reticence in self-defence, under the railing accusations which were
+brought against him, was magnanimous and patriotic. The truth is, Lord
+John Russell placed himself in a false position when he yielded to the
+importunity of the Court and the Peelites by consenting to accept office
+under Lord Aberdeen. The Crimean War, which he did his best to prevent,
+only threw into the relief of red letters against a dark sky the radical
+divergence of opinion which existed in the Coalition Government.
+
+  [Sidenote: OUT OF OFFICE]
+
+For nearly four years after his retirement from office Lord John held an
+independent political position, and there is evidence enough that he
+enjoyed to the full this respite from the cares of responsibility. He
+gave up his house in town, and the quidnuncs thought that they had seen
+the last of him as a Minister of the Crown, whilst the merchants and the
+stockbrokers of the City were supposed to scout his name, and to be
+ready to lift up their heel against him at the next election.
+
+Meanwhile, Lord John studied to be quiet, and succeeded. He visited
+country-houses, and proved a delightful as well as a delighted guest. He
+travelled abroad, and came back with new political ideas about the trend
+in foreign politics. He published the final volume of his 'Memoirs and
+Correspondence of Thomas Moore,' and busied himself over his 'Life and
+Times of Charles James Fox,' and other congenial literary tasks. He
+appeared on the platform and addressed four thousand persons in Exeter
+Hall, in connection with the Young Men's Christian Association, on the
+causes which had retarded moral and political progress in the nation. He
+went down to Stroud, and gave his old constituents a philosophic address
+on the study of history. He spoke at the first meeting of the Social
+Science Congress at Birmingham, presided over the second at Liverpool,
+and raised in Parliament the questions of National Education, Jewish
+Disabilities, the affairs of Italy, besides taking part, as an
+independent supporter of Lord Palmerston, in the controversies which
+arose from time to time in the House of Commons. His return to office
+grew inevitable in the light of the force of his character and the
+integrity of his aims.
+
+  [Sidenote: LITERARY WORK]
+
+It is, of course, impossible in the scope of this volume to describe at
+any length Lord John Russell's contributions to literature, even outside
+the range of letters and articles in the press and that almost forgotten
+weapon of controversy, the political pamphlet. From youth to age Lord
+John not merely possessed the pen of a ready writer, but employed it
+freely in history, biography, criticism, _belles-lettres_, and verse.
+His first book was published when George III. was King, and his last
+appeared when almost forty years of Queen Victoria's reign had elapsed.
+The Liverpool Administration was in power when his biography of his
+famous ancestor, William, Lord Russell, appeared, and that of Mr.
+Disraeli when the veteran statesman took the world into his confidence
+with 'Recollections and Suggestions.' It is amusing now to recall the
+fact that two years after the battle of Waterloo Lord John Russell
+feared that he could never stand the strain of a political career, and
+Tom Moore's well-known poetical 'Remonstrance' was called forth by the
+young Whig's intention at that time to abandon the Senate for the study.
+When Lord Grey's Ministry was formed in 1830 to carry Reform, Lord John
+was the author of several books, grave and gay, and had been seventeen
+years in Parliament, winning already a considerable reputation within
+and without its walls. It was a surprise at the moment, and it is not
+even yet quite clear why Russell was excluded from the Cabinet. Mr.
+Disraeli has left on record his interpretation of the mystery: 'Lord
+John Russell was a man of letters, and it is a common opinion that a man
+cannot at the same time be successful both in meditation and in action.'
+If this surmise is correct, Lord John's fondness for printer's ink kept
+him out of Downing Street until he made by force his merit known as a
+champion of popular rights in the House of Commons. Literature often
+claimed his pen, for, besides many contributions in prose and verse to
+periodicals, to say nothing of writings which still remain in manuscript
+and prefaces to the books of other people, he published about twenty
+works, great and small. Yet, his strength lay elsewhere.
+
+His literary pursuits, with scarcely an exception, represent his hours
+of relaxation and the manner in which he sought relief from the cares of
+State. In the pages of 'William, Lord Russell,' which was published in
+1819, when political corruption was supreme and social progress all but
+impossible, Lord John gave forth no uncertain sound. 'In these times,
+when love of liberty is too generally supposed to be allied with rash
+innovation, impiety, and anarchy, it seems to me desirable to exhibit to
+the world at full length the portrait of a man who, heir to wealth and
+title, was foremost in defending the privileges of the people; who, when
+busily occupied in the affairs of public life, was revered in his own
+family as the best of husbands and of fathers; who joined the truest
+sense of religion with the unqualified assertion of freedom; who, after
+an honest perseverance in a good cause, at length attested, on the
+scaffold, his attachment to the ancient principles of the Constitution
+and the inalienable right of resistance.' The interest of the book
+consists not merely in its account--gathered in part at least from
+family papers at Woburn and original letters at Longleat--of Lord
+Russell, but also in the light which is cast on the period of the
+Restoration, and the policy of Charles II. and the Duke of York.
+
+  [Sidenote: A CONFIDENT WHIG]
+
+Two years later, Lord John published an 'Essay on the History of the
+English Government and Constitution,' which, in an expanded form, has
+passed through several editions, and has also appeared in a French
+version. The book is concerned with constitutional change in England
+from the reign of Henry VII. to the beginning of the nineteenth
+century. Lord John made no secret of his conviction that, whilst the
+majority of the Powers of Europe needed revolutionary methods to bring
+them into sympathy with the aspirations of the people, the Government of
+England was not in such an evil case, since its 'abuses easily admit of
+reforms consistent with its spirit, capable of being effected without
+injury or danger, and mainly contributing to its preservation.' The
+historical reflections which abound in the work, though shrewd, can
+scarcely be described as remarkable, much less as profound. The 'Essay
+on English Government' is, in fact, not the confessions of an inquiring
+spirit entangled in the maze of political speculation, but the
+conclusions of a young statesman who has made up his mind, with the help
+of Somers and Fox.
+
+Perhaps, however, the most important of Lord John's contributions to the
+study of the philosophy of history was 'Memoirs of the Affairs of Europe
+from the Peace of Utrecht.' It describes at considerable length, and
+often with luminous insight, the negotiations which led to the treaty by
+which the great War of the Spanish Succession was brought to an end. It
+also throws light on men and manners during the last days of Louis XIV.,
+and on the condition of affairs in France which followed his death. The
+closing pages of the second volume are concerned with a survey of the
+religious state of England during the first half of the eighteenth
+century. Lord John in this connection pays homage to the work of
+Churchmen of the stamp of Warburton, Clarke, and Hoadly; but he entirely
+fails to appreciate at anything like their true value the labours of
+Whitfield and Wesley, though doing more justice to the great leaders of
+Puritanism, a circumstance which was perhaps due to the fact that they
+stand in the direct historical succession, not merely in the assertion
+of the rights of conscience, but in the ordered growth of freedom and
+society.
+
+Amongst the most noteworthy of Lord John Russell's literary achievements
+were the two works which he published concerning a statesman whose
+memory, he declared, ought to be 'consecrated in the heart of every
+lover of freedom throughout the globe'--Charles James Fox, a master of
+assemblies, and, according to Burke, perhaps the greatest debater whom
+the world has ever seen. The books in question are entitled 'Memorials
+and Correspondence,' which was published in four volumes at intervals
+between the years 1853 and 1857, and the more important 'Life and Times
+of Charles James Fox,' which appeared in three volumes between the years
+1859 and 1866. This task, like so many others which Lord John
+accomplished, came unsought at the death of his old friend, Lady
+Holland, in 1845. It was the ambition of Lord Holland, 'nephew of Fox
+and friend of Grey,' as he used proudly to style himself, to edit the
+papers and write the life of his brilliant kinsman. Politics and society
+and the stately house at Kensington, which, from the end of last century
+until the opening years of the Queen's reign, was the chief _salon_ of
+the Whig party, combined, with an easy procrastinating temperament, to
+block the way, until death ended, in the autumn of 1840, the career of
+the gracious master of Holland House. The materials which Lord Holland
+and his physician, librarian, and friend, Dr. John Allen, had
+accumulated, and which, by the way, passed under the scrutiny of Lord
+Grey and Rogers, the poet, were edited by Lord John, with the result
+that he grew fascinated with the subject, and formed the resolution, in
+consequence, to write 'The Life and Times' of the great Whig statesman.
+He declared that it was well to have a hero, and a hero with a good many
+faults and failings.
+
+  [Sidenote: FOX AND MOORE]
+
+Fox did more than any other statesman in the dull reign of George II. to
+prepare the way for the epoch of Reform, and it was therefore fitting
+that the statesman who more than any other bore the brunt of the battle
+in 1830-32 should write his biography. Lord Russell's biography of Fox,
+though by no means so skilfully written as Sir George Otto Trevelyan's
+vivacious description of 'The Early History of Charles James Fox,' is on
+a more extended scale than the latter. Students of the political annals
+of the eighteenth century are aware of its value as an original and
+suggestive contribution to the facts and forces which have shaped the
+relations of the Crown and the Cabinet in modern history. Fox, in Lord
+John's opinion, gave his life to the defence of English freedom, and
+hastened his death by his exertion to abolish the African Slave Trade.
+He lays stress, not only on the great qualities which Fox displayed in
+public life, but also on the simplicity and kindness of his nature, and
+the spell which, in spite of grievous faults, he seemed able to cast,
+without effort, alike over friends and foes.
+
+One of the earliest, and certainly one of the closest, friendships of
+Lord John Russell's life was with Thomas Moore. They saw much of each
+other for the space of nearly forty years in London society, and were
+also drawn together in the more familiar intercourse of foreign travel.
+It was with Lord John that the poet went to Italy in 1819 to avoid
+arrest for debt, after his deputy at Bermuda had embezzled 6,000_l._
+Moore lived, more or less, all his days from hand to mouth, and Lord
+John Russell, who was always ready in a quiet fashion, in Kingsley's
+phrase, to help lame dogs over stiles, frequently displayed towards the
+light-hearted poet throughout their long friendship delicate and
+generous kindness. He it was who, in conjunction with Lord Lansdowne,
+obtained for Moore in 1835 a pension of 300_l._ a year, and announced
+the fact as one which was 'due from any Government, but much more from
+one some of the members of which are proud to think themselves your
+friends.' Moore died in 1852, and when his will was read--it had been
+made when Lord John was still comparatively unknown--it was discovered
+that he had, to give his own words, 'confided to my valued friend, Lord
+John Russell (having obtained his kind promise to undertake the service
+for me), the task of looking over whatever papers, letters, or journals
+I may leave behind me, for the purpose of forming from them some kind of
+publication, whether in the shape of memoirs or otherwise, which may
+afford the means of making some provision for my wife and family.'
+Although Lord John was sixty, and burdened with the cares of State, if
+not with the cares of office, he cheerfully accepted the task. Though it
+must be admitted that he performed some parts of it in rather a
+perfunctory manner, the eight volumes which appeared between 1853 and
+1856 of the 'Memoirs, Journal, and Correspondence of Thomas Moore'
+represent a severe tax upon friendship, as well as no ordinary labour on
+the part of a man who was always more or less immersed in public
+affairs.
+
+  [Sidenote: 'DON CARLOS']
+
+Lord John also edited the 'Correspondence of John, fourth Duke of
+Bedford,' and prefaced the letters with a biographical sketch. Quite
+early in his career he also tried his hand at fiction in 'The Nun of
+Arrouca,' a story founded on a romantic incident which occurred during
+his travels in the Peninsula. The book appeared in 1822, and in the
+same year--he was restless and ambitious of literary distinction at the
+time, and had not yet found his true sphere in politics--he also
+published 'Don Carlos,' a tragedy in blank verse, which was in reality
+not merely a tirade against the cruelties of the Inquisition, but an
+impassioned protest against religious disabilities in every shape or
+form. 'Don Carlos,' though now practically forgotten, ran through five
+editions in twelve months, and the people remembered it when its author
+became the foremost advocate in the House of Commons of the repeal of
+the Test and Corporation Acts. Amongst other minor writings which belong
+to the earlier years of Lord John Russell, it is enough to name 'Essays
+and Sketches of Life and Character,' 'The Establishment of the Turks in
+Europe,' 'A Translation of the Fifth Book of the Odyssey,' and an
+imitation of the Thirteenth Satire of Juvenal, as well as an essay on
+the 'Causes of the French Revolution,' which appeared in 1832.
+
+It is still a moot point whether 'Letters Written for the Post, and not
+for the Press,' an anonymous volume which appeared in 1820, and which
+consists of descriptions of a tour in Scotland, interspersed with dull
+moral lectures on the conduct of a wife towards her husband, was from
+his pen. Mr. George Elliot believes, on internal evidence, too lengthy
+to quote, that the book--a small octavo volume of more than four hundred
+pages--is erroneously attributed to his brother-in-law, and the Countess
+Russell is of the same opinion. Mr. Elliot cites inaccuracies in the
+book, and adds that the places visited in Scotland do not correspond
+with those which Lord John had seen when he went thither in company with
+the Duke and Duchess in 1807; and there is no evidence that he made
+another pilgrimage north of the Tweed between that date and the
+appearance of the book. He adds that his father took the trouble to
+collect everything which was written by Lord John, and the book is
+certainly not in the library at Minto. Moreover, Mr. Elliot is confident
+that either Lord Minto or Lord John himself assured him that he might
+dismiss the idea of the supposed authorship.
+
+After his final retirement from office, Lord John published, in 1868,
+three letters to Mr. Chichester Fortescue on 'The State of Ireland,' and
+this was followed by a contribution to ecclesiastical history in the
+shape of a volume of essays on 'The Rise and Progress of the Christian
+Religion in the West of Europe to the Council of Trent.' The leisure of
+his closing years was, however, chiefly devoted to the preparation, with
+valuable introductions, of selections from his own 'Speeches and
+Despatches;' and this, in turn, was followed, after an interval of five
+years, by a work entitled 'Recollections and Suggestions, 1813-1873,'
+which appeared as late as 1875, and which was of singular personal
+interest as well as of historical importance. It bears on the title-page
+two lines from Dryden, which were often on Lord John's lips in his
+closing years:
+
+    Not Heaven itself upon the past has power,
+    But what has been has been, and I have had my hour.
+
+  [Sidenote: A RETROSPECT]
+
+The old statesman's once tenacious memory was failing when he wrote the
+book, and there is little evidence of literary arrangement in its
+contents. If, however, Lord John did not always escape inaccuracy of
+statement or laboured discursiveness of style, the value not only of his
+political reminiscences, but also of his shrewd and often pithily
+expressed verdicts on men and movements, is unquestionable, and, on the
+whole, the vigour of the book is as remarkable as its noble candour.
+Mr. Kinglake once declared that 'Lord John Russell wrote so naturally
+that it recalled the very sound of his voice;' and half the charm of his
+'Recollections and Suggestions' consists in the artlessness of a record
+which will always rank with the original materials of history, between
+the year in which Wellington fought the battle of Vittoria and that in
+which, just sixty years later, Napoleon III. died in exile at
+Chislehurst. In speaking of his own career, Lord Russell, writing at the
+age of eighty-one, uses words which are not less manly than modest:
+
+'I can only rejoice that I have been allowed to have my share in the
+task accomplished in the half-century which has elapsed from 1819 to
+1869. My capacity, I always felt, was very inferior to that of the men
+who have attained in past times the foremost place in our Parliament and
+in the councils of our Sovereign. I have committed many errors, some of
+them very gross blunders. But the generous people of England are always
+forbearing and forgiving to those statesmen who have the good of their
+country at heart. Like my betters, I have been misrepresented and
+slandered by those who know nothing of me; but I have been more than
+compensated by the confidence and the friendship of the best men of my
+own political connection, and by the regard and favourable
+interpretation of my motives, which I have heard expressed by my
+generous opponents, from the days of Lord Castlereagh to these of Mr.
+Disraeli.'
+
+There were few questions in which Lord John Russell was more keenly
+interested from youth to age than that of National Education. As a boy
+he had met Joseph Lancaster, during a visit of that far-seeing and
+practical friend of poor children to Woburn, and the impression which
+the humble Quaker philanthropist made on the Duke of Bedford's
+quick-witted as well as kind-hearted son was retained, as one of his
+latest speeches show, to the close of life. At the opening of the new
+British Schools in Richmond in the summer of 1867, Lord John referred to
+his father's association with Joseph Lancaster, and added: 'In this way
+I naturally became initiated into a desire for promoting schools for the
+working classes, and I must say, from that time to this I never changed
+my mind upon the subject. I think it is absolutely necessary our schools
+should not merely be secular, but that they should be provided with
+religious teaching, and that religious teaching ought not to be
+sectarian. There will be plenty of time, when these children go to
+church or chapel, that they should learn either that particular form of
+doctrine their parents follow or adopt one more consistent with their
+conscientious feelings; but I think, while they are young boys and girls
+at school, it ought to be sufficient for them to know what Christ
+taught, and what the apostles taught; and from those lessons and
+precepts they may guide their conduct in life.'
+
+Lord John put his hand to the plough in the day of small things, and,
+through good and through evil report, from the days of Lancaster, Bell,
+and Brougham, to those of Mr. Forster and the great measure of 1870, he
+never withdrew from a task which lay always near to his heart. It is
+difficult to believe that at the beginning of the present century there
+were less than three thousand four hundred schools of all descriptions
+in the whole of England, or that when the reign of George III. was
+closing one-half of the children of the nation still ran wild without
+the least pretence of education. At a still later period the marriage
+statistics revealed the fact that one-third of the men and one-half of
+the women were unable to sign the register. The social elevation of the
+people, so ran the miserable plea of those who assuredly were not given
+to change, was fraught with peril to the State. Hodge, it was urged,
+ought to be content to take both the Law and the Commandments from his
+betters, since a little knowledge is a dangerous thing. As for the
+noisy, insolent operatives and artisans of the great manufacturing
+towns, was there not for them the strong hand of authority, and, if they
+grew too obstreperous, the uplifted sabre of the military as at
+Peterloo? It was all very well, however, to extol the virtues of
+patience, contentment, and obedience, but the sense of wrong and of
+defiance rankled in the masses, and with it--in a dull and confused
+manner--the sense of power.
+
+  [Sidenote: THE AWAKENING OF THE PEOPLE]
+
+The Reform Bill of 1832 mocked in many directions the hopes of the
+people, but it at least marked a great social as well as a great
+political departure, and with it came the dawn of a new day to modern
+England. As the light broadened, the vision of poets and patriots began
+to be realised in practical improvements, which came home to men's
+business and bosom; the standard of intelligence rose, and with it
+freedom of thought, and the, sometimes passionate, but more often
+long-suffering demand for political, social, and economic concessions to
+justice. It was long before the privileged classes began to recognise,
+except in platform heroics, that it was high time to awake out of sleep
+and to 'educate our masters;' but the work began when Lord Althorp
+persuaded the House of Commons to vote a modest sum for the erection of
+school buildings in England; and that grant of 20,000_l._ in 1832 was
+the 'handful of corn on the top of the mountains' which has brought
+about the golden harvest of to-day. The history of the movement does
+not, of course, fall within the province of these pages, though Lord
+John Russell's name is associated with it in an honourable and emphatic
+sense. The formation, chiefly at his instance, in 1839 of a Council of
+Education paved the way for the existing system of elementary education,
+and lifted the whole problem to the front rank of national affairs.
+
+  [Sidenote: POPULAR EDUCATION]
+
+He was the first Prime Minister of England to carry a measure which made
+it possible to secure trained teachers for elementary schools; and his
+successful effort in 1847 to 'diminish the empire of ignorance,' as he
+styled it, was one of the events in his public life on which he looked
+back in after years with the most satisfaction. During the session of
+1856 Lord John brought forward in the House of Commons a bold scheme of
+National Education. He contended that out of four million children of
+school age only one-half were receiving instruction, whilst not more
+than one-eighth were attending schools which were subject to inspection.
+The vast majority were to be found in schools where the standard of
+education, if not altogether an unknown quantity, was deplorably low. He
+proposed that the number of inspectors should be increased, and that a
+rate should be levied by the local authorities for supplying adequate
+instruction in places where it was unsatisfactory. He contended that the
+country should be mapped out in school districts, and that the managers
+should have the power to make provision for religious instruction, and,
+at the same time, should allow the parents of the children a voice in
+the matter. Prejudices ecclesiastical and social blocked the way,
+however, and Lord John was compelled to abandon the scheme, which
+suggested, and to a large extent anticipated Mr. Forster's far-reaching
+measure, which in 1870 met with a better fate, and linked the principles
+of local authority and central supervision in the harmonious working of
+public education. When the victory was almost won Mr. Forster, with
+characteristic kindliness, wrote to the old statesman who had laboured
+for the people's cause in years of supreme discouragement:--'As regards
+universal compulsory education, I believe we shall soon complete the
+building. It is hard to see how there would have been a building to
+complete, if you had not, with great labour and in great difficulty, dug
+the foundations in 1839.' Happily Lord John lived to witness the
+crowning of the edifice by the Gladstone Administration.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+COMING BACK TO POWER
+
+1857-1861
+
+     Lord John as an Independent Member--His chance in the City--The
+     Indian Mutiny--Orsini's attempt on the life of Napoleon--The
+     Conspiracy Bill--Lord John and the Jewish Relief Act--Palmerston in
+     power--Lord John at the Foreign Office--Cobden and Bright--Quits
+     the Commons with a Peerage.
+
+
+LORD JOHN came prominently to the front in public affairs in the brief
+session of 1857, which ended in Lord Palmerston's appeal to the country.
+He spoke against the Government during the discussions in the House of
+Commons on the conduct of the Persian War, and he exercised his
+independence in other directions. Even shrewd and well-informed
+observers were curiously oblivious, for the moment, of the signs of the
+times, for Greville wrote on February 27: 'Nobody cares any longer for
+John Russell, everybody detests Gladstone; Disraeli has no influence in
+the country, and a very doubtful position with his own party.' Yet
+scarcely more than a fortnight later this cynical, but frank scribe
+added: 'Some think a reaction in favour of John Russell has begun. He
+stands for the City, and is in very good spirits, though his chances of
+success do not look bright; but he is a gallant little fellow, likes to
+face danger, and comes out well in times of difficulty.' Between these
+two statements the unexpected had happened. Cobden had brought forward
+a motion censuring the conduct of the Government in the affair of the
+lorcha, 'Arrow,' at Canton, and the three statesmen on whom Greville had
+contemptuously pronounced judgment--Russell, Gladstone, and
+Disraeli--had supported the Manchester school, with the result that the
+Government, on March 4, suffered defeat by a majority of sixteen votes.
+Parliament was dissolved in the course of the month, and the General
+Election brought Lord Palmerston back to power, pledged to nothing
+unless it was a spirited foreign policy.
+
+  [Sidenote: THE CITY FIGHTS SHY]
+
+The personal ascendency of Lord Palmerston, whom Disraeli cleverly
+styled the Tory chief of a Radical Cabinet, carried the election, for
+there was a good deal of truth in the assertion that nobody cared a
+straw for his colleagues. The Peace party suffered defeat at the polls,
+and, amongst others, Cobden himself was turned out at Huddersfield, and
+Bright and Milner Gibson were his companions in misfortune at
+Manchester. A vigorous attempt was made to overthrow Lord John in the
+City, and his timid friends in the neighbourhood of Lombard Street and
+the Exchange implored him not to run the risk of a contested election.
+He was assured in so many words, states Lady Russell, that he had as
+much chance of being elected Pope as of being elected member for the
+City; and the statement roused his mettle. He was pitted against a
+candidate from Northampton, and the latter was brought forward with the
+powerful support of the Registration Association of the City of London,
+and in a fashion which was the reverse of complimentary to the old
+statesman.
+
+Lord John was equal to the occasion, and was by no means inclined to
+throw up the sponge. He went down to the City, and delivered not merely
+a vigorous, but vivacious speech, and in the course of it he said, with
+a jocularity which was worthy of Lord Palmerston himself: 'If a
+gentleman were disposed to part with his butler, his coachman, or his
+gamekeeper, or if a merchant were disposed to part with an old servant,
+a warehouseman, a clerk, or even a porter, he would say to him,
+"John--(laughter)--I think your faculties are somewhat decayed; you are
+growing old, you have made several mistakes, and I think of putting a
+young man from Northampton in your place." (Laughter and cheers.) I
+think a gentleman would behave in that way to his servant, and thereby
+give John an opportunity of answering that he thought his faculties were
+not so much decayed, and that he was able to go on, at all events, some
+five or six years longer. That opportunity was not given to me. The
+question was decided in my absence, without any intimation to me; and I
+come now to ask you and the citizens of London to reverse that
+decision.' He was taken at his word, and the rival candidate from
+Northampton was duly sent to the neighbouring borough of Coventry.
+
+The summer of 1857 was darkened in England by tidings of the Indian
+Mutiny and of the terrible massacre at Cawnpore. In face of the disaster
+Lord John not merely gave his hearty support to the Government, but
+delivered an energetic protest against the attack of the Opposition at
+such a crisis, and moved an address assuring the Crown of the support of
+Parliament, which was carried, in spite of Disraeli, without a division.
+At the same time Lord John in confidential intercourse made it plain
+that he recognised to the full extent the need of reform in the
+administration of India, and he did not hesitate to intimate that, in
+his view, the East India Company was no longer equal to the strain of
+so great a responsibility. He brought no railing accusations against the
+Company, but, on the contrary, declared that it must be admitted they
+had 'conducted their affairs in a wonderful manner, falling into errors
+that were natural, but displaying merits of a high order. The real
+ground for change is that the machine is worn out, and, as a
+manufacturer changes an excellent engine of Watt and Boulton made fifty
+years ago for a new engine with modern improvements, so it becomes us to
+find a new machine for the government of India.'
+
+  [Sidenote: THE ORSINI PLOT]
+
+Before the upheaval in India had spent its force fresh difficulties
+overtook Lord Palmerston's Government. Count Orsini, strong in the
+conviction that Napoleon III. was the great barrier to the progress of
+revolution in Italy, determined to rid his countrymen of the man who,
+beyond all others, seemed bent on thwarting the national aspirations.
+With other conspirators, he threw three bombs on the night of January
+14, 1858, at the carriage of the Emperor and Empress as they were
+proceeding to the Opera, and, though they escaped unhurt, ten persons
+were killed and many wounded. The bombs had been manufactured in
+England, and Orsini--who was captured and executed--had arranged the
+dastardly outrage in London, and the consequence was a fierce outbreak
+of indignation on the other side of the Channel. Lord Palmerston,
+prompted by the French Government, which demanded protection from the
+machinations of political refugees, brought forward a Conspiracy Bill.
+The feeling of the country, already hostile to such a measure, grew
+pronounced when the French army, not content with congratulating the
+Emperor on his escape, proceeded to refer to England in insulting, and
+even threatening, terms. Lord John, on high constitutional grounds,
+protested against the introduction of the measure, and declared that he
+was determined not to share in such 'shame and humiliation.' The
+Government were defeated on the Conspiracy Bill, on February 19, by
+nineteen votes. Amongst the eighty-four Liberals in the majority occur
+the names, not merely of Lord John Russell and Sir James Graham, but Mr.
+Cardwell and Mr. Gladstone. Lord Palmerston promptly resigned, and Lord
+Derby came into office. Disraeli, as Chancellor of the Exchequer and
+leader of the House of Commons, proceeded with characteristic audacity
+and a light heart to educate the new Conservative Party in the art of
+dishing the Whigs.
+
+  [Sidenote: THE JEWISH RELIEF ACT]
+
+The new Ministry was short-lived. Lord Derby was in advance of his
+party, and old-fashioned Tories listened with alarm to the programme of
+work which he set before them. For the moment Lord John was not eager
+for office, and he declared that the 'new Ministers ought not to be
+recklessly or prematurely opposed.' He added that he would not sanction
+any cabal among the Liberal party, and that he had no intention whatever
+of leading an alliance of Radicals and Peelites. Impressed with the
+magnitude of the issues at stake, he helped Lord Derby to pass the new
+India Bill, which handed the government of that country over to the
+Crown. He held that the question was too great to be made a battle-field
+of party, but thorough-paced adherents of Lord Palmerston did not
+conceal their indignation at such independent action. Lord John believed
+at the moment that it was right for him to throw his influence into the
+scale, and therefore he was indifferent to the passing clamour. The
+subsequent history of the English in India has amply justified the
+patriotic step which he took in scorn of party consequences. The Jewish
+Relief Act became law in 1858, and Lord John at length witnessed the
+triumph of a cause which he had brought again and again before
+Parliament since the General Election of 1847, when Baron Rothschild was
+returned as his colleague in the representation of the City. Scarcely
+any class of the community showed themselves more constantly mindful of
+his services on their behalf than the Jews. When one of them took an
+opportunity of thanking him for helping to free a once oppressed race
+from legal disabilities, Lord John replied: 'The object of my life has
+been not to benefit a race alone, but all nationalities that suffered
+under civil and religious disabilities.' He used to relate with evident
+appreciation the reply which Lord Lyndhurst once gave to a timid
+statesman who feared a possible Hebrew invasion of the woolsack. The man
+who was appointed four times to that exalted seat retorted: 'Well, I see
+no harm in that; Daniel would have made a good Lord Chancellor.'
+
+Everyone recognised that the Derby Administration was a mere stop-gap,
+and, as months passed on, its struggle for existence became somewhat
+ludicrous. They felt themselves to be a Ministry on sufferance, and,
+according to the gossip of the hour, their watchword was 'Anything for a
+quiet life.' There were rocks ahead, and at the beginning of the session
+of 1859 they stood revealed in Mr. Disraeli's extraordinary proposals
+for Reform, and in the war-cloud which was gathering rapidly over Europe
+in consequence of the quarrel between France and Austria about the
+affairs of Italy. Mr. Disraeli's Reform Bill taxed the allegiance of his
+party to the breaking point, and when its provisions were disclosed two
+of his colleagues resigned--Mr. Spencer Walpole the Home Office, and Mr.
+Henley the Board of Trade, rather than have part or lot in such a
+measure. There is no need here to describe in detail a scheme which was
+foredoomed by its fantastic character to failure. It confused great
+issues; it brought into play what Mr. Bright called fancy franchises; it
+did not lower the voting qualification in boroughs; its new property
+qualifications were of a retrograde character; and it left the working
+classes where it found them. It frightened staid Tories of the older
+school, and excited the ridicule, if not the indignation, of all who had
+seriously grappled with the problem.
+
+  [Sidenote: LORD GRANVILLE'S IMPOSSIBLE TASK]
+
+The immediate effect was to unite all sections of the Liberal Party.
+Lord John led the attack, and did so on the broad ground that it did not
+go far enough; and on April 1, after protracted debate, the measure was
+defeated by a majority of thirty-nine votes in a House of six hundred
+and twenty-one members. Parliament was prorogued on April 19, and the
+country was thrown into the turmoil of a General Election. Lord John
+promptly appealed to his old constituents in the City, and in the course
+of a vigorous address handled the 'so-called Reform Bill' in no
+uncertain manner. He declared that amongst the numerous defects of the
+Bill 'one provision was conspicuous by its presence and another by its
+absence.' He had deemed it advisable on the second reading to take what
+seemed to be the 'most clear, manly, and direct' course, and that was
+the secret of his amendment. The House of Commons had mustered in full
+force, and the terms of the amendment had been carried. The result of
+the General Election was that three hundred and fifty Liberals and three
+hundred and two Conservatives were returned to Westminster. Parliament
+met on May 31, and Lord Hartington moved an amendment to the Address
+which amounted to an expression of want of confidence. The amendment was
+carried by a majority of thirteen on June 12, and Lord Derby's
+Administration came the same night to an end. The result of the division
+took both parties somewhat by surprise. The astonishment was heightened
+when her Majesty sent for Lord Granville, an action which, to say the
+least, was a left-handed compliment to old and distinguished advisers of
+the Crown. Happily, though the sovereign may in such high affairs of
+State propose, it is the country which must finally dispose, and Lord
+Granville swiftly found that in the exuberance of political youth he had
+accepted a hopeless commission. He therefore relinquished an impossible
+task, and the Queen sent for Lord Palmerston.
+
+  [Sidenote: PALMERSTON'S MIXED MULTITUDE]
+
+In the earlier years of Lord John's retirement from office after the
+Vienna Conference his relations with some of his old colleagues, and
+more particularly with Lord Clarendon and Lord Palmerston, were somewhat
+strained. The blunders of the Derby Government, the jeopardy in India,
+the menacing condition of foreign politics, and, still more, the
+patriotism and right feeling of both men, gradually drew Palmerston and
+Russell into more intimate association, with the result that in the
+early summer of 1859 the frank intercourse of former years was renewed.
+More than twelve years had elapsed since Lord John had attained the
+highest rank possible to an English statesman. In the interval he had
+consented, under strong pressure from the most exalted quarters, to
+waive his claims by consenting to serve under Lord Aberdeen; and the
+outcome of that experiment had been humiliating to himself, as well as
+disastrous to the country. He might fairly have stood on his dignity--a
+fool's pedestal at the best, and one which Lord John was too sensible
+ever to mount--at the present juncture, and have declined to return to
+the responsibilities of office, except as Prime Minister. The leaders
+of the democracy, Mr. Bright and Mr. Cobden, were much more friendly to
+him than to Lord Palmerston. Apart from published records, Lady
+Russell's diary shows that at the beginning of this year Mr. Bright was
+in close communication with her husband. Lord John good-humouredly
+protested that Mr. Bright alarmed timid people by his speeches;
+whereupon the latter replied that he had been much misrepresented, and
+declared that he was more willing to be lieutenant than general in the
+approaching struggle for Reform. He explained his scheme, and Lord John
+found that it had much in common with his own, from which it differed
+only in degree, except on the question of the ballot. 'There has been a
+meeting between Bright and Lord John,' was Lord Houghton's comment, 'but
+I don't know that it has led to anything except a more temperate tone in
+Bright's last speeches.' Mr. Cobden, it is an open secret, would not
+have refused to serve under Lord John, but his hostility to Lord
+Palmerston's policy was too pronounced for him now to accept the offer
+of a seat in the new Cabinet. He assured Lord John that if he had been
+at the head of the Administration the result would have been different.
+Both Mr. Cobden and Mr. Bright felt that Lord Palmerston blocked the way
+to any adequate readjustment in home politics of the balance of power,
+and they were inspired by a settled distrust of his foreign policy. Lord
+John, on the other hand, though he might not move as swiftly as such
+popular leaders thought desirable, had still a name to conjure with, and
+was the consistent advocate, though on more cautious lines, of an
+extension of the franchise. Moreover, Lord John's attack on Palmerston's
+Government in regard to the conduct of the Chinese war, his vigorous
+protest against the Conspiracy Bill, and his frank sympathy with
+Mazzini's dream of a United Italy, helped to bring the old leader, in
+the long fight for civil and religious liberty, into vital touch with
+younger men of the stamp of Cobden, Bright, and Gladstone, of whom the
+people justly expected great things in the not distant future. Lord John
+knew, however, that the Liberal camp was full of politicians who were
+neither hot nor cold--men who had slipped into Parliament on easy terms,
+only to reveal the fact that their prejudices were many and their
+convictions few. They sheltered themselves under the great prestige of
+Lord Palmerston, and represented his policy of masterly inactivity,
+rather than the true sentiments of the nation. Lord Palmerston was as
+jaunty as ever; but all things are not possible even to the ablest man,
+at seventy-five.
+
+Although Lord John was not willing to serve under Lord Granville, who
+was his junior by more than a score of years, he saw his chance at the
+Foreign Office, and therefore consented to join the Administration of
+Lord Palmerston. In accepting office on such terms in the middle of
+June, he made it plain to Lord Palmerston that the importance of
+European affairs at the moment had induced him to throw in his lot with
+the new Ministry. The deadlock was brought to an end by Lord John's
+patriotic decision. Mr. Gladstone became Chancellor of the Exchequer,
+Lord Granville President of the Council; and amongst others in the
+Cabinet were Sir G. C. Lewis, Mr. Milner Gibson, Sir George Grey, and
+the Duke of Argyll. Though Cobden would not accept a place in the
+Government, he rendered it important service by negotiating the
+commercial treaty with France, which came into force at the beginning of
+1860. Next to the abolition of the Corn Laws, which he more than any
+other man brought about, it was the great achievement of his career.
+Free Trade, by liberating commerce from the bondage under which it
+groaned, gave food to starving multitudes, redressed a flagrant and
+tyrannical abuse of power, shielded a kingdom from the throes of
+revolution, and added a new and magical impetus to material progress in
+every quarter of the globe. The commercial treaty with France, by
+establishing mercantile sympathy and intercourse between two of the most
+powerful nations of the world, carried forward the work which Free Trade
+had begun, and, by bringing into play community of interests, helped to
+give peace a sure foundation.
+
+Parliament met on January 24, and in the Speech from the Throne a Reform
+Bill was promised. It was brought forward by Lord John Russell on March
+1--the twenty-ninth anniversary of a red-letter day in his life, the
+introduction of the first Reform Bill. He proposed to reduce the county
+franchise to 10_l._ qualification, and the borough to 6_l._; one member
+was to be taken from each borough with a population of less than seven
+thousand, and in this way twenty-five seats were obtained for
+redistribution. Political power was to be given where the people were
+congregated, and Lord John's scheme of re-distribution gave two seats to
+the West Riding, and one each to thirty other counties or divisions, and
+five to boroughs hitherto unrepresented. The claims of Manchester,
+Liverpool, Birmingham, and Leeds were recognised by the proposal to add
+another representative in each case; and the claims of culture were not
+forgotten, for a member was given to London University. Gallio-like,
+Lord Palmerston cared for none of these things, and he made no attempt
+to conceal his indifference. One-half of the Cabinet appear to have
+shared his distaste for the measure, and two or three of them regarded
+it with aversion. If Cobden or Bright had been in the Cabinet, affairs
+might have taken a different course; as it was, Lord John and Mr.
+Gladstone stood almost alone.
+
+The Radicals, though gaining ground in the country, were numerically
+weak in the House of Commons, and the measure fell to the ground between
+the opposition of the Tories and the faint praise with which it was
+damned by the Whigs. Even Lord John was forced to confess that the
+apathy of the country was undeniable. A more sweeping measure would have
+had a better chance, but so long as Lord Palmerston was at the head of
+affairs it was idle to expect it. Lord John recognised the inevitable
+after a succession of dreary debates, and the measure was withdrawn on
+June 11. Lord John's first important speech in the House of Commons was
+made in the year of Peterloo, when he brought forward, thirteen years
+before the Reform Bill of 1832 was passed, proposals for an extension of
+the franchise; and his last great speech in the House of Commons at
+least showed how unmerited was the taunt of 'finality,' for it sought to
+give the working classes a share in the government of the country.
+
+  [Sidenote: ACCEPTS A PEERAGE]
+
+Early in the following year, Lord John was raised to the peerage as Earl
+Russell of Kingston-Russell and Viscount Amberley and Ardsalla. 'I
+cannot despatch,' wrote Mr. Gladstone, 'as I have just done, the
+Chiltern Hundreds for you, without expressing the strong feelings which
+even that formal act awakens. They are mixed, as well as strong; for I
+hope you will be repaid in repose, health, and the power of
+long-continuing service, for the heavy loss we suffer in the House of
+Commons. Although you may not hereafter have opportunities of adding to
+the personal debt I owe you, and of bringing it vividly before my mind
+by fresh acts of courage and kindness, I assure you, the recollection of
+it is already indelible.' Hitherto, Lord John--for the old name is the
+one under which his family and his friends still like to apply to
+him--had been a poor man; but the death, in the spring of this year, of
+his brother the Duke of Bedford, with whom, from youth to age, his
+intercourse had been most cordial, placed him in possession of the
+Ardsalla Estate, and, indeed, made possible his acceptance of the
+proffered earldom. Six months later, her Majesty conferred the Garter
+upon him, as a mark of her 'high approbation of long and distinguished
+services.' Lord John had almost reached the age of three score and ten
+when he entered the House of Lords. He had done his work in 'another
+place,' but he was destined to become once more First Minister of the
+Crown, and, as Mr. Froude put it, to carry his reputation at length off
+the scene unspotted by a single act which his biographers are called
+upon to palliate.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+UNITED ITALY AND THE DIS-UNITED STATES
+
+1861-1865
+
+     Lord John at the Foreign Office--Austria and Italy--Victor Emmanuel
+     and Mazzini--Cavour and Napoleon III.--Lord John's energetic
+     protest--His sympathy with Garibaldi and the struggle for
+     freedom--The gratitude of the Italians--Death of the Prince
+     Consort--The 'Trent' affair--Lord John's remonstrance--The
+     'Alabama' difficulty--Lord Selborne's statement--The Cotton Famine.
+
+
+FOREIGN politics claimed Lord John's undivided attention throughout the
+four remaining years of the Palmerston Administration. It was well for
+the nation that a statesman of so much courage and self-reliance, cool
+sagacity, and wide experience, controlled the Foreign Office in years
+when wars and rumours of war prevailed alike in Europe and in America.
+He once declared that it had always been his aim to promote the cause of
+civil and religious liberty, not merely in England, but in other parts
+of the world, and events were now looming which were destined to justify
+such an assertion. It is not possible to enter at length into the
+complicated problems with which he had to deal during his tenure of the
+Foreign Office, but the broad principles which animated his policy can,
+in rough outline at least, be stated. It is well in this connection to
+fall back upon his own words: 'In my time very difficult questions
+arose. During the period I held the seals of the Foreign Office I had to
+discuss the question of the independence of Italy, of a treaty
+regarding Poland made by Lord Castlereagh, the treaty regarding Denmark
+made by Lord Malmesbury, the injuries done to England by the republic of
+Mexico, and, not to mention minor questions, the whole of the
+transactions arising out of the civil war in America, embittered as they
+were by the desire of a party in the United States to lay upon England
+the whole blame of the insurrection, the "irrepressible conflict" of
+their own fellow-citizens.' Both of these questions were far-reaching
+and crucial, and in his attitude towards Italy and America, when they
+were in the throes of revolution, Lord Russell's generous love of
+liberty and vigour of judgment alike stand revealed.
+
+Prince Metternich declared soon after the peace of 1815 that Italy was
+'only a geographical expression.' The taunt was true at the time, but
+even then there was a young dreamer living who was destined to render it
+false. 'Great ideas,' declared Mazzini, 'create great nations,' and his
+whole career was devoted to the attempt to bring about a united Italy.
+The statesmanship of Cavour and the sword of Garibaldi were enlisted in
+the same sacred cause. The petty governments of the Peninsula grew
+suddenly impossible, and Italy was freed from native tyranny and foreign
+domination. Austria, not content with the possession of Lombardy, which
+was ceded to her by the treaty of 1815, had made her power felt in
+almost every direction, and even at Naples her authority prevailed. The
+Austrians were not merely an alien but a hated race, for they stood
+between the Italian people and their dream of national independence and
+unity, and native despotism could always count on their aid in quelling
+any outbreak of the revolutionary spirit. The governments of the
+country, Austria and the Vatican apart, were rendered contemptible by
+the character of its tyrannical, incapable, and superstitious rulers,
+but with the sway of such powers of darkness Sardinia presented a bright
+contrast. The hopes of patriotic Italians gathered around Victor
+Emmanuel II., who had fought gallantly at Novara in 1849, and who
+possessed more public spirit and common-sense than the majority of
+crowned heads. Victor Emmanuel ascended the throne of Sardinia at the
+age of twenty-eight, immediately after the crushing disaster which
+seemed hopelessly to have wrecked the cause of Italian independence.
+Although he believed, with Mazzini, that there was only room for two
+kinds of Italians in Italy, the friends and the enemies of Austria, he
+showed remarkable self-restraint, and adopted a policy of conciliation
+towards foreign Powers, whilst widening the liberties of his own
+subjects until all over the land Italians came to regard Sardinia with
+admiration, and to covet 'liberty as it was in Piedmont.'
+
+  [Sidenote: COUNT CAVOUR]
+
+He gathered around him men who were in sympathy with modern ideas of
+liberty and progress. Amongst them was Count Cavour, a statesman
+destined to impress not Italy alone, but Europe, by his honesty of
+purpose, force of character, and practical sagacity. From 1852 to 1859,
+when he retired, rather than agree to the humiliating terms of the
+Treaty of Villafranca, Cavour was supreme in Sardinia. He found Sardinia
+crippled by defeat, and crushed with debt, the bitter bequest of the
+Austrian War; but his courage never faltered, and his capacity was equal
+to the strain. Victor Emmanuel gave him a free hand, and he used it for
+the consolidation of the kingdom. He repealed the duties on corn,
+reformed the tariff, and introduced measures of free trade. He
+encouraged public works, brought about the construction of railways and
+telegraphs, and advanced perceptibly popular education. He saw that if
+the nation was to gain her independence, and his sovereign become ruler
+of a united Italy, it was necessary to propitiate the Western Powers. In
+pursuance of such a policy, Cavour induced Piedmont to join the Allies
+in the Crimean War, and the Italian soldiers behaved with conspicuous
+bravery at the battle of Tchernaya. When the war closed Sardinia was
+becoming a power in Europe, and Cavour established his right to a seat
+at the Congress of Paris, where he made known the growing discontent in
+Italy with the temporal power of the Papacy.
+
+In the summer of 1858 Napoleon III. was taking the waters at Plombières,
+where also Count Cavour was on a visit. The Emperor's mood was leisured
+and cordial, and Cavour took the opportunity of bringing the Court of
+Turin into intimate but secret relations with that of the Tuileries.
+France was to come to the aid of Sardinia under certain conditions in
+the event of a war with Austria. Napoleon was not, of course, inclined
+to serve Victor Emmanuel for naught, and he therefore stipulated for
+Savoy and Nice. Cavour also strengthened the position of Sardinia by
+arranging a marriage between the Princess Clotilde, daughter of Victor
+Emmanuel, and the Emperor's cousin, Prince Napoleon. Alarmed at the
+military preparations in Sardinia, and the growth of the kingdom as a
+political power in Europe, Austria at the beginning of 1859 addressed an
+imperious demand for disarmament, which was met by Cavour by a curt
+refusal. The match had been put to the gunpowder and a fight for liberty
+took place. The campaign was short but decisive. The Austrian army
+crossed in force the Ticino, then hesitated and was lost. If they had
+acted promptly they might have crushed the troops of Piedmont, whom they
+greatly outnumbered, before the soldiers of France could cross the Alps.
+The battle of Magenta, and the still more deadly struggle at Solferino
+between Austria and the Allies, decided the issue, and by the beginning
+of July Napoleon, for the moment, was master of the situation.
+
+  [Sidenote: VILLAFRANCA]
+
+The French Emperor, with characteristic duplicity, had only half
+revealed his hand in those confidential talks at Plombières. Italy was
+the cradle of his race, and he too wished to create, if not a King of
+Rome, a federation of small States ruled by princes of his own blood.
+The public rejoicings at Florence, Parma, Modena, and Bologna, and the
+ardent expression of the populace at such centres for union with
+Sardinia, made the Emperor wince, and showed him that it was impossible,
+even with French bayonets, to crush the aspirations of a nation.
+Napoleon met Francis Joseph at Villafranca, and the preliminaries of
+peace were arranged on July 11 in a high-handed fashion, and without
+even the presence of Victor Emmanuel. Lombardy was ceded to Sardinia,
+though Austria was allowed to keep Venetia and the fortress of Mantua.
+France afterwards took Nice and Savoy; and the Grand Duke of Tuscany and
+the Duke of Modena were restored to power. The Treaty of Zürich ratified
+these terms in the month of November. Meanwhile it was officially
+announced that the Emperor of Austria and the Emperor of the French
+would 'favour the creation of an Italian Confederation under the
+honorary presidency of the Holy Father.'
+
+The Countess Martinengo Cesaresco, in a brilliant book published within
+the last few months on 'The Liberation of Italy,' in describing Lord
+John Russell's opposition to the terms of peace at Villafranca, and the
+vigorous protest which, as Foreign Minister, he made on behalf of
+England, says: 'It was a happy circumstance for Italy that her unity had
+no better friends than in the English Government during those difficult
+years. Cavour's words, soon after Villafranca, "It is England's turn
+now," were not belied.'[39] With Lord John at the Foreign Office,
+England rose to the occasion. Napoleon III. wished to make a cat's-paw
+of this country, and was sanguine enough to believe that Her Majesty's
+Government would take the proposed Italian Confederation under its wing.
+Lord Palmerston, Mr. Gladstone, and Lord John Russell, were not,
+however, the men to bow to his behests, and the latter in particular
+could scarcely conceal his contempt for the scheme of the two emperors.
+'We are asked to propose a partition of the peoples of Italy,' he
+exclaimed, 'as if we had the right to dispose of them.'
+
+  [Sidenote: FRANCE AND AUSTRIA]
+
+Lord John contended that if Austria, by virtue of her presence on
+Italian soil, was a member of the suggested confederation, she, because
+of the Vatican, the King of Naples, and the two dukes, would virtually
+rule the roost. He wrote to the British Minister at Florence in favour
+of a frank expression on the part of the people of Tuscany of their own
+wishes in the matter, and declared in the House of Commons that he could
+have neither part nor lot with any attempt to deprive the people of
+Italy of their right to choose their own ruler. He protested against the
+presence in Italy of foreign troops, whether French or Austrian, and in
+despatches to Paris and Vienna he made the French and Austrian
+Governments aware that England was altogether opposed to any return to
+that 'system of foreign interference which for upwards of forty years
+has been the misfortune of Italy and the danger of Europe.' Lord John
+urged that France and Austria should agree not to employ armed
+intervention for the future in the affairs of Italy, unless called upon
+to do so by the unanimous voice of the five Great Powers of Europe. He
+further contended that Napoleon III. should arrange with Pius IX. for
+the evacuation of Rome by the troops of France. He protested in vain
+against the annexation of Savoy and Nice by France, which he regarded as
+altogether a retrograde movement. In March 1860, in a speech in the
+House of Commons, he declared that the course which the Emperor Napoleon
+had taken was of a kind to produce great distrust all over Europe. He
+regarded the annexation of Savoy, not merely as in itself an act of
+aggression, but as one which was likely to 'lead a nation so warlike as
+the French to call upon its Government from time to time to commit other
+acts of aggression.' England wished to live on the most friendly terms
+with France. It was necessary, however, for the nations of Europe to
+maintain peace, to respect not merely each others' rights, but each
+others' boundaries, and, above all, to restore, and not to disturb that
+'commercial confidence which is the result of peace, which tends to
+peace, and which ultimately forms the happiness of nations.' When
+Napoleon patched up a peace with Francis Joseph, which practically
+ignored the aspirations of the Italian people, their indignation knew no
+bounds, and they determined to work out their own redemption.
+
+Garibaldi had already distinguished himself in the campaign which had
+culminated at Solferino, and he now took the field against the Bourbons
+in Naples and Sicily, whilst insurrections broke out in other parts of
+Italy. France suggested that England should help her in arresting
+Garibaldi's victorious march, but Lord John was too old a friend of
+freedom to respond to such a proposal. He held that the Neapolitan
+Government--the iniquities of which Mr. Gladstone had exposed in an
+outburst of righteous indignation in 1851--must be left to reap the
+consequences of 'misgovernment which had no parallel in all Europe.'
+Garibaldi, carried thither by the enthusiasm of humanity and the justice
+of his cause, entered Naples in triumph on September 7, 1860, the day
+after the ignominious flight of Francis II. Victor Emmanuel was
+proclaimed King of Italy two days later, and when he met the new
+Parliament of his widened realm at Turin he was able to declare: 'Our
+country is no more the Italy of the Romans, nor the Italy of the Middle
+Ages: it is no longer the field for every foreign ambition, it becomes
+henceforth the Italy of the Italians.'
+
+Lord John's part in the struggle did him infinite credit. He held
+resolutely to the view all through the crisis, and in the face of the
+censure of Austria, France, Prussia, and Russia, that the Italians were
+the best judges of their own interests, and that the Italian revolution
+was as justifiable as the English revolution of 1688. He declared that,
+far from censuring Victor Emmanuel and Count Cavour, her Majesty's
+Government preferred to turn its eyes to the 'gratifying prospect of a
+people building up the edifice of their liberties, and consolidating the
+work of their independence, amid the sympathies and good wishes of
+Europe.' Foreign Courts might bluster, protest, or sneer, but England
+was with her Foreign Minister; and 'Punch' summed up the verdict of the
+nation in generous words of doggerel verse:
+
+    'Well said, Johnny Russell! That latest despatch
+    You have sent to Turin is exactly the thing;
+    And again, my dear John, you come up to the scratch
+    With a pluck that does credit to you and the Ring.'
+
+  [Sidenote: ITALY'S GRATITUDE]
+
+The utmost enthusiasm prevailed in Italy when the terms of Lord John's
+despatch became known. Count Cavour and General Garibaldi vied with each
+other in emphatic acknowledgments, and Lord John was assured that he was
+'blessed night and morning by twenty millions of Italians.' In the
+summer of 1864 Garibaldi visited England, and received a greater popular
+ovation in the streets of the metropolis than that which has been
+accorded to any crowned head in the Queen's reign. He went down to
+Pembroke Lodge to thank Lord John in person for the help which he had
+given to Italy in the hour of her greatest need. Lord John received a
+beautiful expression of the gratitude of the nation, in the shape of an
+exquisite marble statue by Carlo Romano, representing Young Italy
+holding in her outstretched arms a diadem, inscribed with the arms of
+its united States. During subsequent visits to Florence and San Remo he
+was received with demonstrations of popular respect, and at the latter
+place, shortly after his final retirement from office in 1866, he said,
+in reply to an address: 'I thank you with all my heart for the honour
+you have done me. I rejoice with you in seeing Italy free and
+independent, with a monarchical government and under a patriotic king.
+The Italian nation has all the elements of a prosperous political life,
+which had been wanting for many centuries. The union of religion,
+liberty, and civil order will increase the prosperity of this beautiful
+country.'
+
+  [Sidenote: THE PRINCE CONSORT]
+
+A still more delicate problem of international policy, and one which
+naturally came much nearer home to English susceptibilities, arose in
+the autumn of 1861--a year which was rendered memorable on one side of
+the Atlantic by the outbreak of the Civil War, and on the other by the
+national sorrow over the unexpected death, at the early age of
+forty-two, of the Prince Consort. The latter event was not merely an
+overwhelming and irrevocable loss to the Queen, but in an emphatic sense
+a misfortune--it might almost be said a disaster--to the nation. It was
+not until the closing years of his life that the personal nobility and
+political sagacity of Prince Albert were fully recognised by the English
+people. Brought up in a small and narrow German Court, the Prince
+Consort in the early years of her Majesty's reign was somewhat formal in
+his manners and punctilious in his demands. The published records of the
+reign show that he was inclined to lean too much to the wisdom, which
+was not always 'profitable to direct,' of Baron Stockmar, a trusted
+adviser of the Court, of autocratic instincts and strong prejudices, who
+failed to understand either the genius of the English constitution or
+the temper of the English race. It is an open secret that the Prince
+Consort during the first decade of the reign was by no means popular,
+either with the classes or the masses. His position was a difficult one,
+for he was, in the words of one of the chief statesmen of the reign, at
+once the 'permanent Secretary and the permanent Prime Minister' of the
+Crown; and there were undoubtedly occasions when in both capacities he
+magnified his office. Even if the Great Exhibition of 1851 had been
+memorable for nothing else, it would have been noteworthy as the period
+which marked a new departure in the Prince's relations with all grades
+of her Majesty's subjects. It not only brought him into touch with the
+people, but it brought into view, as well as into play, his practical
+mastery of affairs, and also his enlightened sympathy with the progress
+in art and science, no less than in the commercial activities, of the
+nation. It was not, however, until the closing years of his life, when
+the dreary escapades of the Coalition Ministry were beginning to be
+forgotten, that the great qualities of the Prince Consort were
+appreciated to any adequate degree. From the close of the Crimean War to
+his untimely death, at the beginning of the Civil War in America, was
+unquestionably the happiest as well as the most influential period in a
+life which was at once sensitive and upright.
+
+It ought in common fairness to be added that the character of the Prince
+mellowed visibly during his later years, and that the formality of his
+earlier manner was exchanged for a more genial attitude towards those
+with whom he came in contact in the duties and society of the Court. Mr.
+Disraeli told Count Vitzthum that if the Prince Consort had outlived the
+'old stagers' of political life with whom he was surrounded, he would
+have given to England--though with constitutional guarantees--the
+'blessing of absolute government.' Although such a verdict palpably
+overshot the mark, it is significant in itself and worthy of record,
+since it points both to the strength and the limitations of an
+illustrious life. There are passages in Lady Russell's diary, of too
+personal and too sacred a character to quote, which reveal not only the
+poignant grief of the Queen, but the manner in which she turned
+instinctively in her burst of need to an old and trusted adviser of the
+Crown. High but artless tribute is paid in the same pages to the Queen's
+devotion to duty under the heart-breaking strain of a loss which
+overshadowed with sorrow every home in England, as well as the Palace at
+Windsor, at Christmas, 1861.
+
+  [Sidenote: THE 'TRENT' AFFAIR]
+
+The last act of the Prince Consort of an official kind was to soften
+certain expressions in the interests of international peace and goodwill
+in the famous despatch which was sent by the English Government, at the
+beginning of December, to the British Ambassador at Washington, when a
+deadlock suddenly arose between England and the United States over the
+'Trent' affair, and war seemed imminent. Hostilities had broken out
+between the North and the South in the previous July, and the opinion of
+England was sharply divided on the merits of the struggle. The bone of
+contention, to put the matter concisely, was the refusal of South
+Carolina and ten other States to submit to the authority of the Central
+Government of the Union. It was an old quarrel which had existed from
+the foundation of the American Commonwealth, for the individual States
+of the Union had always been jealous of any infringement of the right of
+self-government; but slavery was now the ostensible root of bitterness,
+and matters were complicated by radical divergences on the subject of
+tariffs. The Southern States took a high hand against the Federal
+Government. They seceded from the Union, and announced their
+independence to the world at large, under the style and title of the
+Confederate States of America. Flushed by the opening victory which
+followed the first appeal to the sword, the Confederate Government
+determined to send envoys to Europe. Messrs. Mason and Slidell embarked
+at Havana, at the beginning of November, on board the British
+mail-steamer 'Trent,' as representatives to the English and French
+Governments respectively. The 'Trent' was stopped on her voyage by the
+American man-of-war 'San Jacinto,' and Captain Wilkes, her commander,
+demanded that the Confederate envoys and their secretaries should be
+handed over to his charge. The captain of the 'Trent' made a vigorous
+protest against this sort of armed intervention, but he had no
+alternative except to yield, and Messrs. Mason and Slidell were carried
+back to America and lodged in a military fortress.
+
+The 'Trent' arrived at Southampton on November 27, and when her captain
+told his story indignation knew no bounds. The law of nations had been
+set at defiance, and the right of asylum under the British flag had been
+violated. The clamour of the Press and of the streets grew suddenly
+fierce and strong, and the universal feeling of the moment found
+expression in the phrase, 'Bear this, bear all.' Lord John Russell at
+once addressed a vigorous remonstrance to the American Government on an
+'act of violence which was an affront to the British flag and a
+violation of international law.' He made it plain that her Majesty's
+Ministers were not prepared to allow such an insult to pass without
+'full reparation;' but, at the same time, he refused to believe that it
+could be the 'deliberate intention' of the Government of the United
+States to force upon them so grave a question. He therefore expressed
+the hope that the United States of its own accord would at once 'offer
+to the British Government such redress as alone could satisfy the
+British nation.' He added that this must take the form of the liberation
+of the envoys and their secretaries, in order that they might again be
+placed under British protection, and that such an act must be
+accompanied by a suitable apology. President Lincoln and Mr. Seward
+reluctantly gave way; but their decision was hastened by the war
+preparations in England, and the protests which France, Austria,
+Prussia, Russia, and Italy made against so wanton an outrage.
+
+The war took its course, and it seemed on more than one occasion as if
+England must take sides in a struggle which, it soon became apparent,
+was to be fought out to the bitter end. Thoughts of mediation had
+occurred, both to Lord Palmerston and Lord Russell, and in 1862 they
+contemplated the thankless task of mediation, but the project was
+abandoned as at least premature. Feeling ran high in England over the
+discussion as to whether the 'great domestic institution' of Negro
+slavery really lay at the basis of the struggle or not, and public
+opinion was split into hostile camps. Sympathy with the North was
+alienated by the marked honours which were paid to the commander of the
+'San Jacinto;' and the bravery with which the South fought, for what
+many people persisted in declaring was merely the right of
+self-government, kindled enthusiasm for those who struggled against
+overwhelming odds. In the summer of 1862 a new difficulty arose, and the
+maintenance of international peace was once more imperilled. The
+blockade of the Southern ports crippled the Confederate Government, and
+an armed cruiser was built on the Mersey to wage a war of retaliation on
+the high seas against the merchant ships of the North. When the
+'Alabama' was almost ready the Federal Government got wind of the
+matter, and formally protested against the ship being allowed to put to
+sea.
+
+  [Sidenote: THE 'ALABAMA' DIFFICULTY]
+
+The Cabinet submitted the question to the law officers of the Crown;
+delay followed, and whilst the matter was still under deliberation the
+'Alabama,' on the pretext of a trial trip, escaped, and began at once
+her remarkable career of destruction. The late Lord Selborne, who at
+that time was Solicitor-General, wrote for these pages the following
+detailed and, of course, authoritative statement of what transpired, and
+the facts which he recounts show that Lord Russell, in spite of the
+generous admission which he himself made in his 'Recollections,' was in
+reality not responsible for a blunder which almost led to war, and which
+when submitted to arbitration at Geneva cost England--besides much
+irritation--the sum of 3,000,000_l._
+
+'It was when Lord Russell was Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs,
+during the American Civil War, and when I was one of the Law Officers of
+the Crown, that I first became personally well acquainted with him; and
+from that time he honoured me with his friendship. In this way I had
+good opportunities of knowledge on some subjects as to which he has been
+at times misrepresented or misunderstood; and perhaps I may best do
+honour to his memory by referring to those subjects.
+
+'There can be no idea more unfounded than that which would call in
+question his friendliness towards the United States during their contest
+with the Confederates. But he had a strong sense, both of the duty of
+strictly observing all obligations incumbent on this country as a
+neutral Power by the law of nations, and of the danger of innovating
+upon them by the admission of claims on either side, not warranted by
+that law as generally understood, and with which, in the then state both
+of our own and of the American Neutrality Laws, it would have been
+practically impossible for the Government of a free country to comply.
+As a general principle, the freedom of commercial dealings between the
+citizens of a neutral State and belligerents, subject to the right of
+belligerents to protect themselves against breach of blockade or
+carriage of contraband, had been universally allowed, and by no nation
+more insisted on than by the United States. Lord Russell did not think
+it safe or expedient to endeavour to restrict that liberty. When asked
+to put in force Acts of Parliament made for the better protection of our
+neutrality, he took, with promptitude and with absolute good faith, such
+measures as it would have been proper to take in any case in which our
+own public interests were concerned; but he thought (and in my judgment
+he was entirely right in thinking) that it was not the duty of a British
+Minister, seeking to enforce British statute law, to add to other risks
+of failure that of unconstitutional disregard of the securities for the
+liberty of the subject, provided by the system on which British laws
+generally are administered and enforced.
+
+'It was not through any fault or negligence of Lord Russell that the
+ship "Alabama," or any other vessel equipped for the war service of the
+Confederate States, left the ports of this country. The course taken by
+him in all those cases was the same. He considered that some _prima
+facie_ evidence of an actual or intended violation either of our own law
+or of the law of nations (such as might be produced in a court of
+justice) was necessary, and that in judging whether there was such
+evidence he ought to be guided by the advice of the Law Officers of the
+Crown. To obtain such evidence, he did not neglect any means which the
+law placed in his power. If in any case the Board of Customs may have
+been ill-advised, and omitted (as Sir Alexander Cockburn thought) to
+take precautions which they ought otherwise to have taken, this was no
+fault of Lord Russell; still less was he chargeable with the delay of
+three or four days which took place in the case of the "Alabama," in
+consequence of the illness of the Queen's Advocate, Sir John Harding;
+without which that vessel might never have gone to sea.
+
+  [Sidenote: LORD SELBORNE'S EXPLANATION]
+
+'Lord Russell stated to Mr. Adams, immediately afterwards, that Sir
+John Harding's illness was the cause of that delay. No one then called
+that statement in question, which could not have been made without good
+foundation. But after a lapse of many years, when almost everybody who
+had known the exact circumstances was dead, stories inconsistent with it
+obtained currency. Of these, the most remarkable was published in 1881,
+in a book widely read, the "Reminiscences" of the late Thomas Mozley.
+The writer appears to have persuaded himself (certainly without any
+foundation in fact) that "there was not one of her Majesty's Ministers
+who was not ready to jump out of his skin for joy when he heard of the
+escape of the 'Alabama.'"[40] He said that he met Sir John Harding
+"shortly after the 'Alabama' had got away," and was told by him that he
+(Sir John) had been expecting a communication from Government anxiously
+the whole week before, that the expectation had unsettled and unnerved
+him for other business, and that he had stayed in chambers rather later
+than usual on Saturday for the chance of hearing at last from them. He
+had then gone to his house in the country. Returning on Monday, when he
+was engaged to appear in court, he found a large bundle of documents in
+a big envelope, without even an accompanying note, that had been dropped
+into the letter-box on Saturday evening. To all appearance, every letter
+and every remonstrance and every affidavit, as fast as it arrived from
+Liverpool, had been piled in a pigeon-hole till four or five o'clock on
+Saturday, when the Minister, on taking his own departure for the
+country, had directed a clerk to tie up the whole heap and carry it to
+Doctors' Commons.
+
+'The facts are, that in the earlier stage of that business, before July
+23, the Attorney- and Solicitor-General only were consulted, and Sir
+John Harding knew nothing at all about it. No part of the statement said
+by Mr. Mozley to have been made to him could possibly be true; because
+during the whole time in question Sir John Harding was under care for
+unsoundness of mind, from which he never even partially recovered, and
+which prevented him from attending to any kind of business, or going
+into court, or to his chambers, or to his country house. He was in that
+condition on July 23, 1862 (Wednesday, not Saturday) when the
+depositions on which the question of the detention of the "Alabama"
+turned were received at the Foreign Office. Lord Russell, not knowing
+that he was ill, and thinking it desirable, from the importance of the
+matter, to have the opinion of all the three Law Officers (of whom the
+Queen's Advocate was then senior in rank), sent them on the same day,
+with the usual covering letter, for that opinion; and they must have
+been delivered by the messenger, in the ordinary course, at Sir John
+Harding's house or chambers. There they remained till, the delay causing
+inquiry, they were recovered and sent to the Attorney-General, who
+received them on Monday, the 28th, and lost no time in holding a
+consultation with the Solicitor-General. Their opinion, advising that
+the ship should be stopped, was in Lord Russell's hands early the next
+morning; and he sent an order by telegraph to Liverpool to stop her; but
+before it could be executed she had gone to sea.
+
+'Some of the facts relating to Sir John Harding's illness remained,
+until lately, in more or less obscurity, and Mr. Mozley's was not the
+only erroneous version of them which got abroad. One such version having
+been mentioned, as if authentic, in a debate in the House of Commons on
+March 17, 1893, I wrote to the "Times" to correct it; and in
+confirmation of my statement the gentleman who had been Sir John
+Harding's medical attendant in July 1862 came forward, and by reference
+to his diary, kept at the time, placed the facts and dates beyond future
+controversy.
+
+  [Sidenote: THE QUESTION OF ARBITRATION]
+
+'In the diplomatic correspondence, as to the "Alabama" and other
+subjects of complaint by the United States, Lord Russell stood firmly
+upon the ground that Great Britain had not failed in any duty of
+neutrality; and Lord Lyons, the sagacious Minister who then represented
+this country at Washington, thought there would be much more danger to
+our future relations with the United States in any departure from that
+position than in strict and steady adherence to it. But no sooner was
+the war ended than new currents of opinion set in. In a debate on the
+subject in the House of Commons on March 6, 1868, Lord Stanley (then
+Foreign Secretary), who had never been of the same mind about it with
+his less cautious friends, said that a "tendency might be detected to be
+almost too ready to accuse ourselves of faults we had not committed, and
+to assume that on every doubtful point the decision ought to be against
+us." The sequel is well known. The Conservative Government consented to
+refer to arbitration, not all the questions raised by the Government of
+the United States, but those arising out of the ships alleged to have
+been equipped or to have received augmentation of force within the
+British dominions for the war service of the Confederate States; and
+from that concession no other Government could recede. For a long time
+the Government or the Senate of the United States objected to any
+reference so limited, and to the last they refused to go into an open
+arbitration. They made it a condition, that new Rules should be
+formulated, not only for future observance, but for retrospective
+application to their own claims. This condition, unprecedented and open
+in principle to the gravest objections, was accepted for the sake of
+peace with a nation so nearly allied to us; not, however, without an
+express declaration, on the face of the Treaty of Washington, that the
+British Government could not assent to those new Rules as a statement of
+principles of international law which were in force when the claims
+arose.
+
+'While the Commissioners at Washington were engaged in their
+deliberations, I was in frequent communication both with Lord Granville
+and other members of the Cabinet, and also with Lord Russell, who could
+not be brought to approve of that way of settling the controversy. He
+had an invincible repugnance to the reference of any questions affecting
+the honour and good faith of this country, or its internal
+administration, to foreign arbitrators; and he thought those questions
+would not be excluded by the proposed arrangement. He felt no confidence
+that any reciprocal advantages to this country would be obtained from
+the new Rules. Their only effect, in his view, would be to send us
+handicapped into the arbitration. He did not believe that the United
+States would follow the example which we had set, by strengthening their
+Neutrality Laws; or that they would be able, unless they did so, to
+prevent violations of the Rules by their citizens in any future war in
+which we might be belligerent and they neutral, any more than they had
+been able in former times to prevent the equipment of ships within their
+territory against Spain and Portugal. It was not without difficulty that
+he restrained himself from giving public expression to those views; but,
+from generous and patriotic motives, he did so. The sequel is not likely
+to have convinced him that his apprehensions were groundless. The
+character of the "Case" presented on the part of the United States, with
+the "indirect claims," and the arguments used to support them, would
+have prevented the arbitration from proceeding at all, but for action of
+an unusual kind taken by the arbitrators. In such of their decisions as
+were adverse to this country, the arbitrators founded themselves
+entirely upon the new Rules, without any reference to general
+international law or historical precedents; and the United States have
+done nothing, down to this day, to strengthen their Neutrality Laws,
+though certainly requiring it, at least as much as ours did before
+1870.'
+
+  [Sidenote: THE COTTON FAMINE]
+
+Lord Russell then held resolutely to the view that her Majesty's
+Government had steadily endeavoured to maintain a policy of strict
+neutrality, and so long as he was in power at the Foreign Office, or at
+the Treasury, the demands of the United States for compensation were
+ignored. Meanwhile, there arose a mighty famine in Lancashire through
+the failure of the cotton supply, and 800,000 operatives were thrown,
+through no fault of their own, on the charity of the nation, which rose
+splendidly to meet the occasion. All classes of the community were bound
+more closely together in the gentle task of philanthropy, as well as in
+admiration of the uncomplaining heroism with which privation was met by
+the suffering workpeople.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[39] _The Liberation of Italy_, 1815-1870, by the Countess Evelyn
+Martinengo Cesaresco (Seeley and Co. 1895), p. 252.
+
+[40] Second edition, 1892, chap. xcii.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+SECOND PREMIERSHIP
+
+1865-1866
+
+     The Polish Revolt--Bismarck's bid for power--The Schleswig-Holstein
+     difficulty--Death of Lord Palmerston--The Queen summons Lord
+     John--The second Russell Administration--Lord John's tribute to
+     Palmerston--Mr. Gladstone introduces Reform--The 'Cave of
+     Adullam'--Defeat of the Russell Government--The people accept
+     Lowe's challenge--The feeling in the country.
+
+
+LORD JOHN, in his conduct of foreign affairs, acted with generosity
+towards Italy and with mingled firmness and patience towards America. It
+was a fortunate circumstance, for the great interests at stake on both
+sides of the Atlantic, that a man of so much judgment and right feeling
+was in power at a moment when prejudice was strong and passion ran high.
+Grote, who was by no means consumed with enthusiasm for the Palmerston
+Government, did not conceal his admiration of Lord John's sagacity at
+this crisis. 'The perfect neutrality of England in the destructive civil
+war now raging in America appears to me almost a phenomenon in political
+history. No such forbearance has been shown during the political history
+of the last two centuries. It is the single case in which the English
+Government and public, generally so meddlesome, have displayed most
+prudent and commendable forbearance in spite of great temptations to
+the contrary.' Lord John had opinions, and the courage of them; but at
+the same time he showed himself fully alive to the fact that no greater
+calamity could possibly overtake the English-speaking race than a war
+between England and the United States.
+
+Europe was filled at the beginning of 1863 with tidings of a renewed
+Polish revolt. Russia provoked the outbreak by the stern measures which
+had been taken in the previous year to repress the growing discontent of
+the people. The conspiracy was too widespread and too deep-rooted for
+Alexander II. to deal with, except by concessions to national sentiment,
+which he was not prepared to make, and, therefore, he fell back on
+despotic use of power. All able-bodied men suspected of revolutionary
+tendencies were marked out for service in the Russian army, and in this
+way, in Lord John's words, the 'so-called conscription was turned into a
+proscription.' The lot was made to fall on all political suspects, who
+were to be condemned for life to follow the hated Russian flag. The
+result was not merely armed resistance, but civil war. Poland, in her
+struggle for liberty, was joined by Lithuania; but Prussia came to the
+help of the Czar, and the protests of England, France, and Austria were
+of no avail. Before the year ended the dreams of self-government in
+Poland, after months of bloodshed and cruelty, were again ruthlessly
+dispelled.
+
+  [Sidenote: BISMARCK SHOWS HIS HAND]
+
+One diplomatic difficulty followed another in quick succession. Bismarck
+was beginning to move the pawns on the chess-board of Europe. He had
+conciliated Russia by taking sides with her against the Poles in spite
+of the attitude of London, Paris, and Vienna. He feared the spirit of
+insurrection would spread to the Poles in Prussia, and had no sympathy
+with the aspirations of oppressed nationalities. His policy was to make
+Prussia strong--if need be by 'blood and iron'--so that she might become
+mistress of Germany. The death of Frederick VII. of Denmark provoked a
+fresh crisis and revived in an acute form the question of succession to
+the duchies of Schleswig-Holstein. The Treaty of London in 1852 was
+supposed to have settled the question, and its terms had been accepted
+by Austria and Prussia. The integrity of Denmark was recognised, and
+Prince Christian of Glucksburg was accepted as heir-presumptive of the
+reigning king. The German Diet did not regard this arrangement as
+binding, and the feeling in the duchies themselves, especially in
+Holstein, was against the claims of Denmark. But the Hereditary Prince
+Frederick of Augustenburg disputed the right of Christian IX. to the
+Duchies, and Bismarck induced Austria to join Prussia in the occupation
+of the disputed territory.
+
+It is impossible to enter here into the merits of the quarrel, much less
+to describe the course of the struggle or the complicated diplomatic
+negotiations which grew out of it. Denmark undoubtedly imagined that the
+energetic protest of the English Government against her dismemberment
+would not end in mere words. The language used by both Lord Palmerston
+and Lord John Russell was of a kind to encourage the idea of the
+adoption, in the last extremity, of another policy than that of
+non-intervention. Bismarck, on the other hand, it has been said with
+truth, had taken up the cause of Schleswig-Holstein, not in the interest
+of its inhabitants, but in the interests of Germany, and by Germany he
+meant the Government of Berlin and the House of Hohenzollern. He
+represented not merely other ideas, but other methods than those which
+prevailed with statesmen who were old enough to recall the wars of
+Napoleon and the partition of Europe to which they gave rise. It
+must be admitted that England did not show to advantage in the
+Schleswig-Holstein difficulty, in spite of the soundness of her
+counsels; and Bismarck's triumph in the affair was as complete as the
+policy on which it was based was bold and adroit. Lord Palmerston and
+Lord John were embarrassed on the one hand by the apathy of Russia and
+France and on the other by the cautious, not to say timid, attitude of
+their own colleagues. 'As to Cabinets,' wrote Lord Palmerston, with dry
+humour, in reply to a note in which Lord John hinted that if the Prime
+Minister and himself had been given a free hand they could have kept
+Austria from war with Denmark, 'if we had had colleagues like those who
+sat in Pitt's Cabinet, such as Westmoreland and others, or such men as
+those who were with Peel, like Goulburn and Hardinge, you and I might
+have had our own way in most things. But when, as is now the case, able
+men fill every department, such men will have opinions and hold to them.
+Unfortunately, they are often too busy with their own department to
+follow up foreign questions so as to be fully masters of them, and their
+conclusions are generally on the timid side of what might be the
+best.'[41]
+
+  [Sidenote: AS SCHOOLMASTER ABROAD]
+
+Lord John wrote to Foreign Courts--was Mr. Bagehot's shrewd
+criticism--much in the same manner as he was accustomed to speak in the
+House of Commons. In other words, he used great plainness of speech,
+and, because of the very desire to make his meaning clear, he, was
+occasionally indiscreetly explicit and even brusque. Sometimes it
+happened that the intelligent foreigner grew critical at Lord John's
+expense. Count Vitzthum, for example, laid stress on the fact that Lord
+John 'looked on the British Constitution as an inimitable masterpiece,'
+which less-favoured nations ought not only to admire but adopt, if they
+wished to advance and go forward in the direction of liberty,
+prosperity, and peace. There was just enough truth in such assertions to
+render them amusing, though not enough to give them a sting. There were
+times when Lord John was the 'stormy petrel' of foreign politics, but
+there never was a time when he ceased to labour in season and out for
+what he believed to be the honour of England. 'I do not believe that any
+English foreign statesman, who does his duty faithfully by his own
+countrymen in difficult circumstances, can escape the blame of foreign
+statesmen,' were his own words, and he assuredly came in for his full
+share of abuse in Europe. One of Lord John Russell's subordinates at the
+Foreign Office, well known and distinguished in the political life of
+to-day, declares that Lord John, like Lord Clarendon, was accustomed to
+write many drafts of despatches with his own hand, but as a rule did not
+go with equal minuteness into the detail of the work. It sometimes
+happened that he would take sudden resolutions without adequate
+consideration of the points involved; but he would always listen
+patiently to objections, and when convinced that he was wrong was
+perfectly willing to modify his opinion. In most cases, however, Lord
+John did not make up his mind without due reflection, and under such
+circumstances he showed no vacillation. No tidings from abroad, however
+startling or unpleasant, seemed able to disturb his equanimity. He was
+an extremely considerate chief, but, though always willing to listen to
+his subordinates, kept his own counsel and seldom took them much into
+his confidence.
+
+  [Sidenote: COBDEN AND PALMERSTON]
+
+The year 1865 was rendered memorable both in England and America by the
+death of statesmen of the first rank. In the spring, that great master
+of reason and economic reform, Richard Cobden, died in London, after a
+few days' illness, in the prime of life; and almost before the nation
+realised the greatness of such a loss, tidings came across the Atlantic
+that President Abraham Lincoln had been assassinated at Washington, in
+the hour of triumph, by a cowardly fanatic. The summer in England was
+made restless by a General Election. Though Bright denounced Lord
+Palmerston, and Mr. Gladstone lost his seat at Oxford, to stand
+'unmuzzled' a few days later before the electors of South-West
+Lancashire, the predicted Conservative reaction was not an accomplished
+fact. Lord Palmerston's ascendency in the country, though diminished,
+was still great, and the magic of his name carried the election. 'It is
+clear,' wrote Lord John to the plucky octogenarian Premier, when the
+latter, some time before the contest, made a fighting speech in the
+country, 'that your popularity is a plant of hardy growth and deep
+roots.' Quite suddenly, in the spring of 1865, Lord Palmerston began to
+look as old as his years, and as the summer slipped past, it became
+apparent that the buoyant elasticity of temperament had vanished. On
+October 18 the great Minister died in harness, and Lord John Russell,
+who was only eight years younger, was called to the helm.
+
+The two men, more than once in mid-career, had serious
+misunderstandings, and envious lips had done their best to widen their
+differences. It is pleasant to think now that Palmerston and Russell
+were on cordial and intimate terms during the critical six years, when
+the former held for the last time the post of First Minister of the
+Crown, and the latter was responsible for Foreign Affairs. It is true
+that they were not of one mind on the question of Parliamentary Reform;
+but Lord John, after 1860 at least, was content to waive that question,
+for he saw that the nation, as well as the Prime Minister, was opposed
+to a forward movement in that direction, and the strain of war abroad
+and famine at home hindered the calm discussion of constitutional
+problems. Lord Lyttelton used to say that Palmerston was regarded as a
+Whig because he belonged to Lord Grey's Government, and had always
+thrown in his lot with that statesman's political posterity. At the same
+time, Lord Lyttelton held--even as late as 1865--that a 'more genuine
+Conservative, especially in home affairs, it would not be easy to find.'
+Palmerston gave Lord John Russell his active support in the attitude
+which the latter took up at the Foreign Office on all the great
+questions which arose, sometimes in a sudden and dramatic form, at a
+period when the power of Napoleon III., in spite of theatrical display,
+was declining, and Bismarck was shaping with consummate skill the
+fortunes of Germany.
+
+  [Sidenote: PRIME MINISTER]
+
+The day after Palmerston's death her Majesty wrote in the following
+terms to Lord John: 'The melancholy news of Lord Palmerston's death
+reached the Queen last night. This is another link with the past that is
+broken, and the Queen feels deeply in her desolate and isolated
+condition how, one by one, tried servants and advisers are taken from
+her.... The Queen can turn to no other than Lord Russell, an old and
+tried friend of hers, to undertake the arduous duties of Prime
+Minister, and to carry on the Government.' Such a command was met by
+Lord John with the response that he was willing to act if his colleagues
+were prepared to serve under him. Mr. Gladstone's position in the
+country and in the councils of the Liberal Party had been greatly
+strengthened by his rejection at Oxford, and by the subsequent boldness
+and fervour of his speeches in Lancashire. He forestalled Lord John's
+letter by offering, in a frank and generous spirit, to serve under the
+old Liberal leader. Mr. Gladstone declared that he was quite willing to
+take his chance under Lord John's 'banner,' and to continue his services
+as Chancellor of the Exchequer. This offer was of course accepted, and
+Mr. Gladstone also took Lord Palmerston's place as Leader of the House
+of Commons. Lord Cranworth became Lord Chancellor, Lord Clarendon took
+Lord John's place at the Foreign Office, the Duke of Argyll and Sir
+George Grey resumed their old positions as Lord Privy Seal and Home
+Secretary. After a short interval, Mr. Goschen and Lord Hartington were
+raised to Cabinet rank; while Mr. Forster, Lord Dufferin, and Mr.
+Stansfeld became respectively Under-Secretaries for the Colonies, War,
+and India; but Lord John, in spite of strong pressure, refused to admit
+Mr. Lowe to his Cabinet.
+
+At the Lord Mayor's banquet in November, Lord John took occasion to pay
+a warm tribute to Palmerston: 'It is a great loss indeed, because he was
+a man qualified to conduct the country successfully through all the
+vicissitudes of war and peace.' He declared that Lord Palmerston
+displayed resolution, resource, promptitude, and vigour in the conduct
+of foreign affairs, showed himself also able to maintain internal
+tranquillity, and, by extending commercial relationships, to give to
+the country the 'whole fruits of the blessings of peace.' He added that
+Lord Palmerston's heart never ceased to beat for the honour of England,
+and that his mind comprehended and his experience embraced the whole
+field which is covered by the interests of the nation.
+
+The new Premier made no secret of his conviction that, if the Ministry
+was to last, it must be either frankly Liberal or frankly Conservative.
+As he had the chief voice in the matter, and was bent on a new Reform
+Bill, it became, after certain changes had been effected, much more
+progressive than was possible under Palmerston. Parliament was opened on
+February 1, 1866, by the Queen in person, for the first time since the
+death of the Prince Consort, and the chief point of interest in the
+Speech from the Throne was the guarded promise of a Reform Bill. The
+attention of Parliament was to be called to information concerning the
+right of voting with a view to such improvements as might tend to
+strengthen our free institutions and conduce to the public welfare. Lord
+John determined to make haste slowly, for some of his colleagues were
+hardly inclined to make haste at all, since they shared Lord
+Palmerston's views on the subject and distrusted the Radical cry which
+had arisen since the industrial revolution. The Premier and Mr.
+Gladstone--for they were a kind of Committee of Two--were content for
+the moment to propose a revision of the franchise, and to leave in
+ambush for another session the vexed question involved in a
+redistribution of seats. 'It was decided,' states Lord John, 'that it
+would be best to separate the question of the franchise from that of the
+disfranchisement of boroughs. After much inquiry, we agreed to fix the
+suffrages of boroughs at an occupation of 7_l._ value.'
+
+  [Sidenote: THE CAVE OF ADULLAM]
+
+The House of Commons was densely packed when Mr. Gladstone introduced
+the measure on March 12, but, in spite of his powers of exposition and
+infectious enthusiasm, the Government proposals fell undeniably flat.
+Broadly stated, they were as follows. The county franchise was to be
+dropped to 14_l._, and that of the borough, as already stated, to half
+that amount, whilst compound householders and lodgers paying 10_l._ a
+year were to possess votes. It was computed at the time that the measure
+would add four hundred thousand new voters to the existing lists, and
+that two hundred thousand of these would belong to what Lord John termed
+the 'best of the working classes.' Mr. Bright, and those whom he
+represented, not only in Birmingham, but also in every great city and
+town in the land, gave their support to the Government, on the principle
+that this was at least an 'honest' measure, and that half a loaf,
+moreover, was better than no bread. At the same time the country was not
+greatly stirred one way or another by the scheme, though it stirred to
+panic-stricken indignation men of the stamp of Mr. Lowe, Mr. Horsman,
+Lord Elcho, Earl Grosvenor, Lord Dunkellin, and other so-called, but
+very indifferent, Liberals, who had attached themselves to the party
+under Lord Palmerston's happy-go-lucky and easy auspices. These were the
+men who presently distinguished themselves, and extinguished the Russell
+Administration by their ridiculous fear of the democracy. They retired
+into what Mr. Bright termed the 'political cave of Adullam,' and, as
+Lord John said, the 'timid, the selfish, and those who were both selfish
+and timid' joined the sorry company.
+
+The Conservatives saw their opportunity, and, being human, took it. Lord
+Grosvenor brought forward an amendment calling attention to the omission
+of a redistribution scheme. A debate, which occupied eight nights,
+followed, and when it was in progress, Mr. Gladstone, in defending his
+own conduct as Leader of the House, incidentally paid an impressive
+tribute to the memorable and protracted services in the Commons of Lord
+John:--
+
+'If, sir, I had been the man who, at the very outset of his career,
+wellnigh half a century ago, had with an almost prophetic foresight
+fastened upon two great groups of questions, those great historic
+questions relating to the removal of civil disabilities for religious
+opinions and to Parliamentary Reform; if I had been the man who, having
+thus in his early youth, in the very first stage of his political
+career, fixed upon those questions and made them his own, then went on
+to prosecute them with sure and unflagging instinct until the triumph in
+each case had been achieved; if I had been the man whose name had been
+associated for forty years, and often in the very first place of
+eminence, with every element of beneficent legislation--in other words,
+had I been Earl Russell, then there might have been some temptation to
+pass into excess on the exercise of authority, and some excuse for the
+endeavour to apply to this House a pressure in itself unjustifiable.
+But, sir, I am not Earl Russell.'
+
+In the end, Lord Grosvenor's amendment was lost by a majority equal only
+to the fingers of one hand. Such an unmistakeable expression of opinion
+could not be disregarded, and the Government brought in a Redistribution
+of Seats Bill at the beginning of May. They proposed that thirty
+boroughs having a population of less than eight thousand should be
+deprived of one member, whilst nineteen other seats were obtained by
+joint representation in smaller boroughs. After running the gauntlet of
+much hostile criticism, the bill was read a second time, but the
+Government were forced to refer it and the franchise scheme to a
+committee, which was empowered to deal with both schemes. Lord Stanley,
+Mr. Ward Hunt, and Mr. Walpole assailed with successive motions, which
+were more or less narrowly rejected, various points in the Government
+proposals, and the opposition grew more and more stubborn. At length
+Lord Dunkellin (son of the Earl of Clanricarde) moved to substitute
+rating for rental in the boroughs; and the Government, in a House of six
+hundred and nineteen members, were defeated on June 18 by a majority of
+eleven. The excitement which met this announcement was extraordinary,
+and when it was followed next day by tidings that the Russell
+Administration was at an end, those who thought that the country cared
+little about the question found themselves suddenly disillusioned.
+
+  [Sidenote: FALL OF THE RUSSELL GOVERNMENT]
+
+Burke declared that there were moments when it became necessary for the
+people themselves to interpose on behalf of their rights. The overthrow
+of the Russell Administration took the nation by surprise. Three days
+after Lord John's resignation there was a historic gathering in
+Trafalgar Square. In his speech announcing the resignation of his
+Ministry, Lord John warned Parliament about the danger of alienating the
+sympathy of the people from the Crown and the aristocracy. He reminded
+the Peers that universal suffrage prevailed not only in the United
+States but in our own Colonies; and he took his stand in the light of
+the larger needs of the new era, on the assertion of Lord Grey at the
+time of the Reform Bill that only a large measure was a safe measure.
+'We have made the attempt,' added Lord John, 'sincerely and anxiously to
+perform the duties of reconciling that which is due to the Constitution
+of the country with that which is due to the growing intelligence, the
+increasing wealth, and the manifest forbearance, virtue, and order of
+the people.' He protested against a niggardly and ungenerous treatment
+of so momentous a question.
+
+Lord Russell's words were not lost on Mr. Bradlaugh. He made them the
+text of his speech to the twenty thousand people who assembled in
+Trafalgar Square, and afterwards walked in procession to give Mr.
+Gladstone an ovation in Carlton House Terrace. About three weeks later
+another great demonstration was announced to take place in Hyde Park,
+under the auspices of the Reform League. The authorities refused to
+allow the gathering, and, after a formal protest, the meeting was held
+at the former rendezvous. The mixed multitude who had followed the
+procession to the Park gates took the repulse less calmly, with the
+result that, as much by accident as by design, the Park railings for the
+space of half a mile were thrown down. Force is no remedy, but a little
+of it is sometimes a good object-lesson, and the panic which this
+unpremeditated display occasioned amongst the valiant defenders of law
+and order was unmistakeable.
+
+  [Sidenote: 'DISHING THE WHIGS']
+
+Mr. Lowe had flouted the people, and had publicly asserted that those
+who were without the franchise did not really care to possess it.
+Forty-three other so-called Liberals in the House of Commons were
+apparently of the same way of thinking, for the Russell Administration
+was defeated by forty-four 'Liberal' votes. This in itself shows that
+Lord John, up to the hour in which he was driven from power, was far in
+advance of one section of his followers. The great towns, and more
+particularly Birmingham, Manchester, and Leeds, promptly took up the
+challenge; and in those three centres alone half a million of people
+assembled to make energetic protest against the contemptuous dismissal
+of their claims. The fall of the Park railings appealed to the fear of
+the classes, and aroused the enthusiasm of the masses. It is scarcely
+too much to say that if they had been demolished a month earlier the
+Russell Government would have carried its Reform proposals, and Disraeli
+would have lost his chance of 'dishing the Whigs.' The defeat of Lord
+John Russell was a virtual triumph. He was driven from power by a rally
+of reactionary forces at the very moment when he was fighting the battle
+of the people.[42] The Tories were only able to hold their own by
+borrowing a leaf from his book, and bringing in a more drastic measure
+of reform.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[41] _Life and Correspondence of Viscount Palmerston_, by the Hon.
+Evelyn Ashley, vol. ii. p. 438.
+
+[42] In a letter written in the spring of 1867, Lord Houghton refers to
+Mr. Gladstone as being 'quite awed' for the moment by the 'diabolical
+cleverness of Dizzy.' He adds: 'Delane says the extreme party for Reform
+are now the grandees, and that the Dukes are quite ready to follow Beale
+into Hyde Park.'--_The Life, Letters, and Friendships of Lord Houghton_,
+by Sir Wemyss Reid, vol. ii. pp. 174-5.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+OUT OF HARNESS
+
+1867-1874
+
+     Speeches in the House of Lords--Leisured years--Mr. Lecky's
+     reminiscences--The question of the Irish Church--The Independence
+     of Belgium--Lord John on the claims of the Vatican--Letters to Mr.
+     Chichester Fortescue--His scheme for the better government of
+     Ireland--Lord Selborne's estimate of Lord John's public
+     career--Frank admissions--As his private secretaries saw him.
+
+
+LORD JOHN never relinquished that high sense of responsibility which was
+conspicuous in his attitude as a Minister of the Crown. Although out of
+harness from the summer of 1866 to his death, twelve years later, he
+retained to the last, undiminished, the sense of public duty. He took,
+not merely a keen interest, but an appreciable share in public affairs;
+and some of the speeches which he delivered in the House of Lords after
+his retirement from office show how vigorous and acute his intellect
+remained, and how wide and generous were his sympathies. The leisured
+years which came to Lord John after the fall of the second Russell
+Administration enabled him to renew old friendships, and gave him the
+opportunity for making the acquaintance of distinguished men of a
+younger generation. His own historical studies--the literary passion of
+a lifetime--made him keenly appreciative of the work of others in that
+direction, and kindred tastes drew him into intimate relations with Mr.
+W. E. H. Lecky. Few of the reminiscences, great or small, which have
+been written for these pages, can compare in interest with the following
+statement by so philosophic a critic of public affairs and so acute a
+judge of men:--
+
+  [Sidenote: MR. LECKY'S REMINISCENCES]
+
+'It was, I think, in 1866, and in the house of Dean Milman, that I had
+the privilege of being introduced to Lord Russell. He at once received
+me with a warmth and kindness I can never forget, and from this time
+till near the end of his life I saw him very frequently. His Ministerial
+career had just terminated, but I could trace no failure in his powers,
+and, whatever difference of opinion there might be about his public
+career, no one, I believe, who ever came in contact with him failed to
+recognise his singular charm in private life. His conversation differed
+from that of some of the more illustrious of his contemporaries. It was
+not a copious and brilliant stream of words, dazzling, astonishing, or
+overpowering. It had no tendency to monologue, and it was not remarkable
+for any striking originalities either of language, metaphor, or thought.
+Few men steered more clear of paradox, and the charm of his talk lay
+mainly in his admirable terseness and clearness of expression, in the
+skill with which, by a few happy words, he could tell a story, or etch
+out a character, or condense an argument or statement. Beyond all men I
+have ever known, he had the gift of seizing rapidly in every question
+the central argument, the essential fact or distinction; and of all his
+mental characteristics, quickness and soundness of judgment seemed to me
+the most conspicuous. I have never met with anyone with whom it was so
+possible to discuss with profit many great questions in a short time. No
+one, too, could know him intimately without being impressed with his
+high sense of honour, with his transparent purity of motive, with the
+fundamental kindliness of his disposition, with the remarkable modesty
+of his estimate of his own past. He was eminently tolerant of difference
+of opinion, and he had in private life an imperturbable sweetness of
+temper that set those about him completely at their ease, and helped
+much to make them talk their best. Few men had more anecdotes, and no
+one told them better--tersely, accurately, with a quiet, subdued humour,
+with a lightness of touch which I should not have expected from his
+writings. In addition to the experiences of a long and eventful life,
+his mind was stored with the anecdotes of the brilliant Whig society of
+Holland House, of which he was one of the last repositories. It is much
+to be regretted that he did not write down his "Recollections" till a
+period of life when his once admirable memory was manifestly failing. He
+was himself sadly conscious of the failure. "I used never to confuse my
+facts," he once said to me; "I now find that I am beginning to do so."
+
+'He has mentioned in his "Recollections" as one of the great felicities
+of his life that he retained the friendship of his leading opponents,
+and his private conversation fully supported this view. Of Sir Robert
+Peel he always spoke with a special respect, and it was, I think, a
+matter of peculiar pleasure to him that in his old age his family was
+closely connected by marriage with that of his illustrious rival. His
+friendship with Lord Derby, which began when they were colleagues, was
+unbroken by many contests. He spoke of him, however, as a man of
+brilliant talent, who had not the judgment or the character suited for
+the first place; and he maintained that he had done much better both
+under Lord Grey and under Sir Robert Peel than as Prime Minister.
+Between Lord Russell and Disraeli there was, I believe, on both sides
+much kindly feeling, though no two men could be less like, and though
+there was much in Disraeli's ways of looking at things that must have
+been peculiarly trying to the Whig mind. Lord Russell told me that he
+once described him in Parliament by quoting the lines of Dryden:--
+
+    'He was not one on picking work to dwell.
+    He fagotted his notions as they fell;
+    And if they rhymed and rattled, all was well.'
+
+  [Sidenote: HIS EARLY CHIEFS]
+
+'Of his early chiefs, he used to speak with most reverence of Lord Grey.
+Lord Melbourne, he said, greatly injured his Government by the manner in
+which he treated deputations. He never could resist the temptation of
+bantering and snubbing them. Two men who flourished in his youth
+surpassed, Lord Russell thought, in eloquence any of the later
+generation. They were Canning and Plunket, and as an orator the greater
+of these was Plunket. Among the statesmen of a former generation, he had
+an especial admiration for Walpole, and was accustomed to maintain that
+he was a much greater statesman than Pitt. His judgment, indeed, of Pitt
+always seemed to me much warped by that adoration of Fox which in the
+early years of the century was almost an article of religion in Whig
+circles. Lord Russell had also the true Whig reverence for William III.,
+and, I am afraid, he was by no means satisfied with some pages I wrote
+about that sovereign.
+
+'Speaking of Lord Palmerston, I once said to him that I was struck with
+the small net result in legislation which he accomplished considering
+the many years he was in power. "But during all these years," Lord
+Russell replied, "he kept the honour of England very high; and I think
+that a great thing."
+
+'The Imperialist sentiment was one of the deepest in his nature, and few
+things exasperated him more than the school which was advocating the
+surrender of India and the Colonies. "When I was young," he once said to
+me, "it was thought the work of a wise statesman that he had turned a
+small kingdom into a great empire. In my old age it seems to be thought
+the object of a statesman to turn a great empire into a small kingdom."
+He thought we had made a grave mistake, when conceding self-government
+to the Colonies, in not reserving the waste lands and free trade with
+the Mother Country; and he considered that the right of veto on
+legislation, which had been reserved, ought to have been always
+exercised (as he said it was under Lord Grey) when duties were imposed
+on English goods. In Irish politics he greatly blamed Canning, who
+agreed with the Whigs about Catholic Emancipation, though he differed
+from them about Reform. The former question, he said, was then by far
+the more pressing, and if Canning had insisted on making it a
+first-class ministerial question he would have carried it in conjunction
+with the Whigs. "My pride in Irish measures," he once wrote to me, "is
+in the Poor Law, which I designed, framed, and twice carried." Like
+Peel, he strongly maintained that the priests ought to have been paid.
+He would gladly have seen the principle of religious equality in Ireland
+carried to its furthest consequences, and local government considerably
+extended; but he told me that any statesman who proposed to repeal the
+Union ought to be impeached, and in his "Recollections," and in one of
+his published letters to the present Lord Carlingford, he has expressed
+in the strongest terms his inflexible hostility to Home Rule.
+
+  [Sidenote: POLITICAL APPREHENSIONS]
+
+'Though the steadiest of Whigs, Lord Russell was by no means an
+uncompromising democrat. The great misfortune, he said, of America was
+that the influence of Jefferson had eclipsed that of Washington. One of
+her chief advantages was that the Western States furnished a wide and
+harmless field for restless energy and ambition. In England he was very
+anxious that progress should move on the lines of the past, and he was
+under the impression that statesmen of the present generation studied
+English history less than their predecessors. He was one of the earliest
+advocates of the Minority Vote, and he certainly looked with very
+considerable apprehension to the effects of the Democratic Reform Bill
+of 1867. He said to me that he feared there was too much truth in the
+saying of one of his friends that "the concessions of the Whigs were
+once concessions to intelligence, but now concessions to ignorance."
+
+'When the Education Act was carried, he was strongly in favour of the
+introduction of the Bible, accompanied by purely undenominational
+teaching. This was, I think, one of his last important declarations on
+public policy. I recollect a scathing article in the "Saturday Review,"
+demonstrating the absurdity of supposing that such teaching was
+possible. But the people of England took a different view. The great
+majority of the School Boards adopted the system which Lord Russell
+recommended, and it prevailed with almost perfect harmony for more than
+twenty years.
+
+'In foreign politics he looked with peculiar pleasure to the services he
+had rendered to the Italian cause. Italy was always very dear to him. He
+had many valued friends there, and he spoke Italian (as he also did
+Spanish) with much fluency. Among my most vivid recollections are those
+of some happy days I spent with him at San Remo.'
+
+Two years before the disestablishment of the Irish Church, Lord John
+Russell, knowing how great a stumbling-block its privileges were to the
+progress of the people, moved for a Commission to inquire into the
+expenditure of its revenues. The investigation was, however, staved off,
+and the larger question was, in consequence, hastened. He supported Mr.
+Gladstone in a powerful speech in 1870, and showed himself in
+substantial agreement with Mr. Forster over his great scheme of
+education, though he thought that some of its provisions bore heavily
+upon Nonconformists. The outbreak of war between France and Germany
+seemed at first to threaten the interests of England, and Lord John
+introduced a Militia Bill, which was only withdrawn when the Government
+promised to take action. The interests of Belgium were threatened by the
+struggle on the Continent, and Lord John took occasion to remind the
+nation that we were bound to defend that country, and had guaranteed by
+treaty to uphold its independence:--
+
+'... I am persuaded that if it is once manfully declared that England
+means to stand by her treaties, to perform her engagements--that her
+honour and her interest would allow nothing else--such a declaration
+would check the greater part of these intrigues, and that neither France
+nor Prussia would wish to add a second enemy to the formidable foe which
+each has to meet.... When the choice is between honour and infamy, I
+cannot doubt that her Majesty's Government will pursue the course of
+honour, the only one worthy of the British people.... I consider that if
+England shrank from the performance of her engagements--if she acted in
+a faithless manner with respect to this matter--her extinction as a
+Great Power must very soon follow.'
+
+  [Sidenote: ATTACKS THE CLAIMS OF PIUS IX.]
+
+Lord John's vigorous protest did not go unheeded, and the King of the
+Belgians sent him an autograph letter in acknowledgment of his generous
+and opportune words. On the other hand, Lord John Russell resented the
+determination of Mr. Gladstone to submit the 'Alabama' claims to
+arbitration, and also opposed the adoption of the Ballot and the
+abolition of purchase in the Army. The conflict which arose in the
+autumn of 1872 between the Emperor of Germany and Pius IX. was a matter
+which appealed to all lovers of liberty of conscience. Lord John, though
+now in his eighty second year, rose promptly to the occasion, and
+promised to preside at a great public meeting in London, called to
+protest against the claims of the Vatican. At the last moment, though
+the spirit was willing, the flesh was weak, and yielding to medical
+advice, he contented himself with a written expression of sympathy. This
+was read to the meeting, and brought him the thanks of the Kaiser and
+Prince Bismarck. Lord John's letters, declared Mr. Kinglake seem to
+carry with them the very ring of his voice; and the one which was
+written from Pembroke Lodge on January 19, 1874, was full of the old
+fire of enthusiasm and the resolution which springs from clean-cut
+convictions:--'I hasten to declare with all friends of freedom, and I
+trust with the great majority of the English nation, that I could no
+longer call myself a lover of civil and religious liberty were I not to
+proclaim my sympathy with the Emperor of Germany in the noble struggle
+in which he is engaged.'
+
+Lord John Russell's pamphlets, published in 1868-9--in the shape of
+letters to Mr. Chichester Fortescue--show that in old age and out of
+office he was still anxious to see justice done to the legitimate
+demands of Ireland. He declared that he witnessed with alarm the attempt
+to involve the whole Irish nation in a charge of disaffection,
+conspiracy, and treason. He contended that Englishmen ought to seek to
+rid their minds of exaggerated fears and national animosities, so that
+they might be in a position to consider patiently all the facts of the
+case. 'We ought to weigh with care the complaints that are made, and
+examine with still more care and circumspection the remedies that are
+proposed, lest in our attempts to cure the disease we give the patient a
+new and more dangerous disorder.' In his 'Life of Fox' Lord John Russell
+maintained that the wisest system that could be devised for the
+conciliation of Ireland had yet to be discovered; and in his third
+letter to Mr. Chichester Fortescue, published in January 1869, he made a
+remarkable allusion to Mr. Gladstone as a statesman who might yet seek
+to 'perform a permanent and immortal service to his country' by
+endeavouring to reconcile England and Ireland. If, added Lord John, Mr.
+Gladstone should 'undertake the heroic task of riveting the union of the
+three kingdoms by affection, even more than by statute; if he should
+endeavour to efface the stains which proscription and prejudice have
+affixed on the fair fame of Great Britain, then, though he may not
+reunite his party ... he will be enrolled among the noblest of England's
+statesmen, and will have laid the foundations of a great work, which
+either he or a younger generation will not fail to accomplish.'
+
+  [Sidenote: IRISH PROPOSALS]
+
+The proposals Lord John Russell made in the columns of the 'Times,' on
+August 9, 1872, for the better government of Ireland have been claimed
+as a tentative scheme of Home Rule. 'It appears to me, that if Ireland
+were to be allowed to elect a representative assembly for each of its
+four provinces of Leinster, Ulster, Munster, and Connaught, and if
+Scotland in a similar manner were to be divided into Lowlands and
+Highlands, having for each province a representative assembly, the
+local wants of Ireland and Scotland might be better provided for than
+they are at present.' Lord John went on to say that the Imperial
+Parliament might still retain its hold over local legislation, and added
+that it was his purpose to explain in a pamphlet a policy which he
+thought might be adopted to the 'satisfaction of the nation at large.'
+The pamphlet, however, remained unwritten, and the scheme in its
+fulness, therefore, was never explained. Evidently Lord Russell's mind
+was changing in its attitude towards the Irish problem; but, as Mr.
+Lecky points out in the personal reminiscences with which he has
+enriched these pages, though in advance of the opinion of the hour he
+was not prepared to accept the principle of Home Rule. Although Mr.
+Lecky does not mention the year in which Lord John declared that any
+statesman who 'proposed to repeal the Union ought to be impeached,' Lord
+Russell himself in his published 'Recollections' admits that he saw no
+hope that Ireland would be well and quietly governed by the adoption of
+Home Rule. In fact, he makes it quite clear that he was in sympathy with
+the view which Lord Althorp expressed when O'Connell demanded the repeal
+of the Union--namely, that such a request amounted to a dismemberment of
+the Empire. On the other hand, Lord John was wont in his latest years to
+discuss the question in all its bearings with an Irish representative
+who held opposite views. There can be no doubt that he was feeling his
+way to a more generous interpretation of the problem than that which is
+commonly attributed to him. His own words on this point are: 'I should
+have been very glad if the leaders of popular opinion in Ireland had so
+modified and mollified their demand for Home Rule as to make it
+consistent with the unity of the Empire.' His mind, till within a few
+years of his death, was clear, and did not stand still. Whether he would
+have gradually become a Home Ruler is open to question, but in 1874 he
+had gone quite as far in that direction as Mr. Gladstone.
+
+Lord John, though the most loyal of subjects, made it plain throughout
+his career that he was not in the least degree a courtier. His nephew,
+Mr. George Russell, after stating that Lord John supported, with voice
+and vote, Mr. Hume's motion for the revision of the Civil List under
+George IV., and urged in vigorous terms the restoration of Queen
+Caroline's name to the Liturgy, as well as subscribing to compensate an
+officer, friendly to the Queen, whom the King's animosity had driven
+from the army, adds: 'It may well be that some tradition of this early
+independence, or some playful desire to test the fibre of Whiggery by
+putting an extreme case, led in much later years to an embarrassing
+question by an illustrious personage, and gave the opportunity for an
+apt reply. "Is it true, Lord John, that you hold that a subject is
+justified, under certain circumstances, in disobeying his Sovereign's
+will?" "Well," I said, "speaking to a Sovereign of the House of Hanover,
+I can only say that I suppose it is!"'[43]
+
+  [Sidenote: IMPULSIVE BUT CHIVALROUS]
+
+Looking back in the autumn of last year on the length and breadth of
+Earl Russell's public career, the late Earl Selborne sent for these
+pages the following words, which gather up his general, and, alas! final
+impressions of his old friend and colleague: 'I have tried to imagine in
+what words an ancient Roman panegyrist might have summed up such a
+public and private character as that of Lord Russell. "Animosa
+juventus," and "jucunda senectus," would not inaptly have described his
+earlier and his latter days. But for the life of long and active public
+service which came between, it is difficult to find any phrase equally
+pointed and characteristic. Always patriotic, always faithful to the
+traditions associated with his name, there was, as Sydney Smith said,
+nothing which he had not courage to undertake. What he undertook he did
+energetically, and generally in a noble spirit; though sometimes
+yielding to too sudden impulses. As time went on, the generosity and
+sagacity of his nature gained strength; and, though he had not always
+been patient when the control of affairs was in other hands, a
+successful rival found in him the most loyal of colleagues. Any estimate
+of his character would be imperfect which omitted to recognise either
+his appreciative and sympathetic disposition towards those who differed
+from him, even on points of importance, when he believed their
+convictions to be sincere and their conduct upright, or the rare dignity
+and magnanimity with which, after 1866, he retired from a great
+position, of which he was neither unambitious nor unworthy, under no
+pressure from without, and before age or infirmity had made it necessary
+for him to do so.'
+
+Lord Selborne's allusion to Lord John's sympathetic disposition to those
+who differed from him, even on points of importance, is borne out by the
+terms in which he referred to Lord Aberdeen in correspondence--which was
+published first in the 'Times,' and afterwards in a pamphlet--between
+himself and Sir Arthur Gordon over statements in the first edition of
+'Recollections and Suggestions.' Lord John admitted that, through lapse
+of memory, he had fallen into error, and that his words conveyed a wrong
+impression concerning Lord Aberdeen. He added: 'I believe no man has
+entered public life in my time more pure in his personal views, and
+more free from grasping ambition or selfish consideration. I am much
+grieved that anything I have written should be liable to an
+interpretation injurious to Lord Aberdeen.' It is pleasant in this
+connection to be able to cite a letter, written by Lord Aberdeen to the
+Duke of Bedford, when the Crimean War was happily only a memory. The
+Duke had told Lord Aberdeen that his brother admitted his mistake in
+leaving the Coalition Government in the way in which he did. Lord
+Aberdeen in his reply declared that he did not doubt that Lord John
+entered the Government on generous and high-minded motives, or that, in
+consequence of delay, he might have arrived at the conclusion that he
+was in a somewhat false position. Any appearance of lack of confidence
+in Lord John, Lord Aberdeen remarked, was 'entirely the effect of
+accident and never of intention.' He hints that he sometimes thought
+Lord John over-sensitive and even rash or impracticable. He adds: 'But
+these are trifles. We parted with expressions of mutual regard, which on
+my side were perfectly sincere, as I have no doubt they were on his.
+These expressions I am happy in having this opportunity to renew; as
+well as with my admiration of his great powers and noble impulses to
+assure you that I shall always feel a warm interest in his reputation
+and honour.' Lord Stanmore states that his father 'steadily maintained
+that Lord John was the proper head of the Liberal party, and never
+ceased to desire that he should succeed him as Prime Minister.' Rashness
+and impatience are hard sayings to one who looks steadily at the annals
+of the Coalition Government. Lord Aberdeen and the majority of his
+Cabinet, were, to borrow a phrase from Swift, 'huge idolators of delay.'
+Their policy of masterly inactivity was disastrous, and, though Lord
+John made a mistake in quitting the Ministry in face of a hostile vote
+of censure, his chief mistake arose from the 'generous and high-minded
+motives' which Lord Aberdeen attributes to him, and which led him to
+join the Coalition Government.
+
+  [Sidenote: RELATIONS WITH POLITICAL OPPONENTS]
+
+His personal relations with his political opponents, from the Duke of
+Wellington to Lord Salisbury, were cordial. His friendship with Lord
+Derby was intimate, and he visited him at Knowsley, and in his closing
+years he had much pleasant intercourse with Lord Salisbury at Dieppe.
+His association with Lord Beaconsfield was slight; but one of the
+kindest letters which Lady Russell received on the death of her husband
+was written by a statesman with whom Lord Russell had little in common.
+Sir Robert Peel, in spite of the encounters of party warfare, always
+maintained towards Lord John the most friendly attitude. 'The idea which
+the stranger or casual acquaintance,' states his brother-in-law and
+former private secretary, Mr. George Elliot, 'conceived of Lord Russell
+was very unlike the real man as seen in his own home or among his
+intimates. There he was lively, playful, and uniformily good-humoured,
+full of anecdote, and a good teller of a story.... In conversation he
+was easy and pleasant, and the reverse of disputatious. Even in the
+worst of his political difficulties--and he had some pretty hard trials
+in this way--he had the power of throwing off public cares for the time,
+and in his house retained his cheerfulness and good-humour.... In
+matters of business he was an easy master to serve, and the duties of
+his private secretary were light as compared to others in the same
+position. He never made work and never was fussy, and even at the
+busiest times never seemed in a hurry.... Large matters he never
+neglected, but the difficulty of the private secretary was to get him to
+attend to the trifling and unimportant ones with which he had chiefly
+to deal.'
+
+The Hon. Charles Gore, who was also private secretary to Lord John when
+the latter held the Home Office in the Melbourne Administration, gives
+in the following words his recollections: 'Often members of Parliament
+and others used to come into my room adjoining, after their interview
+with Lord John, looking, and seeming, much dissatisfied with their
+reception. His manner was cold and shy, and, even when he intended to
+comply with the request made, in his answer he rather implied no than
+yes. He often used to say to me that he liked to hear the laugh which
+came to him through the door which separated us, as proof that I had
+been able to soothe the disappointed feelings with which his interviewer
+had left him. As a companion, when not feeling shy, no one was more
+agreeable or full of anecdote than Lord John--simple in his manner,
+never assuming superiority, and always ready to listen to what others
+had to say.' This impression is confirmed by Sir Villiers Lister, who
+served under Lord John at the Foreign Office. He states that his old
+chief, whilst always quick to seize great problems, was somewhat
+inclined to treat the humdrum details of official life with fitful
+attention.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[43] _Contemporary Review_, vol. 56, p. 814.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+PEMBROKE LODGE
+
+1847-1878
+
+     Looking back--Society at Pembroke Lodge--Home life--The house and
+     its memories--Charles Dickens's speech at Liverpool--Literary
+     friendships--Lady Russell's description of her husband--A packet of
+     letters--His children's recollections--A glimpse of Carlyle--A
+     witty impromptu--Closing days--Mr. and Mrs. Gladstone--The jubilee
+     of the Repeal of the Test and Corporation Acts--'Punch' on the
+     'Golden Wedding'--Death--The Queen's letter--Lord Shaftesbury's
+     estimate of Lord John's career--His great qualities.
+
+
+PEACE with honour--a phrase which Lord John used long before Lord
+Beaconsfield made it famous--sums up the settled tranquillity and simple
+dignity of the life at Pembroke Lodge. No man was more entitled to rest
+on his laurels than Lord John Russell. He was in the House of Commons,
+and made his first proposals for Parliamentary redress, in the reign of
+George III. His great victory on behalf of the rights of conscience was
+won by the repeal of the Test and Corporation Acts in the reign of
+George IV. He had piloted the first Reform Bill through the storms of
+prejudice and passion which had assailed that great measure in the reign
+of William IV. He was Home Secretary when Queen Victoria's reign began,
+and since then he had served her Majesty and the nation with unwearied
+devotion for almost the life-time of a generation. He was Secretary for
+the Colonies during a period when the expansion of England brought
+delicate constitutional questions to the front, and was Minister of
+Foreign Affairs when struggling nationalities looked to England, and did
+not seek her help in vain. Twice Prime Minister in periods of storm and
+stress, he had left his mark, directly or indirectly, on the
+statute-book in much progressive legislation, and, in spite of mistakes
+in policy, had at length quitted office with the reputation of an honest
+and enlightened statesman.
+
+Peel at the age of fifty-eight had judged himself worthy of retirement;
+but Russell was almost seventy-four, and only his indomitable spirit had
+enabled him to hold his own in public life against uncertain health
+during the whole course of his career. In this respect, at least, Lord
+John possessed that 'strong patience which outwearies fate.' He was
+always delicate, and in his closing years he was accustomed to tell,
+with great glee, those about him an incident in his own experience,
+which happened when the century was entering its teens and he was just
+leaving his own. Three physicians were summoned in consultation, for his
+life appeared to be hanging on a thread. He described how they carefully
+thumped him, and put him through the usual ordeal. Then they looked
+extremely grave and retired to an adjoining room. The young invalid
+could hear them talking quite plainly, and dreaded their return with the
+sentence of death. Presently the conversation grew animated, and Lord
+John found, to his surprise, they were talking about anything in the
+world except himself. On coming back, all the advice they gave was that
+he ought to travel abroad for a time. It jumped with his mood, and he
+took it, and to the end of his days travel never failed to restore his
+energies.
+
+  [Sidenote: IN SYLVAN RETREAT]
+
+'For some years after his retirement from Ministerial life,' says Mr.
+Lecky, 'he gathered round him at Pembroke Lodge a society that could
+hardly be equalled--certainly not surpassed--in England. In the summer
+Sunday afternoons there might be seen beneath the shade of those
+majestic oaks nearly all that was distinguished in English politics and
+much that was distinguished in English literature, and few eminent
+foreigners visited England without making a pilgrimage to the old
+statesman. Unhappily, this did not last to the end. Failing memory and
+the weakness of extreme old age at last withdrew him completely from the
+society he was so eminently fitted to adorn, but to those who had known
+him in his brighter days he has left a memory which can never be
+effaced.'
+
+Pembroke Lodge, on the fringe of Richmond Park, was, for more than
+thirty years, Lord John Russell's home. In his busiest years, whenever
+he could escape from town, the rambling, picturesque old house, which
+the Queen had given him, was his chosen and greatly loved place of
+retreat. 'Happy days,' records Lady Russell, 'so full of reality. The
+hours of work so cheerfully got through, the hours of leisure so
+delightful.' When in office much of each week was of necessity passed at
+his house in Chesham Place, but he appreciated the freedom and seclusion
+of Pembroke Lodge, and took a keen delight in its beautiful garden, with
+its winding walks, magnificent views, and spreading forest trees--truly
+a haunt of ancient peace, as well as of modern fellowship. There, in old
+age, Lord Russell loved to wander with wife or child or friend, and
+there, through the loop-holes of retreat amid his books and flowers, he
+watched the great world, and occasionally sallied forth, so long as
+strength remained, to bear his part in its affairs.
+
+Lord John Russell in his closing years thoroughly distrusted Turkish
+rule in Europe. He declared that he had formerly tried with Lord
+Palmerston's aid to improve the Turks, but came to the conclusion that
+the task was hopeless, and he witnessed with gladness the various
+movements to throw off their control in South-Eastern Europe. He was one
+of the first to call attention to the Bulgarian atrocities, and he
+joined the national protest with the political ardour which moral
+indignation was still able to kindle in a statesman who cherished his
+old ideals at the age of eighty-four. Two passages from Lady Russell's
+journal in the year 1876 speak for themselves:--'August 18. My dearest
+husband eighty-four. The year has left its mark upon him, a deeper mark
+than most years ... but he is happy, even merry. Seventy or eighty of
+our school children came up and sang in front of his window. They had
+made a gay flag on which were written four lines of a little poem to
+him. He was much pleased and moved with the pretty sight and pretty
+sound. I may say the same of Lord Granville, who happened to be here at
+the time.' Two months later occurs the following entry: 'Interesting
+visit from the Bulgarian delegates, who called to thank John for the
+part he has taken. They utterly deny the probability of civil war or
+bloodshed between different Christian sects, or between Christian and
+Mussulman, in case of Bulgaria and the other insurgent provinces
+obtaining self-government. Their simple, heart-felt words of gratitude
+to John were touching to us all.'
+
+History repeats itself at Pembroke Lodge. On May 16, 1895, a party of
+Armenian refugees went thither on the ground that 'the name of Lord John
+Russell is honoured by every Christian under the rule of the Turk.' It
+recalled to Lady Russell the incident just recorded, and the interview,
+she states, was 'a heart-breaking one, although gratitude for British
+sympathy seemed uppermost in what they wished to express. After they
+were gone I thought, as I have often thought before, how right my
+husband was in feeling and in saying, as he often did, that Goldsmith
+was quite wrong in these two lines in "The Traveller":
+
+    'How small of all that human hearts endure
+    That part which laws or kings can cause or cure!
+
+He often recited them with disapproval when any occurrence made him feel
+how false they were.'
+
+  [Sidenote: KINGLAKE'S DESCRIPTION]
+
+Lord John's manner of life, like his personal tastes, was simple. He
+contrived to set the guests who gathered around him at his wife's
+receptions perfectly at their ease, by his old-fashioned gallantry,
+happy humour, and bright, vigorous talk. One room in Pembroke Lodge,
+from the windows of which a glorious view of the wooded valley is
+obtained, has been rendered famous by Kinglake's description[44] of a
+certain drowsy summer evening in June 1854, when the Aberdeen Cabinet
+assembled in it, at the very moment when they were drifting into war.
+Other rooms in the house are full of memories of Garibaldi and
+Livingstone, of statesmen, ambassadors, authors, and, indeed, of men
+distinguished in every walk of life, but chiefly of Lord John himself,
+in days of intellectual toil, as well as in hours of friendly
+intercourse and happy relaxation.
+
+Charles Dickens, speaking in 1869 at a banquet in Liverpool, held in his
+honour, over which Lord Dufferin presided, refused to allow what he
+regarded as a covert sneer against the House of Lords to pass
+unchallenged. He repelled the insinuation with unusual warmth, and laid
+stress on his own regard for individual members of that assembly. Then,
+on the spur of the moment, came an unexpected personal tribute. He
+declared that 'there was no man in England whom he respected more in his
+public capacity, loved more in his private capacity, or from whom he had
+received more remarkable proofs of his honour and love of literature
+than Lord John Russell.' The compliment took Lord Russell by surprise;
+but if space allowed, or necessity claimed, it would be easy to prove
+that it was not undeserved. From the days of his youth, when he lived
+under the roof of Dr. Playfair, and attended the classes of Professor
+Dugald Stewart in Edinburgh, and took his part, as a _protégé_ of Lord
+Holland, in the brilliant society of Holland House, Lord John's leanings
+towards literature, and friendship with other literary men had been
+marked. As in the case of other Prime Ministers of the Queen's reign,
+and notably of Derby, Beaconsfield, and Mr. Gladstone, literature was
+his pastime, if politics was his pursuit, for his interests were always
+wider than the question of the hour. He was the friend of Sir James
+Mackintosh and of Sydney Smith, who playfully termed him 'Lord John
+Reformer,' of Moore and Rogers, Jeffrey and Macaulay, Dickens and
+Thackeray, Tyndall and Sir Richard Owen, Motley and Sir Henry Taylor,
+Browning and Tennyson, to mention only a few representative men.
+
+  [Sidenote: LITERARY FRIENDSHIPS]
+
+When the students of Glasgow University wished, in 1846, to do him
+honour, Lord John gracefully begged them to appoint as Lord Rector a
+man of creative genius, like Wordsworth, rather than himself. As Prime
+Minister he honoured science by selecting Sir John Herschel as Master of
+the Mint, and literature, by the recommendation of Alfred Tennyson as
+Poet Laureate. When Sir Walter Scott was creeping back in broken health
+from Naples to die at Abbotsford it was Lord John who cheered the sad
+hours of illness in the St. James's Hotel, Jermyn Street, by a
+delicately worded offer of financial help from the public funds. Leigh
+Hunt, Christopher North, Sheridan Knowles, Father Mathew, the widow of
+Dr. Chalmers, and the children of Tom Hood are names which suggest the
+direction in which he used his patronage as First Minister of the Crown.
+He was in the habit of enlivening his political dinner parties by
+invoking the aid of literary men of wit and distinction, and nothing
+delighted him more than to bring, in this pleasant fashion, literature
+and politics to close quarters. The final pages of his 'Recollections
+and Suggestions' were written in Lord Tennyson's study at Aldworth, and
+his relations with Moore at an earlier stage of his life were even more
+intimate.
+
+Lord John Russell was twice married: first, on April 11, 1835, to
+Adelaide, daughter of Mr. Thomas Lister, of Armitage Park,
+Staffordshire, the young widow of Thomas, second Lord Ribblesdale; and
+second, on July 20, 1841, to Lady Frances Anna Maria Elliot, second
+daughter of Gilbert, second Earl of Minto. By his first wife he had two
+daughters, the late Lady Victoria Villiers, and Lady Georgiana Peel; and
+by his second three sons and one daughter--John, Viscount Amberley, the
+Hon. George William Gilbert, formerly of the 9th Lancers, the Hon.
+Francis Albert Rollo, and Lady Mary Agatha. Viscount Amberley married,
+on November 8, 1864, the fifth daughter of Lord Stanley of Alderley.
+Lord Amberley died two years before his father, and the peerage
+descended to the elder of his two sons, the present Earl Russell.
+
+Lady Russell states: 'Our way of life during the session, from the time
+we first settled in Pembroke Lodge till John ceased to take any active
+part in politics, was to be there from Wednesday to Thursday and from
+Saturday to Monday. This made him spend much time on the road; but he
+always said the good it did him to snatch all he could of the delight of
+his own quiet country home, to breathe its pure air, and be cheered by
+the sight of his merry children, far outweighed the time and trouble it
+cost him. When he was able to leave town tolerably early, he used
+sometimes to ride down all the way; but he oftener drove to Hammersmith
+Bridge, where his horse, and such of our children as were old enough to
+ride met him, and how joyfully I used to catch the first sight of the
+happy riders--he on his roan "Surrey" and they on their pretty
+ponies--from the little mount in our grounds! He was very fond of
+riding, and in far later days, when age and infirmity obliged him to
+give it up, used often to say in a sad tone, pointing to some of his
+favourite grassy rides, as we drove together in the park, "Ah! what
+pleasant gallops we used to have along there!"' Lord John was seen to
+great advantage in his own home and with his children. Even when the
+cares of State pressed most heavily on him he always seemed to the
+children about him to have leisure to enter with gay alacrity into their
+plans and amusements. When at home, no matter how urgent the business in
+hand, he always saw them either in the house or the garden every day,
+and took the liveliest interest in the round of their life, alike in
+work and play. He had conquered the art of bearing care lightly. He
+seldom allowed public affairs to distract him in moments of leisure. He
+was able to throw aside the cares of office, and to enter with vivacity
+and humour into social diversions. His equable temper and placid
+disposition served him in good stead amid the turmoil and excitement of
+political life.
+
+  [Sidenote: A PACKET OF OLD LETTERS]
+
+Sorrows, neither few nor light, fell upon the household at Pembroke
+Lodge in the closing years of Lord Russell's life; but 'trials,' as Lady
+Russell puts it in her journal, 'had taught Lord John to feel for
+others, and age had but deepened his religion of love.' In reply to a
+birthday letter from Mr. Archibald Peel, his son-in-law, and nephew of
+his great political rival he said: 'Thanks for your good wishes. Happy
+returns! I always find them, as my children are so affectionate and
+loving; "many" I cannot expect, but I have played my part.' Two or three
+extracts from a packet of letters addressed by Lord John to his
+daughter, Lady Georgiana Peel, will be read with interest. The majority
+of them are of too intimate and personal a kind for quotation. Yet the
+whole of them leave the impression that Lord John, who reproaches
+himself in one instance as a bad correspondent, was at least a
+singularly good father. They cover a considerable term of years, and
+though for the most part dealing with private affairs, and often in a
+spirit of pleasant raillery, here and there allusions to public events
+occur in passing. In one of them, written from Gotha in the autumn of
+1862, when Lord John was in attendance on her Majesty, he says: 'We have
+been dull here, but the time has never hung heavy on our hands. Four
+boxes of despatches and then telegrams, all requiring answers, have been
+our daily food.' He refers touchingly to the Queen's grief, and there is
+also an allusion to the minor tribulation of a certain little boy in
+England who had just crossed the threshold of school-life. Probably
+Lord John was thinking of his own harsh treatment at Westminster, more
+than sixty years before, when he wrote: 'Poor Willy! He will find a
+public school a rough place, and the tears will come into his eyes when
+he thinks of the very soft nest he left at home.'
+
+Ecclesiastical affairs never lost their interest to the author of the
+Durham Letter, and the following comments show his attitude on Church
+questions. The first is from a letter written on May 23, 1867: 'The
+Church has been greatly disturbed. The Bishop of Salisbury has claimed
+for the English clergy all the power of the Roman priests. The question
+whether they are to wear white surplices, or blue, green, yellow, or
+red, becomes a minor question in comparison. Of course the Bishop and
+those who think with him throw off the authority of our excellent
+Thirty-nine Articles altogether, and ought to leave the Church to the
+Protestant clergy and laity.' England just then, in Carlyle's judgment,
+was 'shooting Niagara,' and Disraeli's reform proposals were making a
+stir in the opposite camp. In the letter above quoted Lord John says:
+'Happily, we are about to get rid of the compound householder. I am told
+Dizzy expects to be the first President of the British Republic.' Mr.
+Gladstone, according to Lord Houghton, seemed at the same moment 'quite
+awed with the diabolical cleverness of Dizzy.' The second bears date
+Woburn Abbey, September 29, 1868: 'Dr. Temple is a man I greatly admire,
+and he has become more valuable to his country since the death of our
+admirable Dean of St. Paul's. If I had any voice in the appointment,
+Temple is the man I should wish to see succeed to Milman; but I suppose
+the "Essays and Reviews" will tell heavily against him.' 'We lead a very
+quiet life here and a very happy one. I sometimes regret not seeing my
+old political friends a little oftener.' 'In June [1869] I expect
+Dickens to visit us. We went to see him last night in the murder of
+Nancy by Sikes, and Mrs. Gamp. He acts like a great actor, and writes
+like a great author. Irish Church is looming very near in the Commons,
+and, in June, in the Lords. The Archbishops and Bishops do not wish to
+oppose the second reading, but Lord Cairns is prepared to hack and hew
+in committee.'
+
+  [Sidenote: LADY GEORGIANA PEEL]
+
+The recollections of Lord John's children reveal, by incidents too
+trivial in themselves to quote, how completely he entered into their
+life. Lady Georgiana Peel recalls her childish tears when her father
+arrived too late from London one evening to see one of the glorious
+sunsets which he had taught her to admire. 'I can feel now his hand on
+my forehead in any childish illness, or clasping mine in the garden, as
+he led me out to forget some trifling sorrow.' She lays stress on his
+patience and serene temper, on his tender heart, and on the fact that he
+always found leisure on the busiest day to enter into the daily life of
+his little girls. Half heartedness, either in work or play, was not to
+his mind. '_Do_ what you are doing' was the advice he gave to his
+children.
+
+One of the elder children in far-off days at Pembroke Lodge, Mrs.
+Warburton, Lord John's step-daughter, recalls wet days in the country,
+when her father would break the tedium of temporary imprisonment indoors
+by romping with his children. 'I have never forgotten his expression of
+horror when in a game of hide-and-seek he banged the door accidentally
+in my elder sister's face and we heard her fall. Looking back to the
+home life, its regularity always astonishes me. The daily walks,
+prayers, and meals regular and punctual as a rule.... He was shy and we
+were shy, but I think we spoke quite freely with him, and he seldom
+said more than "Foolish child" when we ventured on any startling views
+on things. Once I remember rousing his indignation when I gave out, with
+sententious priggishness, that the Duke of Wellington laboured under
+great difficulties in Spain caused by the "factious opposition at home;"
+that was beyond "Foolish child," but my discomforted distress was soon
+soothed by a pat on the cheek, and an amused twinkle in his kind eyes.'
+Lord Amberley, four days before his death, declared that he had all his
+life 'met with nothing but kindness and gentleness' from his father. He
+added: 'I do earnestly hope that at the end of his long and noble life
+he may be spared the pain of losing a son.'
+
+Mr. Rollo Russell says: 'My father was very fond of history, and I can
+remember his often turning back to Hume, Macaulay, Hallam, and other
+historical works. He read various books on the French Revolution with
+great interest. He had several classics always near him, such as Homer
+and Virgil; and he always carried about with him a small edition of
+Horace. Of Shakespeare he could repeat much, and knew the plays well,
+entering into and discussing the characters. He admired Milton very
+greatly and was fond of reading "Paradise Lost." He was very fond of
+several Italian and Spanish books, by the greatest authors of those
+countries. Of lighter reading, he admired most, I think, "Don Quixote,"
+Sir Walter Scott's novels, Miss Evans' ("George Eliot") novels, Miss
+Austen's, and Dickens and Thackeray. Scott especially he loved to read
+over again. He told me he bought "Waverley" when it first came out, and
+was so interested in it that he sat up a great part of the night till he
+had finished it.'
+
+  [Sidenote: THE FRIENDSHIP OF BOOKS]
+
+Lady Russell states that Grote's 'History of Greece' was one of the
+last books her husband read, and she adds: 'Many of his friends must
+have seen its volumes open before him on the desk of his blue armchair
+in his sitting-room at Pembroke Lodge in the last year or two of his
+life. It was often exchanged for Jowett's "Plato," in which he took
+great delight, and which he persevered in trying to read, when, alas!
+the worn-out brain refused to take in the meaning.'
+
+Lord John was a delightful travelling companion, and he liked to journey
+with his children about him. His cheerfulness and merriment on these
+occasions is a happy memory. Dr. Anderson, of Richmond, who has been for
+many years on intimate terms at Pembroke Lodge, and was much abroad with
+Lord John in the capacity of physician and friend, states that all who
+came in contact personally with him became deeply attached to him. This
+arose not only from the charm of his manner and conversation, but from
+the fact that he felt they trusted him implicitly. 'I never saw anyone
+laugh so heartily. He seemed almost convulsed with merriment, and he
+once told me that after a supper with Tom Moore, the recollection of
+some of the witty things said during the course of the evening so
+tickled him, that he had to stop and hold by the railings while laughing
+on his way home. I once asked which of all the merry pictures in "Punch"
+referring to himself amused him the most, and he at once replied: "The
+little boy who has written 'No Popery' on a wall and is running away
+because he sees a policeman coming. I think that was very funny!"' Dr.
+Anderson says that Lord John was generous to a fault and easily moved to
+tears, and adds: 'I never knew any one more tender in illness or more
+anxious to help.' He states that Lord John told him that he had
+encountered Carlyle one day in Regent Street. He stopped, and asked him
+if he had seen a paragraph in that morning's 'Times' about the Pope.
+'What!' exclaimed Carlyle, 'the Pope, the Pope! The back of ma han' for
+that auld chimera!'
+
+Lady Russell says: 'As far as I recollect he never but once worked after
+dinner. He always came up to the drawing-room with us, was able to cast
+off public cares, and chat and laugh, and read and be read to, or join
+in little games, such as capping verses, of which he was very fond.'
+Lord John used often to write prologues and epilogues for the
+drawing-room plays which they were accustomed to perform. Space forbids
+the quotation of these sparkling and often humorous verses, but the
+following instance of his ready wit occurred in the drawing-room at
+Minto, and is given on the authority of Mr. George Elliot. At a game
+where everyone was required to write some verses, answering the question
+written on a paper to be handed to him, and bringing in a word written
+on the same, the paper that fell to the lot of Lord John contained this
+question: 'Do you admire Sir Robert Peel?' and 'soldier' the word to be
+brought in. His answer was:
+
+    'I ne'er was a soldier of Peel,
+      Or ever yet stood at his back;
+    For while he wriggled on like an eel,
+      I swam straight ahead like a _Jack_.'
+
+Mr. Gladstone states that perhaps the finest retort he ever heard in the
+House of Commons was that of Lord John in reply to Sir Francis Burdett.
+The latter had abandoned his Radicalism in old age, and was foolish
+enough to sneer at the 'cant of patriotism.' 'I quite agree, said Lord
+John, 'with the honourable baronet that the cant of patriotism is a bad
+thing. But I can tell him a worse--the _re_cant of patriotism--which I
+will gladly go along with him in reprobating whenever he shows me an
+example of it.'
+
+  [Sidenote: LORD DUFFERIN'S RECOLLECTIONS]
+
+Lord John Russell once declared that he had no need to go far in search
+of happiness, as he had it at his own doors, and this was the impression
+left on every visitor to Pembroke Lodge. Lord Dufferin states that all
+his recollections gather around Lord John's domestic life. He never
+possessed a kinder friend or one who was more pleasant in the retirement
+of his home. Lord Dufferin adds: 'One of his most charming
+characteristics was that he was so simple, so untheatrical, so genuine,
+that his existence, at least when I knew him, flowed at a very high
+level of thought and feeling, but was unmarked by anything very
+dramatic. His conversation was too delightful, full of anecdote; but
+then his anecdotes were not like those told by the ordinary _raconteur_,
+and were simple reminiscences of his own personal experience and
+intercourse with other distinguished men. Again, his stories were told
+in such an unpretending way that, though you were delighted with what
+you had heard, you were still more delighted with the speaker himself.'
+
+The closing years of Lord Russell's career were marked by settled peace,
+the consciousness of great tasks worthily accomplished, the unfaltering
+devotion of household love, the friendship of the Queen, the confidence
+of a younger race of statesmen, and the respect of the nation.
+Deputations of working men found their way to Pembroke Lodge to greet
+the old leader of the party of progress, and school children gathered
+about him in summer on the lawn, and were gladdened by his kindly smile
+and passing word. In good report and in evil report, in days of power
+and in days of weakness, the Countess Russell cheered, helped, and
+solaced him, and brought not only rare womanly devotion, but unusual
+intellectual gifts to his aid at the critical moments of his life, when
+bearing the strain of public responsibility, and in the simple round of
+common duty. The nation may recognise the services of its great men, but
+can never gauge to the full extent the influences which sustained them.
+The uplifting associations of a singularly happy domestic life must be
+taken into account in any estimate of the forces which shaped Lord John
+Russell's career. It is enough to say--indeed, more cannot with
+propriety be added--that through the political stress and strain of
+nearly forty years Lady Russell proved herself to be a loyal and
+noble-hearted wife.
+
+There is another subject, which cannot be paraded on the printed page,
+and yet, since religion was the central principle of Lord John Russell's
+life, some allusion to his position on the highest of all subjects
+becomes imperative. His religion was thorough; it ran right through his
+nature. It was practical, and revealed itself in deeds which spoke
+louder than words. 'I rest in the faith of Jeremy Taylor,' were his
+words, 'Barrow, Tillotson, Hoadly, Samuel Clarke, Middleton, Warburton,
+and Arnold, without attempting to reconcile points of difference between
+these great men. I prefer the simple words of Christ to any dogmatic
+interpretation of them.' Dean Stanley, whom he used to call his
+Pope--always playfully adding, 'but not an infallible one'--declared
+shortly before Lord Russell's death that 'he was a man who was firmly
+convinced that in Christianity, whether as held by the National Church
+or Nonconformist, there was something greater and vaster than each of
+the particular communions professed and advocated, something which made
+it worth while to develop those universal principles of religion that
+are common to all who accept in any real sense the fundamental truths of
+Christianity.'
+
+  [Sidenote: MR. SPURGEON'S BLESSING]
+
+Mr. Spurgeon, in conversation with the writer of these pages, related an
+incident concerning Lord John which deserves at least passing record, as
+an illustration of his swift appreciation of ability and the reality of
+his recognition of religious equality. Lord John was upwards of sixty at
+the time, and the famous Baptist preacher, though the rage of the town,
+was scarcely more than twenty. The Metropolitan Tabernacle had as yet
+not been built. Mr. Spurgeon was at the Surrey Music Hall, and there the
+great congregation had gathered around this youthful master of
+assemblies. One Sunday night, at the close of the service, Lord John
+Russell came into the vestry to speak a kindly word of encouragement to
+the young preacher. One of the children of the ex-Prime Minister was
+with him, and before the interview ended Lord John asked the
+Nonconformist minister to give his blessing to the child. Mr. Spurgeon
+never forgot the incident, or the bearing of the man who came to him,
+amid a crowd of others, on that Sunday night.
+
+In opening the new buildings of Cheshunt College in 1871, Lord John
+alluded to the foundress of that seat of theological learning, Lady
+Huntingdon, as a woman who was far in advance of her times, since, a
+century before the abolition of University tests, she made it possible
+to divinity students to obtain academical training without binding
+themselves at the outset to any religious community.
+
+During the early months of 1878 Lord John's strength failed rapidly, and
+it became more and more apparent that the plough was nearing the end of
+the furrow. His old courage and calmness remained to the end. Mr. and
+Mrs. Gladstone called at Pembroke Lodge on April 20, and he sent down
+word that he wished to see them. 'I took them to him for a few minutes,'
+relates Lady Russell. 'Happily, he was clear in his mind, and said to
+Mr. Gladstone, "I am sorry you are not in the Ministry," and kissed her
+affectionately, and was so cordial to both that they were greatly
+touched.' He told Lady Russell that he had enjoyed his life. 'I have
+made mistakes, but in all I did my object was the public good!' Then
+after a pause: 'I have sometimes seemed cold to my friends, but it was
+not in my heart.' A change for the worse set in on May 1, and the last
+sands of life were slipping quietly through the glass when the
+Nonconformist deputation came on the 9th of that month to present Lord
+Russell with an address of congratulation on the occasion of the jubilee
+of the Repeal of the Corporation and Test Acts.[45] Lady Russell and her
+children received the Deputation. In the course of her reply to the
+address Lady Russell said that of all the 'victories won by that great
+party to which in his later as in his earlier years Lord John had been
+inseparably attached,' there was none dearer to his memory at that
+moment than that which they had called to remembrance. 'It was a proud
+and a sad day,' is the entry in Lady Russell's journal. 'We had hoped
+some time ago that he might perhaps see the Deputation for a moment in
+his room, but he was too ill for that to be possible.'
+
+A few days later, there appeared in the columns of 'Punch' some
+commemorative verses entitled 'A Golden Wedding.' They expressed the
+feeling that was uppermost in the heart of the nation, and two or three
+verses may here be recorded:--
+
+   The Golden Wedding of Lord John and Liberty his love--
+   'Twixt the Russells' House and Liberty, 'twas ever hand and glove--
+   His love in those dark ages, he has lived through with his bride,
+   To look back on them from the sunset of his quiet eventide.
+
+   His love when he that loved her and sought her for his own
+   Must do more than suit and service, must do battle, trumpet blown,
+   Must slay the fiery dragons that guarded every gate
+   On the roads by which men travelled for work of Church and State.
+
+   Now time brings its revenges, and all are loud to own
+   How beautiful a bride she was, how fond, how faithful shown;
+   But she knows the man who loved her when lovers were but few,
+   And she hails this golden wedding--fifty years of tried and true.
+
+   Look and listen, my Lord Russell: 'tis your golden wedding-day;
+   We may not press your brave old hand, but you hear what we've to say.
+   A blessing on the bridal that has known its fifty years,
+   But never known its fallings-out, delusions, doubt, or fears.
+
+  [Sidenote: VICTORIOUS PEACE]
+
+The end came softly. 'I fall back on the faith of my childhood,' were
+the words he uttered to Dr. Anderson. The closing scene is thus recorded
+in Mr. Rollo Russell's journal: 'May 28 [1878].--He was better this
+morning, though still in a very weak state. He spoke more distinctly,
+called me by my name, and said something which I could not understand.
+He did not seem to be suffering ... and has, all through his long
+illness, been cheerful to a degree that surprises everybody about him,
+not complaining of anything, but seeming to feel that he was being well
+cared for. About midday he became worse ... but bore it all calmly. My
+mother was with him continually.... Towards ten he was much worse, and
+in a few minutes, while my mother was holding his hand, he breathed out
+gently the remainder of life.' Westminster Abbey was offered as a place
+of burial, but, in accordance with his own expressed wish, Lord John
+Russell was gathered to his fathers at Chenies. The Queen's sympathy and
+her sense of loss were expressed in the following letter:--
+
+
+    'Balmoral: May 30, 1878.
+
+'DEAR LADY RUSSELL,--It was only yesterday afternoon that I heard
+through the papers that your dear husband had left this world of sorrows
+and trials peacefully and full of years the night before, or I would
+have telegraphed and written sooner. You will believe that I truly
+regret an old friend of forty years' standing, and whose personal
+kindness in trying and anxious times I shall _ever_ remember. "Lord
+John," as I knew him best, was one of my _first_ and _most
+distinguished_ Ministers, and his departure recalls many eventful times.
+
+'To you, dear Lady Russell, who were ever one of the most devoted of
+wives, this must be a terrible blow, though you must have for some time
+been prepared for it. But one is _never_ prepared for the blow when it
+comes, and you have had such trials and sorrows of late years that I
+most truly sympathise with you. Your dear and devoted daughter will, I
+know, be the greatest possible comfort to you, and I trust that your
+grandsons will grow up to be all you could wish.
+
+    'Believe me always, yours affectionately,
+    'VICTORIA R. AND I.'
+
+
+
+  [Sidenote: HIS GREAT QUALITIES]
+
+Lord Shaftesbury wrote in his journal some words about Lord Russell
+which speak for themselves. After recording that he had reached the ripe
+age of eighty-six, and that he had been a conspicuous man for more than
+half a century, he added that to have 'begun with disapprobation, to
+have fought through many difficulties, to have announced, and acted
+on, principles new to the day in which he lived, to have filled many
+important offices, to have made many speeches, and written many books,
+and in his whole course to have done much with credit, and nothing with
+dishonour, and so to have sustained and advanced his reputation to the
+very end, is a mighty commendation.'
+
+When some one told Sir Stafford Northcote that Lord John was dead, the
+tidings were accompanied by the trite but sympathetic comment, 'Poor
+Lord Russell!' 'Why do you call him poor?' was the quick retort. 'Lord
+Russell had the chance of doing a great work and--he did it.'
+
+Lord John was not faultless, and most assuredly he was not infallible.
+He made mistakes, and sometimes was inclined to pay too little heed to
+the claims of others, and not to weigh with sufficient care the force of
+his own impetuous words. The taunt of 'finality' has seldom been less
+deserved. In most directions he kept an open mind, and seems, like
+Coleridge, to have believed that an error is sometimes the shadow of a
+great truth yet behind the horizon. Mr. Gladstone asserts that his old
+chief was always ready to stand in the post of difficulty, and possessed
+an inexhaustible sympathy with human suffering.
+
+It is at least certain that Lord John Russell served England--the
+country whose freedom, he once declared, he 'worshipped'--with unwearied
+devotion, with a high sense of honour, with a courage which never
+faltered, with an integrity which has never been impeached. He followed
+duty to the utmost verge of life, and--full himself of moral
+susceptibility--he reverenced the conscience of every man.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[44] _History of the War in the Crimea_, by A. W, Kinglake, vol. ii.
+sixth edition, pp. 249-50.
+
+Lady Russell states that Lord John used to smile at Kinglake's
+rhetorical exaggeration of the scene. Her impression is that only two of
+the Cabinet, and not, as the historian puts it, 'all but a small
+minority,' fell asleep. The Duke of Argyll or Mr. Gladstone can alone
+settle the point at issue.
+
+[45] Amongst those who assembled in the drawing-room of Pembroke Lodge
+on that historic occasion were Mr. Henry Richard, M.P., Mr. Samuel
+Morley, M.P., Mr. Edward Baines, Sir Charles Reed, Mr. Carvell Williams,
+M.P., who came on behalf of the Protestant Dissenting Deputies. The
+Congregationalists were represented by such men as the Rev. Baldwin
+Brown and the Rev. Guinness Rogers; the Baptists by Dr. Underhill; the
+Presbyterians by Dr. McEwan; and the Unitarians by Mr. Middleton
+Aspland.
+
+
+
+
+INDEX
+
+
+  ABERCROMBY, Mr., 103
+
+  Aberdeen, Lord, Foreign Secretary in Peel's Cabinet, 125;
+    and the repeal of the Corn Laws, 132;
+    forms the Coalition Government, 203, 206;
+    early political life and characteristics, 209;
+    and the Secret Memorandum, 216, 225;
+    friendly relations with the Emperor Nicholas, 217, 233;
+    belief in the peaceful intentions of Russia, 225, 231;
+    vacillation on the eve of the Crimean War, 229, 234;
+    public prejudice against him, 233;
+    home policy, 240;
+    fall of his Government, 257;
+    relations with Lord John Russell, 346, 347
+
+  Adelaide, Queen, 82, 83
+
+  'Adullamites,' 329
+
+  Afghanistan, invasion of, 121, 170
+
+  'Alabama' Case, the, 312-319
+
+  Albert, Prince, and Lord Palmerston, 177;
+    letter on the defeat of the Turks at Sinope, 232;
+    and Count Buol's scheme, 261;
+    letter on the position of affairs in the Crimea, 263;
+    death, and characteristics, 308, 309;
+    last official act, 310
+
+  Alexander II., 259, 321
+
+  Alien Acts, the, 27
+
+  All the Talents, Ministry of, 63, 64
+
+  Alma, the battle of, 246
+
+  Althorp, Lord, 48, 56, 67, 79;
+    and his part in carrying the Reform Bill, 81, 82, 87;
+    characteristics, 81, 82, 88, 92;
+    introduces the Poor Law Amendment Act (Ireland), 93, 96;
+    and the Coercion Act, 96;
+    succeeds to the Peerage as Earl Spencer, 100.
+      _See also_ Spencer, Lord
+
+  Amberley, Viscount, 356
+
+  America, war between England and, 21, 22;
+    Napoleon's opinion of the war, 31;
+    and the 'Trent' affair, 310-312;
+    Civil War, 310, 313;
+    and the Alabama Case, 312-319
+
+  Anti-Corn-Law League, its founding 121, 126, 131
+
+  Argyll, Duke of, 295, 327
+
+  Armenia, massacres in, 269, 353
+
+  Arms Bill, 146, 147;
+    of 1847, 154
+
+  Auckland, Lord, 96
+
+  Austria, revolt in Vienna of 1848, 171;
+    and the retention of Lombardy and Venice, 172, 300;
+    and the Vienna Note, 227;
+    and the Crimean War, 243;
+    proposed alliance with England and France to defend the integrity of
+      Turkey, 261;
+    her power in Italy, 300;
+    campaign against France and Italy, and battles of Magenta and
+      Solferino, 302, 303;
+    and the peace of Villafranca, 303
+
+
+  BAGEHOT, Walter, 86, 323
+
+  Ballot, the: Grote's attempts to introduce a bill, 90, 111
+
+  Bathurst, Lord, 50
+
+  Bedford, fourth Duke of, his 'Correspondence' edited by Lord John
+      Russell, 278
+
+  -- Francis, fifth Duke of, 3
+
+  -- sixth Duke of, father of Lord John Russell, 3;
+    opinion of English Universities, 11, 16;
+    encouragement given to Lord John in political training, 14, 36;
+    characteristics, 16;
+    and Lord John's leadership of the Opposition, 103;
+    and Joseph Lancaster, 115
+
+  -- seventh Duke of, 202
+
+  -- first Earl of, 2
+
+  Belgium: the question of its independence, 172, 340, 341
+
+  Bentinck, Lord George, 138, 140, 141, 150, 160, 201
+
+  Bessborough, Lord, 146, 151
+
+  Birmingham, unrepresented in the House of Commons, 23, 38, 51, 60, 71;
+    great meeting on the Reform question at, 79, 296
+
+  Bismarck, Count, 321-323
+
+  Blandford, Lord, 59
+
+  Blessington, Lady, 42
+
+  Blomfield, Bishop, 115
+
+  Bradlaugh, Mr., 332
+
+  Bribery and corruption before the era of Reform, 23, 61;
+    Lord John Russell's resolutions for the discovery and punishment
+      of, 43
+
+  Bridgeman, Mr. George (afterwards Earl of Bradford), 16, 18, 20
+
+  Bright, John, on the influences at work in the repeal of the Corn
+      Laws, 130, 131;
+    on disaffection in Ireland, and the Arms Bill, 155, 156, 202, 206,
+      208, 287;
+    relations with Lord John Russell, 294, 329;
+    and the 'Adullamites,' 329
+
+  Brougham, Lord, 56, 67;
+    and the Reform Bill cry, 74;
+    speech on the second Reform Bill, 78, 83;
+    opinion of Lord John Russell, 110
+
+  Buccleuch, Duke of, 134, 136
+
+  Bulgaria, massacres in, 269, 352
+
+  Bulwer, Sir H., 174
+
+  Buol, Count, 261, 263
+
+  Burdett, Sir Francis, 25, 26;
+    his motion for universal suffrage, 35; 70
+
+  Buxton, Thomas Fowell, 89
+
+  Byng, Hon. Georgiana, 3
+
+
+  CAMELFORD, 40
+
+  Campbell, Lord, 157
+
+  Canada: the rebellion, 110;
+    Earl of Durham appointed Governor-General, 110
+
+  Canning, Mr., 43;
+    his Ministry, 50;
+    death, 51
+
+  Capital crimes, 107
+
+  Cardwell, Mr., 290
+
+  Carlisle, Earl of, 96
+
+  Carlyle, Thomas, and the Chartists, 166, 167, 358, 362
+
+  Caroline, Queen, proceedings against, 41
+
+  Cartwright, Dr., 5
+
+  Cartwright, Major, 5, 25, 26, 38, 39
+
+  Cassiobury, 36, 112
+
+  Castlereagh, Lord, 21, 40, 63
+
+  Catholics: political restrictions against them, 48;
+    agitation for Emancipation, 58, 59;
+    passing of the Emancipation Bill, 59;
+    and the decree of Pius IX., 182-184;
+    and the Durham Letter, 184-188
+
+  Cato Street Conspiracy, 40
+
+  'Cave of Adullam,' 329
+
+  Cavour, Count, 300, 301, 302
+
+  Chadwick, Sir Edwin, 162
+
+  Chartist movement, 163;
+    and Feargus O'Connor, 165-168;
+    and its literature, 166
+
+  Chatham, Lord, on borough representation, 24, 25, 26
+
+  Chelsea Hospital, 62
+
+  Cheshunt College, 365
+
+  China, opium war against, 121
+
+  Church of England, the, and its adoption of Romish practices, 185, 186
+
+  Clare, Lord, 6, 7
+
+  Clarendon, Lord, 119, 141;
+    his Vice-royalty of Ireland, 153, 182, 196;
+    at the Foreign Office, 221, 224, 231;
+    on Lord Stratford de Redcliffe, 260;
+    Count Buol's proposals, 262, 263, 327
+
+  Clive, Mr. Robert, 16, 20
+
+  Clubs for the advancement of Reform, 26
+
+  Cobbett, William, 26, 64
+
+  Cobden, Richard, and the repeal of the Corn Laws, 131, 132, 134;
+    and Wellington, 136, 202, 206, 208, 287;
+    relations with Lord John Russell, 294;
+    negotiates the Commercial Treaty with France, 295, 296;
+    death, 325
+
+  Coercion Act: Lord Grey proposes its renewal, 96;
+    Lord John Russell's speech, 97, 98;
+    and O'Connell, 98, 99;
+    Peel's proposal for its renewal, 140
+
+  Conspiracy Bill, the, 289, 290
+
+  Conyngham, Marquis of, 96
+
+  Corn Laws, 121;
+    John Bright on the influences working for their repeal, 130, 131;
+    of 1670 reproduced in 1815, 131 _n._;
+    Sir Robert Peel proposes their gradual repeal, 138;
+    bill for repeal passes both Houses, 139;
+    total repeal carried by Russell, 145
+
+  Cranworth, Lord, 327
+
+  Crime, excessive penalties for, 24
+
+  Crimean War: causes, 213-235;
+    outbreak, 243, 246;
+    Alma, 246;
+    Balaclava and Inkerman, 247;
+    siege of Sebastopol, 246, 247;
+    privation and pestilence amongst the Allies, 248, 252;
+    Roebuck's motion in the House of Commons to inquire into the
+      condition of the army before Sebastopol, and Lord John Russell's
+      speech on the question, 254-257;
+    failure of Vienna Conference and renewal of the campaign, 267;
+    fall of Sebastopol, 268;
+    losses of Russia, and of the Allies, 268;
+    treaty of Paris, 268
+
+  Croker, J. W., 80, 139
+
+
+  DALLING, Lord, 180
+
+  Denmark and the Schleswig-Holstein Question, 322, 323
+
+  Derby, Lord, Administration of, 199, 200, 202, 206;
+    fails to form a Ministry on the resignation of Lord Aberdeen, 258;
+    succeeds to the Premiership on the resignation of Lord Palmerston,
+      290;
+    resignation, 293
+
+  Devonshire, Duke of, 49
+
+  Dickens, Charles, his tribute to Lord Russell, 354
+
+  Disraeli, Benjamin, and the 'poisoned chalice,' 135;
+    attacks Peel on the proposal to repeal the Corn Laws, 138;
+    and the Coercion Bill, 140, 141, 160;
+    and 'Sybil,' 166;
+    and the dismissal of Lord Palmerston, 180, 181;
+    on Lord John Russell's position after the issue of the Durham
+      Letter, 188;
+    his Budget of 1852, 199, 210;
+    leadership of the Conservative party, 201;
+    resolution condemning the Palmerston Ministry, 264;
+    on the exclusion of Lord John from Lord Grey's Cabinet, 273, 290;
+    his Reform Bill, 291, 292;
+    on the Prince Consort, 309;
+    his 'diabolical cleverness,' 333 _n._
+
+  Dissenters. _See_ Nonconformists
+
+  'Don Carlos,' by Lord John Russell, 279
+
+  'Don Pacifico' affair, the, 175
+
+  Dufferin, Lord, 327, 363
+
+  Duffy, Sir Gavan, on Irish landowners, 149
+
+  Duhamel, General, his scheme for the acquisition of India by Russia,
+      218
+
+  Duncannon, Lord, 67, 91, 92;
+    appointed Home Secretary, 99. _See also_ Bessborough, Lord
+
+  Dunkellin, Lord, 329, 331
+
+  Durazzo, Madame, 37
+
+  Durham, Lord, his advanced opinions and popularity with the Radicals,
+      66, 164;
+    and the preparation of the Reform Bill, 67, 68;
+    and the scene in the House of Commons during the introduction of the
+      bill, 69, 89;
+    resigns office, 92;
+    appointed Governor-General of Canada, 110;
+    defended by Lord John Russell, 111;
+    popularity, 164
+
+  Durham Letter, the, 184-189, 191
+
+
+  EAST INDIA COMPANY, 89, 288, 289
+
+  East Retford, 51
+
+  Ebrington, Lord, 75;
+    moves a vote of confidence in Lord Grey's Government, 79;
+    moves a second vote of confidence, 83, 91, 92
+
+  Ecclesiastical Titles Bill, 191-193
+
+  'Edinburgh Letter,' the, 133
+
+  Edinburgh Speculative Society, 13
+
+  -- University, Lord John Russell at, 11-14;
+    and the influence of Professors Dugald Stewart and John Playfair,
+      12;
+    and the Speculative Society, 13
+
+  Education at the beginning of the century, 24;
+    Roebuck's scheme, 89;
+    Bill of 1839, 114, 115;
+    measure for providing competent teachers for elementary schools,
+      159;
+    Lord John Russell's scheme of National Education, 284;
+    Mr. Forster's measure, 285
+
+  Egypt, war between Turkey and, 119
+
+  Elcho, Lord, 329
+
+  Eldon, Lord, 40, 50;
+    and the proposed repeal of the Test and Corporation Acts, 57, 58, 63
+
+  Elections, Parliamentary, cost of, 23
+
+  Elliot, Hon. George, 195, 279, 347, 362
+
+  Encumbered Estates Act, 157
+
+  Erskine, Lord, 25
+
+  'Essay on the History of the English Government and Constitution,' by
+      Lord John Russell, 274, 275
+
+
+  FACTORY ACT, 159
+
+  Famine, Irish, 130, 146, 148, 149
+
+  Farnborough, Lord, 107
+
+  Fielden, Mr., 159
+
+  Fitzpatrick, General, 20
+
+  Flood, Mr., and Reform, 77, and _note_
+
+  Fonblanque, Albany, 47, 84, 196, 197
+
+  Forster, W. E., and the Irish famine, 149;
+    tribute to Lord John Russell for his work in the cause of education,
+      285, 327
+
+  Fortescue, Mr. Chichester, Lord John Russell's 'Letters on the State
+      of Ireland' to, 280, 342
+
+  Fox, Charles James, his influence on Lord John Russell, 8;
+    on Parliamentary Representation, 25;
+    and the Test and Corporation Acts, 54, 55;
+    Russell's Biography of him, 98, 272, 277
+
+  France: Napoleon's intention to create a new aristocracy, 31;
+    and England's alliance, 120;
+    overthrow and flight of Louis Philippe, 163, 171;
+    and the Spanish marriages, 171;
+    Revolution of 1848, 171;
+    and the 'Don Pacifico' affair, 175;
+    and the Crimean War, 225, 229;
+    the Orsini Conspiracy, 289, 290;
+    Commercial Treaty with England, 295, 296;
+    campaign with Italy, against Austria, 302, 303;
+    annexation of Savoy, 305
+
+  Free Trade: the question coming to the front, 121;
+    and Tory opposition, 132;
+    conversion of Peel, 137, 138;
+    and the Commercial Treaty with France, 296
+
+  French Revolution, its influence on the English people, 24, 36
+
+  Friends of the People, Society of the, 25, 63
+
+  Froude, Mr., on the improvements effected by the Reform Bill, 86, 87
+
+
+  'GAGGING ACTS,' the, 39, 40
+
+  Garibaldi, General, 300;
+    entry into Naples, 306;
+    visit to Pembroke Lodge, 307
+
+  Gascoigne, General, 73
+
+  Gatton, 23
+
+  Gavazzi, Father, 186
+
+  George III., his madness and blindness, 27;
+    and Catholic Emancipation, 59
+
+  George IV. and Queen Caroline, 41;
+    and Catholic Emancipation, 59;
+    death, 60, 64
+
+  Gibson, Milner, 141, 208, 287, 295
+
+  Gladstone, Mr., on the Colonial policy of the Melbourne Government,
+      117;
+    Colonial Secretary, 136;
+    and Sir Robert Peel, 176;
+    his attack on Disraeli's Budget, 199;
+    and Disraeli's claim to lead the Conservative party, 201 and _note_;
+    and Lord John Russell's claim to the Premiership on the fall of the
+      Derby Government, 202;
+    takes office under Lord Aberdeen, 207;
+    first Budget, 210;
+    and the income tax, 240;
+    resigns office, 258, 290;
+    Chancellor of the Exchequer (1859), 295;
+    tribute to Russell on his accession to the Peerage, 297, 298;
+    unseated at Oxford, 325;
+    Chancellor of the Exchequer under Lord Russell, 327;
+    introduces a Reform Bill, 328;
+    tribute to Lord Russell, 330;
+    ovation at Carlton House Terrace, 332;
+    and the Irish Question, 342, 363, 366
+
+  Glenelg, Lord, 112
+
+  Goderich, Lord, 52, 93
+
+  Gordon, Lady Georgiana, 3
+
+  Gore, Hon. Charles, 348
+
+  Gorham Case, the, 182
+
+  Gortschakoff, Prince, 261, 267
+
+  Goschen, Mr., 327
+
+  Graham, Sir James, 67;
+    withdraws from Lord Grey's Ministry, 95;
+    accuses Lord John Russell of encouraging sedition, 119;
+    Home Secretary under Peel, 125;
+    declines the Governor-Generalship of India, 141, 202, 207, 232, 254,
+      258, 290
+
+  Grampound, 27, 40, 41;
+    disfranchised, 43
+
+  Granville, Lord, appointed Foreign Secretary, 182;
+    on Lord John Russell's speech in defence of his late colleagues,
+      266;
+    fails to form a Ministry on the defeat of Lord Derby, 293;
+    becomes President of the Council, 295
+
+  Great Exhibition of 1851, 193, 200, 234, 308
+
+  Greece and the 'Don Pacifico' affair, 175
+
+  Greenock, Lord John Russell's speech on the prospects of war, at, 227
+
+  Greville, Charles, comments of, 61, 69, 72, 73, 102, 130, 180, 207,
+      257, 286
+
+  Grey, (Charles, second) Lord, 15, 25;
+    and Lord John Russell's efforts on behalf of liberty, 58, 61;
+    forms an Administration, 62, 65;
+    early labours in the cause of Reform, 63, 64;
+    characteristics, 65;
+    announcement in the House of Lords with regard to the introduction
+      of the first Reform Bill, 68;
+    speech on the second Reform Bill, 76-78;
+    resigns office, but resumes power on the inability of the Duke of
+      Wellington to form a Ministry, 83, 92;
+    changes in his Cabinet, 96;
+    proposes the renewal of the Coercion Act, 96;
+    resigns the Premiership, 99
+
+  Grey (Henry, third), Lord, 134;
+    Secretary to the Colonies under Lord John Russell, 141
+
+  Grey, Sir George, Home Secretary under Lord John Russell, 141;
+    and Irish crime, 153;
+    appointed Colonial Secretary, 245, 295;
+    Home Secretary, 327
+
+  Grillion's Club, 27, 28
+
+  Grosvenor, Earl, 329, 330
+
+  Grote, George, 90, 110, 111, 320
+
+
+  HABEAS CORPUS ACT, suspension of, 33, 34
+
+  Hampden, Dr., and the see of Hereford, 161
+
+  Hampden Clubs, 26
+
+  Harcourt, Archbishop, on religious tests, 57
+
+  Harding, Sir John, and the 'Alabama' Case, 315-317
+
+  Hardinge, Sir Henry (afterwards Viscount), 82, 249
+
+  Hartington, Lord, 292, 327
+
+  Henley, Mr., 291
+
+  Herbert of Lea, Lord, 232
+
+  Herbert, Sidney, 207, 244, 254, 258
+
+  Herschel, Sir John, 355
+
+  Hobhouse, Sir J. C., 70, 141
+
+  Holland, Lord, visit of Lord John Russell to the Peninsula with, 9-11,
+      30, 53, 57, 119;
+    and the Life of Charles James Fox, 276
+
+  Holland House, 8, 15, 143
+
+  Holy Places in Palestine, dispute concerning, 213, 218
+
+  Horsman, Mr., 329
+
+  Houghton, Lord, 294
+
+  House of Commons, abuses and defects in representation before the era
+      of Reform, 22, 23;
+    presentation of the petition of the Friends of the People, 25, 26;
+    suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act, 33, 34;
+    Sir Francis Burdett's motion for universal suffrage, and Lord John
+      Russell's speech, 35;
+    and the 'Gagging Acts,' 39, 40;
+    Lord John's first resolutions in favour of Reform, 40;
+    Lord John proposes an addition of 100 members, 43;
+    introduction and second reading of the first Reform Bill, 69-73;
+    dissolution, 74;
+    first Reform Bill, 69-73;
+    second Reform Bill, 75, 76;
+    third Reform Bill, 81;
+    the first Reformed Parliament, 88;
+    number of Protectionists in 1847, 160
+
+  House of Lords, and the proposed enfranchisement of Manchester, 52;
+    and the Test and Corporation Acts, 56, 57;
+    effect of the Duke of Wellington's declaration against Reform, 61;
+    its rejection of Reform, 78;
+    urged by William IV. to withdraw opposition to the Reform Bill, 84;
+    passing of the Reform Bill, 84;
+    and the Jewish Disabilities Bill, 198, 291
+
+  Howick, Lord, 134
+
+  Hume, Joseph, 72, 80, 90, 121
+
+  Hunt, Mr. Ward, 330
+
+  -- 'Orator,' 26
+
+  Huskisson, Mr., 56
+
+  Hyde Park, Reform demonstration in, 332
+
+
+  INDEMNITY BILL for Dissenters, 51
+
+  India, Napoleon's prophecy as to the acquisition by Russia of, 31;
+    Duhamel's scheme for its acquisition by Russia, 218;
+    Mutiny in, 288
+
+  India Bills, 210, 290
+
+  Inkerman, battle of, 247
+
+  Ireland: condition of affairs on the accession of the Duke of
+      Wellington to power, 53;
+    agitation for Catholic Emancipation, 58, 59;
+    and O'Connell, 90;
+    Lord John Russell's visit in 1833, 91, 92;
+    Poor Law Amendment Act, 93, 107;
+    Mr. Littleton's Tithe Bill, 93;
+    Tithe Bill of 1835, 105, 107;
+    Municipal Bill, 105, 112;
+    passing of the Tithe Bill, 112;
+    Maynooth grant, 127, 128;
+    potato famine, 130, 146, 148, 149;
+    Peel's proposal for renewal of Coercion Act, 140;
+    proposed renewal of Arms Bill, 147, 148;
+    revolt of Young Ireland against O'Connell, 147;
+    measures to relieve distress, 150-152;
+    crime, 153, 154;
+    Arms Bill (1847), 154;
+    Treason Felony Act, 157;
+    Encumbered Estates Act, 157;
+    emigration, 158
+
+  Irish Church: Mr. Ward's motion, 95;
+    Peel's accusation against Lord John Russell, 97;
+    Lord John's motion of April 1835, 103, 104
+
+  Italy: Lord John Russell's impressions, 37;
+    Lord John's second visit, 48, 49;
+    and the retention by Austria of Lombardy and Venice, 172, 300;
+    accession of Victor Emmanuel II. to the throne of Sardinia, 301;
+    campaign, with France, against Austria, 302, 303;
+    the Peace of Villafranca, 303;
+    intervention of England, 304;
+    annexation of Savoy by France, 305;
+    entry of Garibaldi into Naples, and proclamation of Victor Emmanuel
+      as King of Italy, 306
+
+
+  JAMAICA BILL, the, 114
+
+  Jews: exclusion from Parliament, 57;
+    rejection in the Lords of bill for their relief, 89, 198, 210;
+    passing of the bill in 1858, 290, 291
+
+  Jones, Gale, 13
+
+
+  KEBLE, Dr., 183
+
+  Kennington Common, Chartist demonstration on, 166-168
+
+  King, Mr. Locke, 193
+
+  Kinglake, Mr., 266, 353
+
+  Kingsley, Charles, his 'Alton Locke,' 166
+
+  Kossuth, Louis, his visit to England, 179
+
+
+  LABOUCHERE, Mr. (afterwards Lord Taunton), 116, 147
+
+  Lambton, Mr. (father of the first Earl of Durham), 25
+
+  Lancashire Cotton Famine, 319
+
+  Lancaster, Joseph, 115 and _note_, 281, 282
+
+  Lansdowne, Lord, 52, 141, 202, 205, 240, 251, 258
+
+  Lascelles, Mr., 23
+
+  Lecky, Mr. W. E. H., his reminiscences of Earl Russell, 335-339
+
+  Leech, John, 192, 241
+
+  Leeds, unrepresented in the House of Commons, 23, 38, 60, 71, 296
+
+  'Letters written for the Post, and not for the Press,' question of
+      authorship of, 279, 280
+
+  Lewis, Sir George Cornewall, 210, 226, 238;
+    Chancellor of the Exchequer in Lord Palmerston's Ministry, 258;
+    on Lord John Russell's speech announcing his resignation (1855),
+      265, 295
+
+  Lhuys, M. Drouyn de, 261, 262
+
+  Lincoln, President, assassination of, 325
+
+  Lister, Sir Villiers, 348
+
+  Littleton, Mr. (afterwards Lord Hatherton), and the Irish Title Bill,
+      93;
+    and the Coercion Act, 97
+
+  Liverpool, Lord, 21, 33, 50, 63
+
+  Llandaff, Bishop of, and the repeal of the Test and Corporation Acts,
+      57
+
+  London University, 106, 107;
+    proposed enfranchisement of, 296
+
+  Londonderry, Marquis of, 79
+
+  Louis Philippe, overthrow and flight of, 163, 171;
+    and the Spanish marriages, 171
+
+  Lowe, Mr., 327, 329, 332
+
+  Luddites, riots of the, 32
+
+  Lyndhurst, Lord, and Jewish Lord Chancellors, 291
+
+  Lyons, Sir Edmund, 252
+
+  Lytton, Sir Edward Bulwer, 208, 265
+
+
+  MACAULAY, Lord, 141;
+    urges Lord John Russell to take office in the Coalition Ministry,
+      204
+
+  Mackintosh, Sir James, 25, 39, 53
+
+  Magenta, battle of, 303
+
+  Malmesbury, Lord, 137
+
+  Maltby, Dr., Bishop of Durham, and Lord John Russell's 'Durham
+    Letter,' 184
+
+  Manchester, unrepresented in the House of Commons, 23, 38, 51, 60, 71,
+      126, 155;
+    creation of bishopric of, 160, 296
+
+  Martineau, Harriet, 129
+
+  Maule, Fox, 141
+
+  Maynooth College, 127-130
+
+  Mazzini, 300
+
+  McCarthy, Mr. Justin, on the attitude of the Catholics towards Lord
+      John Russell, 188
+
+  Melbourne, Lord, becomes Prime Minister, 99;
+    dismissed by William IV., 100, 101;
+    again Prime Minister, 104;
+    Queen Victoria's regard for him, 108, 109;
+    characteristics, 108, 170;
+    opinion of the ballot, 109;
+    resigns, but is recalled to power, 114;
+    his recognition of Russell's influence as leader in the Commons,
+      120;
+    blunders of his Government, 122;
+    defeat of his Government, 123, 144
+
+  Melville, Lord, 8
+
+  'Memoirs of the Affairs of Europe from the Peace of Utrecht,' by Lord
+      John Russell, 275
+
+  Memorandum, Secret, 216, 225
+
+  Menschikoff, Prince, 223, 224
+
+  Metternich, 171, 300
+
+  Miall, Edward, 242
+
+  Militia Bill, the, 194, 195
+
+  Milton, Lord, 23
+
+  Mitchel, John, 157, 158
+
+  Moldavia and Wallachia, occupation by Russia of, 224, 229, 259
+
+  Monson, Lord, 23
+
+  Moore, Thomas, his 'Remonstrance,' 34;
+    accompanies Lord John Russell to the Continent, 36;
+    extracts from his journal, 37, 39, 41;
+    anxiety as to Lord John's politics, 52;
+    on Lord John's success with his motion for the repeal of the Test
+      and Corporation Acts, 58;
+    and Lardner's Encyclopædia, 91;
+    Russell's 'Memoirs and Correspondence' of Moore, 204, 272, 278
+
+  Morpeth, Lord, 141
+
+  Municipal Reform Act, 90, 104
+
+
+  NAPOLEON I., Lord Russell's boyish hatred of, 9;
+    Lord John's interview with him at Elba, 28-31;
+    his description of Wellington, 30;
+    opinions on European politics, &c., 29-31;
+    and Talma, 37
+
+  Napoleon III., 167;
+    and the _Coup d'État_ of 1851, 179;
+    and the fear of his invading England, 194;
+    and the custody of the Holy Places, 218;
+    his alliance with England during the Crimean War, 262;
+    visit to England (1855), 267;
+    interview with Count Cavour, 302;
+    designs with regard to Italy, 303, 304;
+    and the Peace of Villafranca, 303
+
+  Navigation Acts, 197
+
+  Nesselrode, Count, 214, 215
+
+  New Zealand becomes part of the British dominions, 117, 199
+
+  Newcastle, Duke of, 207, 232;
+    unpopularity as Secretary for War, 244, 249, 250;
+    incapacity as War Minister, 245
+
+  Newman, Dr., 161, 182
+
+  Nicholas, Emperor, his ambitious projects, 213, 214;
+    visit to England in 1844 and the Secret Memorandum, 215, 216;
+    friendship with Lord Aberdeen, 217;
+    letter to Queen Victoria, 230;
+    'Generals Janvier et Février,' 259;
+    death, 259
+
+  Nightingale, Miss Florence, 250
+
+  Nonconformists: the Indemnity Bill, 51;
+    agitation for repeal of Test and Corporation Acts and their repeal
+      moved and carried by Lord John Russell, 53-57;
+    the Marriage Bill and Registration Act, 106;
+    and the struggle for civil and religious liberty, 184;
+    deputation to Lord Russell, 366
+
+  Normanby, Lord, 116, 179, 180
+
+  Northcote, Sir Stafford, 369
+
+  Nottingham Castle, 79
+
+  'Nun of Arrouca, The,' 278
+
+
+  O'BRIEN, Smith, 140, 157, 158
+
+  O'Connell, Daniel, 53;
+    his election for Clare, 58, 90, 92;
+    on the revenues of the Irish Church, 97;
+    and the Coercion Bill, 97, 99, 140, 146;
+    and Lord John Russell, 147;
+    and the potato famine, 149, 158
+
+  O'Connor, Feargus, 165-168
+
+  Old Sarum, 23, 71
+
+  Oltenitza, battle of, 230
+
+  Omar Pacha, 230
+
+  Opium war, the, 121
+
+  Orloff, Count, 214
+
+  Orsini conspiracy, the, 289, 290
+
+  Oxford Movement, the, 161, 182-186, 189
+
+
+  PALMERSTON, Lord, 21, 56, 119;
+    and the despatch to Metternich, 120;
+    Foreign Secretary under Lord John Russell, 141;
+    compared with Russell, 144;
+    early official life and politics, 169;
+    his independent action, 169, 174, 175, 177;
+    his despatch to France on the Spanish marriages, 171;
+    foreign policy, 173, 174;
+    despatch to Sir H. Bulwer at Madrid, 174;
+    and the 'Don Pacifico' affair, 175;
+    popularity, 177;
+    and the Queen's instructions, 178;
+    and the Kossuth incident, 179;
+    and the _Coup d'État_ in Paris (1851), 179;
+    dismissed from the Foreign Office, 180;
+    declines the Irish Viceroyalty, 181;
+    his amendment on the Militia Bill, 195;
+    offered a seat in Lord Derby's Cabinet, 201;
+    Home Secretary under Lord Aberdeen, 207;
+    urges the despatch of the fleet to the Bosphorus, 225;
+    resignation, and its withdrawal, 237, 238;
+    succeeds Lord Aberdeen as Prime Minister, 258;
+    and Count Buol's proposals, 262, 263;
+    defeat on the 'Arrow' question and return to power after the General
+      Election, 287;
+    defeat and resignation on the Conspiracy Bill, 290;
+    renewal of friendly relations with Russell, 293;
+    forms a Ministry on the defeat of Lord Derby, 293, 295;
+    indifference to Reform, 296;
+    on Cabinet opinions, 323;
+    death, 325;
+    Lord Lyttelton's opinion of him, 326
+
+  Panmure, Lord, 243, 258
+
+  Papal aggression, and the decree of Pius IX., 182-184;
+    and the Durham Letter, 184-188
+
+  Paris, Treaty of, 268
+
+  Parliamentary representation before the era of Reform, 22, 23
+
+  Parnell, Sir H., 62
+
+  'Partington, Dame,' and Sydney Smith's speech on Reform, 80
+
+  'Peace with honour,' 227, 349
+
+  Peel, Lady Georgiana, 357
+
+  Peel, Sir Robert, 21, 50;
+    leader of the House of Commons under the Duke of Wellington, 52;
+    opposes the repeal of the Test and Corporation Acts, 56;
+    and Catholic Emancipation, 58;
+    and the first Reform Bill, 69, 70, 73, 76, 83;
+    Prime Minister, 102;
+    resignation, 104;
+    and the Whig Ladies-in-Waiting, 114;
+    his motion of want of confidence in the Melbourne Administration,
+      122;
+    again Prime Minister, 123, 124;
+    characteristics, 126, 127;
+    and the grant to Maynooth College, 127, 128, 130;
+    on the state of Ireland, 128;
+    and the repeal of the Corn Laws, 131;
+    resignation and resumption of office, 134, 136;
+    proposes gradual repeal of Corn Laws, 138, 139;
+    defeat and resignation on the Coercion Bill, 140, 155;
+    and Lord Palmerston, 170;
+    death, 176, 177;
+    and the Emperor Nicholas, 215
+
+  Pélissier, General, 263, 267
+
+  Pembroke Lodge, 307, 351-353, 356, 357
+
+  Penal Code, the, before the era of Reform, 24, 48, 107
+
+  Peninsular Campaign, its costliness, 22
+
+  Penryn, 40, 51, 52
+
+  People's Charter, the, 165
+
+  Peterloo Massacre, the, 38
+
+  Petty, Lord Henry (afterwards third Marquis of Lansdowne), 12
+
+  Pius IX., and his decree of 1850, 182, 183
+
+  Playfair, Professor John, 12
+
+  Polignac, Prince de, 60, 61
+
+  Polish revolt of 1863, 321
+
+  Poor Law Amendment Act (Ireland), 93, 107, 151
+
+  Poor Law Board, 160
+
+  Poor Laws, 89, 126
+
+  Potato famine, 130, 146, 148, 149
+
+  Prisons, regulation of, 107
+
+  Protestant Operative Association of Dublin, 129
+
+  Prussia and the Vienna Note, 227;
+    and the Crimean War, 243
+
+  Public Health Act, 162
+
+  'Punch,' cartoons, &c., in, 192, 241, 242, 307, 367
+
+  Pusey, Dr., 161 and _note_, 183
+
+
+  RAGLAN, Lord, 246, 252, 267
+
+  'Recollections and Suggestions,' publication of, 280
+
+  Redistribution of Seats Bill, 330
+
+  Redcliffe, Lord Stratford de: skill in diplomacy, and early diplomatic
+      life, 218-220;
+    return to Constantinople, 220, 221;
+    and the second Congress at Vienna, 260
+
+  Reform: its early advocates, 25-27;
+    and the Society of the Friends of the People, 25;
+    Lord John Russell's first speech on the subject, 35;
+    Sir Francis Burdett's motion of 1819, 35;
+    Lord John brings forward his first resolutions in the House of
+      Commons, 40;
+    disfranchisement of Grampound, 43;
+    Lord John's motion for an addition of 100 members to the House of
+      Commons, 43;
+    resolutions brought forward by Lord Blandford, 59;
+    rejection of Lord John's Bill for enfranchising Manchester,
+      Birmingham, and Leeds, 60;
+    O'Connell's motion for Triennial Parliaments, &c., 60;
+    declaration of the Duke of Wellington, 61;
+    the Committee of Four and the first Reform Bill, 67, 68;
+    introduction and second reading of the first Bill in the Commons,
+      69-73;
+    the second Bill, 75-78;
+    public excitement on the rejection of the second Bill by the House
+      of Lords, 79, 80;
+    the third Bill passes the Commons, 81;
+    the Bill passes the House of Lords, and receives the Royal Assent,
+      84;
+    secured by popular enthusiasm, 85, 87;
+    Lord John's Bill of 1852, 196;
+    Bill of 1854, 236, 237, 239;
+    Disraeli's Bill, 291, 292;
+    Lord John's Bill of 1860, 296;
+    Bill introduced by Mr. Gladstone, 328
+
+  Regent, Prince, insulted on returning from opening Parliament, 32;
+    and the Peterloo Massacre, 38
+
+  Revolution, French (1848), 171
+
+  Rice, Mr. Spring, 96
+
+  Richmond, Duke of, 89, 95, 124
+
+  Ripon, Lord, 95, 124
+
+  Roden, Lord, 113
+
+  Roebuck, J. A., and education, 89;
+    moves vote of confidence in the Russell Administration, 176;
+    his motion to inquire into the condition of the Army in the Crimea,
+      254
+
+  Rogers, Samuel, 123, 276
+
+  Rothschild, Baron, 291
+
+  Russell, Mr. G. W. E., 344
+
+  Russell, John, the first Constable of Corfe Castle, 1, 2
+
+  Russell, Sir John, Speaker of the House of Commons, 2
+
+  Russell, John, the third, and first Earl of Bedford, 2
+
+  Russell, Lord John: ancestry, 1, 2;
+    boyhood and education, 3-9;
+    schooldays at Sunbury and Westminster, 3-5;
+    extracts from journal kept at Westminster, 4, 5;
+    passion for the theatre, 4;
+    education under Dr. Cartwright, 5;
+    dedicates a manuscript book to Pitt, 6;
+    schooldays and schoolfellows at Woodnesborough, 6-9;
+    writes satirical verses and dramatic prologues, 7, 8;
+    opinion on the case of Lord Melville, 8;
+    influence of Mr. Fox upon him, 8;
+    at Holland House, 8, 336;
+    friendship with Sydney Smith, 8;
+    visit to the English lakes and Scotland, 9;
+    impressions of Sir Walter Scott, 9;
+    first visit to the House of Lords, 9;
+    visit to the Peninsula with Lord and Lady Holland, 9-11;
+    political predilections and sympathy with Spain, 9-11;
+    goes to Edinburgh University, 11;
+    impressions of Professors Dugald Stewart and John Playfair, 12, 13;
+    his powers of debate at the Edinburgh Speculative Society, 13;
+    early bias towards Parliamentary Reform, 14;
+    second visit to Spain, 14, 15;
+    first impressions of Lord Wellington, 15;
+    commands a company of the Bedfordshire Militia, 16;
+    third visit to Spain, 16-20;
+    on the field of Salamanca, 17;
+    at Wellington's head-quarters, 17;
+    his ride to Frenida, 18;
+    dines with a canon at Plasencia, 19;
+    at Talavera and Madrid, 20;
+    elected member for Tavistock, 20;
+    his opinion of Lord Liverpool, 21;
+    maiden speech in Parliament, 27;
+    speech on the Alien Acts, 27;
+    elected a member of Grillion's Club, 27;
+    his Italian tour of 1814-15, 28-31;
+    interview with Napoleon at Elba, 28-31;
+    speeches in Parliament against the renewal of war with France,
+      against the income-tax and the Army Estimates, 32;
+    on the proposal to suspend the Habeas Corpus Act, 33, 34;
+    proposes to abandon politics, 34;
+    literary labours and travel, 34;
+    returned again for Tavistock at the General Election of 1818, 34;
+    first speech in the House of Commons on Parliamentary Reform, 35;
+    growth of his influence in Parliament, 36;
+    visit to the Continent with Thomas Moore, 36, 37;
+    impressions of Italy, 37;
+    brings forward in Parliament his first resolutions in favour of
+      Reform, 40;
+    his bill for disfranchising Penryn, Camelford, Grampound, and
+      Barnstaple, 40;
+    returned to Parliament for Huntingdon, 40;
+    and the case of Grampound, 40, 41, 42, 43;
+    takes the side of Queen Caroline, 41;
+    writes 'The Nun of Arrouca,' 42;
+    taciturnity in French society, 42;
+    his resolutions for the discovery and punishment of bribery, &c.,
+      43, 44;
+    proposes an addition of 100 members to the House of Commons, 43;
+    increase of his political influence, 45, 46;
+    unseated in Huntingdonshire, and his second visit to Italy, 48, 49;
+    elected for Bandon Bridge, 49;
+    on the condition of the Tory party on Canning's accession to power,
+      50;
+    and restrictions upon Dissenters, 51;
+    proposal to enfranchise Manchester, 51;
+    moves the repeal of the Test and Corporation Acts, 55-57;
+    and Catholic Emancipation, 59;
+    rejection of his bill for enfranchising Manchester, Birmingham, and
+      Leeds, 60;
+    defeated at Bedford, 60;
+    visit to Paris, and efforts to save the life of Prince de Polignac,
+      60, 61;
+    elected for Tavistock, and appointed Paymaster-General, 62;
+    prepares the first Reform Bill in conjunction with Lord Durham and
+      others, 67;
+    introduces the bill, 69-72;
+    moves the second reading of the Bill, 73;
+    returned to Parliament for Devonshire, 75;
+    raised to Cabinet rank, and introduces second Reform Bill, 75;
+    reply to vote of thanks from Birmingham, 79;
+    introduces the third Reform Bill, 80;
+    carries the bill to the Lords, 81;
+    and the Municipal Reform Act, 90, 104;
+    opposition to Radical measures, 90;
+    and the wants of Ireland, 91;
+    visit to Ireland, 91, 92;
+    on Mr. Littleton's Irish Tithe Bill, 94, 95;
+    'upsets the coach,' 95;
+    on Coercion Acts, 97, 98;
+    allusion to his Biography of Fox, 98;
+    and the leadership in the House of Commons under the first Melbourne
+      Ministry, 100, 101;
+    William IV.'s opinion of him, 101;
+    returned for South Devon on Peel's accession to power, 102;
+    as leader of the Opposition, 103;
+    and the meeting at Lichfield House, 103;
+    defeats the Government with his Irish Church motion, 104;
+    marriage, 104, 355;
+    appointment to the Home Office in the second Melbourne
+      Administration, 104;
+    defeated in Devonshire, and elected for Stroud, 104;
+    presented with a testimonial at Bristol, 105;
+    and the Dissenters' Marriage Bill, 106;
+    and the Tithe Commutation Act, 106, 107;
+    again returned for Stroud, 107;
+    allusion to the accession of the Queen, 108;
+    declines to take part in further measures of Reform, and is called
+      by Radicals 'Finality John,' 110;
+    death of his wife, 112;
+    Education Bill of 1839, 114, 115;
+    as Colonial Secretary, 116-118, 338;
+    his appointment of a Chartist magistrate, 119;
+    and the Corn Laws, 121;
+    returned for the City of London, 122;
+    second marriage, 123;
+    Wellington's opinion of him, 123;
+    his opinion of Peel's Administration, 126;
+    supports Peel on the Maynooth question, 129, 130;
+    and the repeal of the Corn Laws, 131-134, 139;
+    and the 'Edinburgh Letter,' 133;
+    fails to form a Ministry on the resignation of Peel, 134, 135;
+    opposes Peel's proposal for renewal of Coercion Act, 139, 140;
+    succeeds Peel as Prime Minister, 141;
+    address in the City, 142;
+    political qualities, 143, 145;
+    contrasted with Palmerston, 144;
+    his measure for total repeal of Corn Laws, 145;
+    and sugar duties, 146;
+    proposes renewal of Irish Arms Bill, 146;
+    his Irish policy, and anxiety and efforts for the improvement of the
+      people, 151, 152, 156, 157, 158, 338, 342;
+    and the Arms Bill (1847), 154;
+    again visits Ireland, 158;
+    education measures, 159;
+    returned again for the City, 160;
+    his appointment of Dr. Hampden to the see of Hereford, 161;
+    and the Chartist demonstration of 1848, 166, 168;
+    relations with Lord Palmerston, 170;
+    on the political situation in Europe after the French Revolution of
+      1848, 171, 172;
+    and Palmerston's action in the 'Don Pacifico' affair, 176;
+    tribute to Sir Robert Peel, 177;
+    dismisses Palmerston from the Foreign Office, 180;
+    and the breach with Palmerston, 181;
+    his 'Durham Letter,' 184-191;
+    introduces the Ecclesiastical Titles Bill, 191;
+    resigns the Premiership, but returns to office on the failure of
+      Lord Stanley to form a Ministry, 193;
+    resignation on the vote on the Militia Bill, 195;
+    his Reform Bill of 1852, 196;
+    defence of Lord Clarendon, 196;
+    edits 'Memoirs and Journal of Thomas Moore,' 204;
+    accepts Foreign Secretaryship in the Aberdeen Administration, 206;
+    his vacillation in taking office under Lord Aberdeen not due to
+      personal motives, 205;
+    retires from Foreign Office, 210, 221;
+    on the projects of Russia, 218, 224, 225;
+    and the Vienna Note, 227;
+    speech at Greenock on the prospects of war, 227;
+    memorandum to the Cabinet on the eve of the Crimean War, 228;
+    Reform Bill of 1854, 236, 239, 241;
+    resignation, 241;
+    resumes his seat in the Cabinet, 242;
+    speech in the House of Commons on withdrawing his Reform measure,
+      242, 243;
+    proposes a rearrangement of the War and Colonial departments, 244,
+      248, 251;
+    presses Lord Aberdeen to take decisive action with regard to the
+      Crimean War, 248;
+    memorandum on the Crimean War, 251;
+    proposed resignation, 251, 252;
+    resignation on Roebuck's motion to inquire into the condition of the
+      Army in the Crimea, and his speech on the question, 254-257;
+    becomes Colonial Secretary in Palmerston's Government, 258;
+    plenipotentiary at second Congress of Vienna, 259-263;
+    consents at Palmerston's request to remain in the Ministry, 263;
+    explanations in the House of Commons regarding the failure of the
+      Vienna Conference, 264, 265;
+    announces his resignation (1855), 265;
+    speech in defence of his late colleagues against Roebuck's motion of
+      censure, 266;
+    his mistake in joining the Coalition Ministry, 271;
+    leisure, travel, &c., 272;
+    literary labours, 272-281, 354;
+    and the pension for Moore, 278;
+    remarks on his own career in 'Recollections and Suggestions,' 281,
+      336;
+    allusions to Joseph Lancaster, 282;
+    work in the cause of education, 282-285, 339;
+    scheme of National Education (1856), 284;
+    opposes Lord Palmerston on the 'Arrow' question, 287;
+    speech in the City and re-election, 287, 288;
+    supports Palmerston at the Indian Mutiny crisis, 288;
+    on the Conspiracy Bill, 289, 290;
+    supports Lord Derby in passing the India Bill, 290;
+    thanked by Jews for his aid in removing their disabilities, 291;
+    attacks Disraeli's Reform Bill, 292;
+    renewal of friendly intercourse with Palmerston, 293;
+    relations with Cobden and Bright, 294;
+    joins Palmerston's Administration (1859) as Foreign Secretary, 295;
+    introduces a new Reform Bill, 296;
+    raised to the Peerage, 297;
+    acquires the Ardsalla estate, and receives the Garter, 298;
+    his work at the Foreign Office, 299, 300;
+    intervention in Italian affairs, 304, 339;
+    protests against the annexation of Savoy by France, 305;
+    receives Garibaldi at Pembroke Lodge, 307;
+    his reception in Italy, 307;
+    and the 'Trent' affair, 311;
+    and the 'Alabama' case, 313-319, 341;
+    on the Polish revolt, 321;
+    and the Schleswig-Holstein difficulty, 322, 323;
+    as Foreign Secretary, 323, 324;
+    on Palmerston's vivacity, 325;
+    second Premiership on the death of Palmerston, 325;
+    tribute to Lord Palmerston, 327;
+    defeated on the questions of Reform and Redistribution of Seats,
+      331;
+    Mr. Lecky's reminiscences of him, 335-339;
+    relations with colleagues and opponents, 336, 337, 347;
+    speech on the maintenance of the independence of Belgium, 340;
+    letter on the claims of the Vatican, 341, 342;
+    letters to the 'Times' on the government of Ireland, 343;
+    and Home Rule, 338, 343, 344;
+    independent attitude towards the throne, 344;
+    relations with Lord Aberdeen, 346, 347;
+    Lord Selborne's impressions of him, 345;
+    his private secretaries' impressions of him, 347, 348;
+    life at Pembroke Lodge, 351-353;
+    stories about doctors, 350;
+    visit of Bulgarian delegates, 352;
+    friendships, 355;
+    his use of patronage, 355;
+    his children, 356;
+    home life, and his children's reminiscences, 356-361;
+    Dr. Anderson's recollections, 361;
+    a meeting with Carlyle, 362;
+    Lord Dufferin's recollections, 363;
+    religious faith, 364;
+    interview with Spurgeon, 365;
+    at Cheshunt College, 365;
+    Nonconformist deputation, 366;
+    'Golden Wedding,' 367;
+    death, 367;
+    opinion of Lord Shaftesbury, 368;
+    a remark of Sir Stafford Northcote's, 369
+
+  Russell, Hon. Rollo, 360, 367
+
+  Russell, William, Member of Parliament in the reign of Edward II., 2
+
+  Russell, Lord William (of the seventeenth century), 1;
+    Lord John Russell's Biography of him, 274
+
+  Russell, Lord William, Lord John Russell's brother, 6;
+    wounded at Talavera, 14, 34;
+    letter to Lord John, 49
+
+  Russia, and India, 31, 218;
+    projects and demands with regard to Turkey, 223, 224;
+    occupation of Moldavia and Wallachia, 224, 229;
+    rejection of the Vienna Note, 226;
+    destroys Turkish fleet at Sinope, 230;
+    evacuates the Principalities, 243;
+    operations in the Crimea, 246-252;
+    death of the Emperor Nicholas, 259;
+    fall of Sebastopol, and losses in the war, 268;
+    and the Polish revolt, 321
+
+
+  SALAMANCA, battle of, 16, 17
+
+  Sardinia, and the Crimean War, 267
+
+  Schleswig-Holstein question, the, 172, 322, 323
+
+  Scott, Sir Walter, Lord John Russell's first acquaintance with, 9;
+    and the Edinburgh Speculative Society, 13, 91, 355
+
+  Sebastopol, siege and fall of, 246, 247, 268
+
+  Secret Memorandum, the, 216, 225
+
+  Sefton, Lord, 75
+
+  Selborne, Lord, on the 'Alabama' case, 312-319;
+    impressions of Lord Russell, 345
+
+  Seymour, Sir Hamilton, 214
+
+  Seymour, Lord Webb, 12
+
+  Shaftesbury, Lord, and factory children, 89;
+    and Lord John Russell's support of Peel, 129, 130;
+    and the Factory Bill, 159;
+    special constable in 1848, 167;
+    and Cardinal Wiseman's manifesto, 187;
+    on the Coalition Government, 211, 212, 368
+
+  'Shannon' and the 'Chesapeake,' battle between the, 22
+
+  Shelley and the Peterloo massacre, 38
+
+  Sheridan, Mr., 25
+
+  Sidmouth, Lord, 21, 40, 63, 85
+
+  Simpson, General, 267
+
+  Sinope, destruction of Turkish fleet at, 230, 232, 233
+
+  Slave trade, 22, 48, 89
+
+  Smith, Rev. --, Vicar of Woodnesborough, a tutor of Lord John
+      Russell's, 6
+
+  Smith, Dr. Southwood, and the Public Health Act, 162
+
+  Smith, Sydney, friendship with Lord John Russell, 8;
+    on Reform, 27;
+    on the political situation after Canning's accession to power, 50,
+      51;
+    and 'Dame Partington,' 80;
+    hopeful of the triumph of Reform, 84;
+    and 'Lord John Reformer,' 90;
+    on Lord John's influence in the Melbourne Government, 113
+
+  Society of the Friends of the People, 25, 63
+
+  Solferino, battle of, 303
+
+  Spain, Lord John Russell's visit with Lord and Lady Holland, 9-11;
+    Lord John's sympathy, 9, 10;
+    Lord John's second visit, 14, 15;
+    Lord John's third visit and adventures, 16-20;
+    entry of Wellington into Madrid, 16;
+    the Spanish marriages, 171, 172;
+    Lord Palmerston's interference, 174
+
+  Spencer, Lord, on the alliance of England with France, 120
+
+  Spurgeon, C. H., 365
+
+  Stanhope, Colonel, 14, 15
+
+  Stanley, Lord, and Irish affairs, 92, 93;
+    Secretary for the Colonies, 93;
+    and the Irish Church, 95;
+    withdraws from Lord Grey's Cabinet, 95;
+    Secretary for the Colonies under Peel, 124, 134;
+    succeeds to the House of Lords, 141;
+    challenges Palmerston's foreign policy, 176;
+    fails to form a Ministry on the resignation of Lord John Russell,
+      193
+
+  Stanmore, Lord, 118, 119, 211, 231, 233, 347
+
+  Stansfeld, Mr., 327
+
+  Stewart, Dugald, 12
+
+  Stockmar, Baron, 101, 216
+
+  Sussex, Duke of, and the claims of Dissenters, 53
+
+  Sweden, and the Crimean War, 267
+
+  Syllogism, a merry canon's, 19
+
+
+  TAHITI incident, the, 125
+
+  Tavistock, monastic lands granted to the first Earl of Bedford, 2;
+    election of Lord John Russell as member for, 20, 62
+
+  Tavistock, Lord, elder brother of Lord John Russell, 6, 11
+
+  Tennyson, Mr., 90
+
+  Tennyson, Lord, his appointment as Poet Laureate, 355
+
+  Test and Corporation Acts; agitation for their total repeal, 53, 54;
+    speech of Fox, 54, 55;
+    their provisions, 54;
+    jubilee of repeal, 366
+
+  Tithe Acts (Ireland): Mr. Littleton's Bill, 93, 94;
+    Bill of 1835, 105, 107;
+    Bill passes through Parliament, 112
+
+  Tithe Commutation Act, 106, 107
+
+  Tooke, Horne, 26
+
+  Trafalgar Square demonstration on the Reform question, 332
+
+  Treason Felony Act, 157
+
+  Treaty of Paris (1856), 268
+
+  'Trent' affair, the, 310-312
+
+  Turkey, war with Egypt, 119;
+    and the custody of the Holy Places in Palestine, 213;
+    the 'sick man' of Europe, 214, 215;
+    oppression of Christian subjects, 217;
+    reception of Lord Stratford de Redcliffe, 222;
+    and the Vienna Note, 224-227;
+    ultimatum to Russia, 229;
+    destruction of fleet by Russia at Sinope, 230;
+    and the second Congress at Vienna, 259-262;
+    and the Treaty of Paris, 268, 269
+
+
+  UNIVERSITY of London, 106, 107;
+    proposed enfranchisement of, 296
+
+
+  VANSITTART, Mr., 21
+
+  Vaughan, Cardinal, on Romish practices in the Anglican Church, 190,
+      191
+
+  Victor Emmanuel II., accession to the throne of Sardinia, and efforts
+      to secure Italian independence, 301;
+    proclaimed King of Italy, 306
+
+  Victoria, Queen, accession, 107;
+    her regard for Lord Melbourne, 108, 109;
+    declines to dismiss her Whig Ladies-in-Waiting, 114;
+    visit to Ireland, 158;
+    instructions to Lord Palmerston, 178;
+    letter to Lord John Russell on the formation of a Coalition
+      Government, 203;
+    her view of the Coalition Ministry, 208;
+    reply to letter from the Czar on the eve of the Crimean War, 230;
+    and the death of the Prince Consort, 309;
+    letter to Lord Russell on the death of Palmerston, 326;
+    opens Parliament (1866), 328;
+    letter to Lady Russell on the death of the Earl, 368
+
+  Vienna, revolt of (1848), 171;
+    Congress, 224;
+    second Congress, 259-262
+
+  Vienna Note, 224-228
+
+  Villafranca, Treaty of, 303
+
+  Villiers, Mr. Charles, 121, 208
+
+  Vittoria, battle of, 20
+
+  Vitzthum, Count, 217, 324
+
+
+  WALPOLE, Mr. Spencer, on the Arms Bill of the Russell Administration,
+      154;
+    retires from the Home Office on the introduction of Disraeli's
+      Reform Bill, 291, 330
+
+  Ward, Mr., and the Irish Church, 90, 95
+
+  Wellington, Duke of, Lord John Russell's first impressions of, 15,
+      16, 17;
+    described by Napoleon, 30, 50;
+    becomes Prime Minister, 52;
+    and Catholic Emancipation, 58, 59;
+    his declaration against Reform, 61, 65;
+    resignation, 62;
+    predictions on the Reform question, 69;
+    failure to form a Ministry, 83;
+    lament on the triumph of Reform, 85, 114;
+    opinion of Lord John, 123;
+    and the Anti-Corn-Law agitation, 136, 137;
+    and the demonstration on Kennington Common of 1848, 166, 167;
+    and Sir Robert Peel, 176;
+    death, 200;
+    and the Emperor Nicholas, 215
+
+  Wesley, influence of the preaching of, 24
+
+  Westminster School, its condition at the beginning of the century, 3;
+    Lord John's experiences at, 3-5;
+    some of its celebrated scholars, 3, 4
+
+  Westmoreland, Lord, 50
+
+  Wetherell, Mr., and the first Reform Bill, 69
+
+  Whitfield, influence of his preaching, 24
+
+  Wilberforce, William, 89
+
+  William IV., his accession, 61, 64;
+    receives a petition in favour of the Grey Administration, 80;
+    refuses his sanction for the creation of new peers, 83;
+    lampooned, 83;
+    urges the House of Lords to withdraw opposition to the Reform Bill,
+      84;
+    dismisses the first Melbourne Ministry, 100, 101;
+    his opinion of Lord John Russell, 101
+
+  Winchilsea, Lord, 57
+
+  Wiseman, Cardinal, 182, 183, 186, 187
+
+  Wolseley, Sir Charles, 38
+
+  Wood, Sir Charles, 141, 193, 258
+
+  Working classes, their condition and claims in 1848, 163-165
+
+  Wynn, Mr. Charles, 41
+
+
+  ZÜRICH, Treaty of, 303
+
+_Spottiswoode & Co. Printers, New-street Square, London._
+
+
+
+
+The Queen's Prime Ministers
+
+
+A SERIES OF POLITICAL BIOGRAPHIES
+
+EDITED BY
+
+STUART J. REID.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+     * *
+      * A Limited Library Edition of _Two Hundred and Fifty copies_,
+     each numbered, printed on hand-made paper, parchment binding, gilt
+     top, with facsimile reproductions, in some cases of characteristic
+     notes of Speeches and Letters, which are not included in the
+     ordinary Edition, and some additional Portraits.
+
+  Price for the Complete Set of NINE VOLUMES,
+  FOUR GUINEAS NETT.
+  NO VOLUMES OF THIS EDITION SOLD SEPARATELY.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+_VOLUMES ALREADY PUBLISHED._
+
+
+THE EARL OF BEACONSFIELD, K.G.
+
+BY JAMES ANTHONY FROUDE, D.C.L.
+
+SEVENTH EDITION. With Photogravure Portrait. Crown 8vo. 3_s._ 6_d._
+
+    'There is something in Mr. Froude's account even of these years
+    which will be new to Lord Beaconsfield's admirers as well as to his
+    critics, and will contribute to the final estimate of his place in
+    the annals of our generation.'--TIMES (Leader).
+
+    'We believe that Mr. Froude's estimate of Lord Beaconsfield, on the
+    whole, will be the one accepted by posterity.... It is the man's
+    character which interests us; and this, we think, Mr. Froude has
+    exhibited in its true light, and in colours that will not
+    fade.'--STANDARD.
+
+
+LORD MELBOURNE
+
+BY HENRY DUNCKLEY ('VERAX').
+
+With Photogravure Portrait. 3_s._ 6_d._
+
+    'It is hard to imagine a better piece of work than this short study
+    of Lord Melbourne by Mr. Dunckley. Amongst some of the most amusing
+    of Mr. Dunckley's pages--and hardly a page of this little book is
+    dull after the preliminary matter is passed by--is his account of
+    Lord Melbourne's dealings with theology and Church preferments....
+    Of two lives of the Queen's Prime Ministers which have as yet
+    appeared, we certainly give the preference to Mr. Dunckley's over
+    Mr. Froude's. Mr. Froude had the more attractive theme, but Mr.
+    Dunckley has made more of the less interesting theme.'--SPECTATOR.
+
+
+SIR ROBERT PEEL
+
+BY JUSTIN McCARTHY, M.P.
+
+SECOND EDITION, with an additional Chapter. With Photogravure Portrait.
+Crown 8vo. 3_s._ 6_d._
+
+    'Mr. McCarthy relates clearly and well the main incidents of Peel's
+    political life, and deals fairly with the great controversies which
+    still rage about his conduct in regard to the Roman Catholic Relief
+    Bill and the Repeal of the Corn Laws.'
+
+        SATURDAY REVIEW.
+
+    'Mr. McCarthy's chapters on Catholic Emancipation are written with
+    admirable impartiality, and he does ample justice to that
+    high-minded administrator, Lord Anglesey.'--ATHENÆUM.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+NEW EDITION. TWELFTH THOUSAND.
+
+THE RT. HON. W. E. GLADSTONE, M.P.
+
+BY G. W. E. RUSSELL.
+
+With Photogravure Portrait. Crown 8vo. 3_s._ 6_d._
+
+    'Written in a manly and independent spirit, which we should expect
+    in one of his lineage ... an honest book.'--WORLD.
+
+    'One of the most complete and succinct accounts of his extraordinary
+    career that we have yet received.... A volume which we may specially
+    commend as the most attractive and authoritative history of the man
+    with whom it deals that has yet been given to the world.... Mr.
+    Russell's clear and able sketch of one whom he is justly proud to
+    call his friend.'--SPEAKER.
+
+
+THE MARQUIS OF SALISBURY, K.G.
+
+BY H. D. TRAILL, D.C.L.
+
+SECOND EDITION. With Photogravure Portrait. Crown 8vo. 3_s._ 6_d._
+
+    'It is a good thing when a book is written as a gentleman should
+    write it; a good thing when it is written as a scholar should write
+    it; a good thing when it is written as a man full of practical and
+    theoretical knowledge of his subject should write it. But it is a
+    very rare thing indeed to find, as we find here, all three merits in
+    combination. The result is not only a remarkable criticism on a man;
+    it is, in part of it at least, the best and ... the most impartial
+    sketch of recent political history that we have recently
+    seen.'--SATURDAY REVIEW.
+
+
+LORD PALMERSTON
+
+BY THE MARQUIS OF LORNE.
+
+SECOND EDITION. With Photogravure Portrait. Crown 8vo. 3_s._ 6_d._
+
+    'The Marquis of Lorne's little book must be consulted by every
+    student who wishes to get a thorough understanding of European
+    history in the early part of the century. The documents to which the
+    author has obtained access ... are both interesting and
+    authoritative.'--STANDARD.
+
+
+THE EARL OF DERBY
+
+BY GEORGE SAINTSBURY.
+
+With Photogravure Portrait. Crown 8vo. 3_s._ 6_d._
+
+    'A biography distinguished throughout by scrupulous fairness to its
+    subject.... It is perhaps superfluous to add that the book is
+    written with all Mr. Saintsbury's customary animation of style, and
+    that it abounds in those shrewd and often humorous comments on men
+    and affairs which enliven everything he writes.'
+
+        SATURDAY REVIEW.
+
+
+THE EARL OF ABERDEEN
+
+BY SIR ARTHUR GORDON, G.C.M.G. &c.
+
+With Portrait. Crown 8vo. 3_s._ 6_d._
+
+    'This little book, unlike its companion volumes, contains original
+    documents of solid historical importance, and hitherto no authentic
+    biography of Lord Aberdeen has existed, and the editor of the series
+    certainly made a large demand upon Sir Arthur Gordon's good nature
+    when he requested a biography compressed within the limits
+    prescribed. The author, however, has surmounted all difficulties
+    with admirable skill.'--ATHENÆUM.
+
+
+LORD JOHN RUSSELL
+
+BY STUART J. REID.
+
+With Portrait. Crown 8vo. 3_s._ 6_d._
+
+    The book contains a good deal of new material concerning the career
+    of the last of the great Whig statesmen. The Dowager-Countess of
+    Russell has given Mr. Reid access to her own journals, and has
+    personally taken a lively interest in the book; while other
+    relatives, intimate friends, and political associates have lent
+    their assistance.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+London: SAMPSON LOW, MARSTON & COMPANY, LIMITED,
+
+St. Dunstan's House, Fetter Lane, Fleet Street, E.C.
+
+
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE:
+
+
+  The original punctuation, language and spelling have been retained,
+  except where noted [correction in brackets]. Minor typographical
+  errors have been corrected without note.
+
+
+  Pg. 8: atmosphere of Woburn and Woodnesborourgh[Woodnesborough]
+
+  Pg. 18: and ink, and a bag of money. He woul[would] not carry anything
+
+  Pg. 74: said that the electors in the approachhing[approaching]
+
+  Pg. 86: wrote Mr. Froude in in[omitted] 1874. 'Its population
+
+  Pg. 244: riend[friend], Mr. Sidney Herbert, were regarded, perhaps
+
+  Pg. 265: a matter magnified beyond its true porportions[proportions].'
+
+  Pg. 376: and the _Coup d'Etat [d'État]_ of 1851, 179;
+
+  Pg. 376: and the _Coup d'Etat [d'État]_ in Paris (1851), 179;
+
+
+
+***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LORD JOHN RUSSELL***
+
+
+******* This file should be named 27553-8.txt or 27553-8.zip *******
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+<h1 class="pg">The Project Gutenberg eBook, Lord John Russell, by Stuart J. Reid</h1>
+<pre>
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at <a href = "http://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a></pre>
+<p>Title: Lord John Russell</p>
+<p>Author: Stuart J. Reid</p>
+<p>Release Date: December 17, 2008  [eBook #27553]</p>
+<p>Language: English</p>
+<p>Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1</p>
+<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LORD JOHN RUSSELL***</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<h3 class="pg">E-text prepared by Susan Skinner, Emanuela Piasentini,<br />
+    and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team<br />
+    (http://www.pgdp.net)</h3>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<hr class="full" />
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<a id="johnrussell" name="johnrussell"></a>
+<img src="images/johnrussell.jpg" height="500" width="344"
+alt="Lord John Russell" title="Lord John Russell" />
+
+<p class="caption">Reproduced by permission from an unpublished picture by G. F. Watts, R. A. in the
+possession of the Dowager Countess Russell at Pembroke Lodge, Richmond<br />
+
+Photogravure by Annan &amp; Swan.</p></div>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_i" id="Page_i">[i]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<a id="series" name="series"></a>
+<img src="images/series.jpg" height="148" width="500"
+alt="The Prime Ministers of Queen Victoria" title="The Prime Ministers of Queen Victoria" /></div>
+
+<p class="title"><small>EDITED BY</small><br /><br />
+STUART J. REID</p>
+
+<p class="title" style="letter-spacing: 0.1em;"><big><i>LORD JOHN RUSSELL</i></big><br /><br /></p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_ii" id="Page_ii">[ii]</a></span>
+</p>
+
+<div class="series">
+<p class="center" style="font-size: 150%; font-family: sans-serif;">THE QUEEN&rsquo;S PRIME MINISTERS</p>
+
+<p class="center">A SERIES OF POLITICAL BIOGRAPHIES.</p>
+
+<p class="center"><small>EDITED BY</small></p>
+<p class="center" style="letter-spacing: 0.1em; font-size: larger;">STUART J. REID</p>
+
+<p class="center"><small>AUTHOR OF &lsquo;THE LIFE AND TIMES OF SYDNEY SMITH.&rsquo;</small></p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p class="center"><i>The volumes contain Photogravure Portraits,<br />
+also copies of Autographs.</i></p>
+
+<p class="center">I.<br />
+
+<b>THE EARL OF BEACONSFIELD, K.G.</b> By <span class="smcap">J. A. Froude</span>, D.C.L.
+(Seventh Edition.)</p>
+
+<p class="center">II.<br />
+
+<b>VISCOUNT MELBOURNE.</b> By <span class="smcap">Henry Dunckley</span>, LL.D. (&lsquo;Verax.&rsquo;)</p>
+
+<p class="center">III.<br />
+
+<b>SIR ROBERT PEEL.</b> By <span class="smcap">Justin McCarthy</span>, M.P.</p>
+
+<p class="center">IV.<br />
+
+<b>THE RIGHT HON. W. E. GLADSTONE, M.P.</b> By <span class="smcap">G. W. E.
+Russell</span>. (Twelfth Thousand.)</p>
+
+<p class="center">V.<br />
+
+<b>THE MARQUIS OF SALISBURY.</b> By <span class="smcap">H. D. Traill</span>, D.C.L. (Second
+Edition.)</p>
+
+<p class="center">VI.<br />
+
+<b>VISCOUNT PALMERSTON.</b> By the <span class="smcap">Marquis of Lorne</span>. (Second
+Edition.)</p>
+
+<p class="center">VII.<br />
+
+<b>THE EARL OF DERBY.</b> By <span class="smcap">George Saintsbury</span>.</p>
+
+<p class="center">VIII.<br />
+
+<b>THE EARL OF ABERDEEN.</b> By <span class="smcap">Lord Stanmore</span>.</p>
+
+<p class="center">IX.<br />
+
+<b>LORD JOHN RUSSELL.</b> By <span class="smcap">Stuart J. Reid</span>.</p>
+
+<p class="ads"><sup>*</sup><sub>*</sub><sup>*</sup> A Limited Library Edition of TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY
+COPIES, each numbered, printed on hand-made paper, parchment binding,
+gilt top, with facsimile reproductions, in some cases of characteristic notes
+of Speeches and Letters, which are not included in the ordinary edition,
+and some additional Portraits. Price for the Complete Set of Nine Volumes,
+<b>Four Guineas net.</b> No Volumes of this Edition sold separately.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p class="center"><span class="smcap">London</span>:<br />
+
+SAMPSON LOW, MARSTON &amp; COMPANY, <span class="smcap">Limited</span>,<br />
+<b>St. Dunstan&rsquo;s House</b>, <span class="smcap">Fetter Lane, Fleet Street</span>, E.C.</p>
+</div>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_iii" id="Page_iii">[iii]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<h1>LORD JOHN RUSSELL</h1>
+
+<p class="title">BY</p>
+
+<p class="title">STUART J. REID<br /><br /></p>
+
+<div class="blockquot">
+<p>I have looked to the happiness of my countrymen as the object
+to which my efforts ought to be directed</p>
+
+<p class="sig"><i>Recollections and Suggestions</i></p>
+</div>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<p class="title">LONDON</p>
+
+<p class="title">SAMPSON LOW, MARSTON &amp; COMPANY<br />
+<small><i>LIMITED</i></small><br />
+<b>St. Dunstan&rsquo;s House</b><br /><br />
+FETTER LANE, FLEET STREET, E.C.<br /><br />
+
+1895<br /><br /></p>
+
+<p class="title">[<i>All rights reserved</i>]
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_iv" id="Page_iv">[iv]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_v" id="Page_v">[v]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<p class="title">TO THE<br /><br />
+
+<span style="font-size: larger;">LADY MARY AGATHA RUSSELL</span><br /><br />
+
+<span style="font-size: smaller;">THIS RECORD<br /><br />
+
+OF</span><br /><br />
+
+HER FATHER&rsquo;S CAREER<br /><br />
+
+<span style="font-size: smaller;">IS<br /><br />
+
+WITH TRUE REGARD</span><br /><br />
+
+DEDICATED</p>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_vi" id="Page_vi">[vi]</a></span>
+<br /></p>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_vii" id="Page_vii">[vii]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<h2>PREFACE</h2>
+<hr style="width: 3em; height: 1px; color: black; background-color: black; border: none;" />
+
+<p class="noi"><span class="smcap">This</span> monograph could not have been written&mdash;in the intimate
+sense&mdash;if the Dowager Countess Russell had not
+extended a confidence which, I trust, has in no direction
+been abused. Lady Russell has not only granted me access
+to her journal and papers as well as the early note-books of
+her husband, but in many conversations has added the
+advantage of her own reminiscences.</p>
+
+<p>I am also indebted in greater or less degree to Mrs.
+Warburton, Lady Georgiana Peel, Lady Agatha Russell, the
+Hon. Rollo Russell, Mr. G. W. E. Russell, and the Hon.
+George Elliot. Mr. Elliot&rsquo;s knowledge, as brother-in-law,
+and for many years as private secretary, touches both the personal
+and official aspects of Lord John&rsquo;s career, and it has
+been freely placed at my disposal. Outside the circle of
+Lord John&rsquo;s relatives I have received hints from the Hon.
+Charles Gore and Sir Villiers Lister, both of whom, at one
+period or another in his public life, also served him in the
+capacity of secretary.</p>
+
+<p>I have received some details of Lord John&rsquo;s official life
+from one who served under him in a more public capacity&mdash;not,
+however, I hasten to add, as Chancellor of the Exchequer&mdash;but
+I am scarcely at liberty in this instance to
+mention my authority.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_viii" id="Page_viii">[viii]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>My thanks are due, in an emphatic sense, to my friend
+Mr. Spencer Walpole, who, with a generosity rare at all times,
+has not only allowed me to avail myself of facts contained
+in his authoritative biography of Lord John Russell, but has
+also glanced at the proof sheets of these pages, and has
+given me, in frank comment, the benefit of his own singularly
+wide and accurate knowledge of the historical and political
+annals of the reign. It is only right to add that Mr. Walpole
+is not in any sense responsible for the opinions expressed
+in a book which is only partially based on his own, is not
+always in agreement with his conclusions, and which follows
+independent lines.</p>
+
+<p>The letter which the Queen wrote to the Countess Russell
+immediately after the death of one of her &lsquo;first and most
+distinguished Ministers&rsquo; is now printed with her Majesty&rsquo;s
+permission.</p>
+
+<p>The late Earl of Selborne and Mr. Lecky were sufficiently
+interested in my task to place on record for the volume some
+personal and political reminiscences which speak for themselves,
+and do so with authority.</p>
+
+<p>I am also under obligations of various kinds to the Marquis
+of Dufferin and Ava, the Earl of Durham, Lord
+Stanmore, Dr. Anderson of Richmond, and the Rev. James
+Andrews of Woburn. I desire also to acknowledge the
+courtesy of Mr. Gladstone, Mr. Andrew Lang, Mr. James
+Knowles, Mr. Percy Bunting, Mr. Edwin Hodder, Messrs.
+Longmans, and the proprietors of &lsquo;Punch,&rsquo; for liberty to
+quote from published books and journals.</p>
+
+<p>In Montaigne&rsquo;s words, &lsquo;The tales I borrow, I charge upon
+the consciences of those from whom I have them.&rsquo; I have
+gathered cues from all quarters, but in almost every case my
+indebtedness stands recorded on the passing page.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_ix" id="Page_ix">[ix]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The portrait which forms the frontispiece is for the first
+time reproduced, with the sanction of the Countess Russell
+and Mr. G. F. Watts, from an original crayon drawing which
+hangs on the walls at Pembroke Lodge.</p>
+
+<p>It may be as well to anticipate an obvious criticism by
+stating that the earlier title of the subject of this memoir is
+retained, not only in deference to the strongly expressed wish
+of the family at Pembroke Lodge, but also because it suggests
+nearly half a century spent in the House of Commons
+in pursuit of liberty. In the closing days of Earl Russell&rsquo;s
+life his eye was accustomed to brighten, and his manner
+to relax, when some new acquaintance, in the eagerness of
+conversation, took the liberty of familiar friendship by
+addressing the old statesman as &lsquo;Lord John.&rsquo;</p>
+
+<p class="sig">
+STUART J. REID.<br />
+<br /></p>
+<p><span class="smcap">Chislehurst</span>: <i>June 4, 1895</i>.</p>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_x" id="Page_x">[x]</a></span><br />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xi" id="Page_xi">[xi]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="CONTENTS" id="CONTENTS"></a>CONTENTS</h2>
+
+
+<table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" width="60%" summary="Table of Contents">
+<tr>
+<td class="tdc" colspan="2">CHAPTER I</td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdcb" colspan="2">EARLY YEARS, EDUCATION, AND TRAVEL<br /><br />
+
+1792-1813</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdind">
+Rise of the Russells under the Tudors&mdash;Childhood and early surroundings
+of Lord John&mdash;Schooldays at Westminster&mdash;First
+journey abroad with Lord Holland&mdash;Wellington and the Peninsular
+campaign&mdash;Student days in Edinburgh and speeches at
+the Speculative Society&mdash;Early leanings in politics and literature&mdash;Enters
+the House of Commons as member for Tavistock</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_1">1</a></td></tr>
+
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdc" colspan="2">CHAPTER II</td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdcb" colspan="2">
+IN PARLIAMENT AND FOR THE PEOPLE<br /><br />
+1813-1826</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdind">
+The political outlook when Lord John entered the House of
+Commons&mdash;The &lsquo;Condition of England&rsquo; question&mdash;The
+struggle for Parliamentary Reform&mdash;Side-lights on Napoleon
+Bonaparte&mdash;The Liverpool Administration in a panic&mdash;Lord
+John comes to the aid of Sir Francis Burdett&mdash;Foreign travel&mdash;First
+motion in favour of Reform&mdash;Making headway</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_21">21</a></td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdc" colspan="2">CHAPTER III</td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdcb" colspan="2">
+WINNING HIS SPURS<br /><br />
+1826-1830</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdind">
+Defeated and out of harness&mdash;Journey to Italy&mdash;Back in Parliament&mdash;Canning&rsquo;s
+accession to power&mdash;Bribery and corruption<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xii" id="Page_xii">[xii]</a></span>&mdash;The
+repeal of the Test and Corporation Acts&mdash;The struggle
+between the Court and the Cabinet over Catholic Emancipation&mdash;Defeat
+of Wellington at the polls&mdash;Lord John appointed
+Paymaster-General</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_47">47</a></td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdc" colspan="2">CHAPTER IV</td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdcb" colspan="2">
+A FIGHT FOR LIBERTY<br /><br />
+1830-1832</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdind">
+Lord Grey and the cause of Reform&mdash;Lord Durham&rsquo;s share in
+the Reform Bill&mdash;The voice of the people&mdash;Lord John introduces
+the bill and explains its provisions&mdash;The surprise of the
+Tories&mdash;Reform, &lsquo;Aye&rsquo; or &lsquo;No&rsquo;&mdash;Lord John in the Cabinet&mdash;The
+bill thrown out&mdash;The indignation of the country&mdash;Proposed
+creation of Peers&mdash;Wellington and Sidmouth in despair&mdash;The
+bill carried&mdash;Lord John&rsquo;s tribute to Althorp</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_63">63</a></td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdc" colspan="2">CHAPTER V</td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdcb" colspan="2">
+THE DAWN OF A NEW ERA<br /><br />
+1833-1838</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdind">
+The turn of the tide with the Whigs&mdash;The two voices in the
+Cabinet&mdash;Lord John and Ireland&mdash;Althorp and the Poor Law&mdash;The
+Melbourne Administration on the rocks&mdash;Peel in power&mdash;The
+question of Irish tithes&mdash;Marriage of Lord John&mdash;Grievances
+of Nonconformists&mdash;Lord Melbourne&rsquo;s influence
+over the Queen&mdash;Lord Durham&rsquo;s mission to Canada&mdash;Personal
+sorrow</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_88">88</a></td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdc" colspan="2">CHAPTER VI</td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdcb" colspan="2">
+THE TWO FRONT BENCHES<br /><br />
+1840-1845</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdind">
+Lord John&rsquo;s position in the Cabinet and in the Commons&mdash;His
+services to Education&mdash;Joseph Lancaster&mdash;Lord John&rsquo;s
+Colonial Policy&mdash;Mr. Gladstone&rsquo;s opinion&mdash;Lord Stanmore&rsquo;s
+recollections&mdash;The mistakes of the Melbourne Cabinet&mdash;The
+Duke of Wellington&rsquo;s opinion of Lord John&mdash;The agitation
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xiii" id="Page_xiii">[xiii]</a></span>
+against the Corn Laws&mdash;Lord John&rsquo;s view of Sir Robert Peel&mdash;The
+Edinburgh letter&mdash;Peel&rsquo;s dilemma&mdash;Lord John&rsquo;s comment
+on the situation</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_113">113</a></td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdc" colspan="2">CHAPTER VII</td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdcb" colspan="2">
+FACTION AND FAMINE<br /><br />
+1846-1847</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdind">
+Peel and Free Trade&mdash;Disraeli and Lord George Bentinck
+lead the attack&mdash;Russell to the rescue&mdash;Fall of Peel&mdash;Lord
+John summoned to power&mdash;Lord John&rsquo;s position in the
+Commons and in the country&mdash;The Condition of Ireland
+question&mdash;Famine and its deadly work&mdash;The Russell Government
+and measures of relief&mdash;Crime and coercion&mdash;The Whigs
+and Education&mdash;Factory Bill&mdash;The case of Dr. Hampden</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_136">136</a></td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdc" colspan="2">CHAPTER VIII</td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdcb" colspan="2">
+IN ROUGH WATERS<br /><br />
+1848-1852</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdind">
+The People&rsquo;s Charter&mdash;Feargus O&rsquo;Connor and the crowd&mdash;Lord
+Palmerston strikes from his own bat&mdash;Lord John&rsquo;s view of the
+political situation&mdash;Death of Peel&mdash;Palmerston and the Court&mdash;&lsquo;No
+Popery&rsquo;&mdash;The Durham Letter&mdash;The invasion scare&mdash;Lord
+John&rsquo;s remark about Palmerston&mdash;Fall of the Russell
+Administration</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_163">163</a></td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdc" colspan="2">CHAPTER IX</td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdcb" colspan="2">
+COALITION BUT NOT UNION<br /><br />
+1852-1853</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdind">
+The Aberdeen Ministry&mdash;Warring elements&mdash;Mr. Gladstone&rsquo;s
+position&mdash;Lord John at the Foreign Office and Leader of the
+House&mdash;Lady Russell&rsquo;s criticisms of Lord Macaulay&rsquo;s statement&mdash;A
+small cloud in the East&mdash;Lord Shaftesbury has his
+doubts</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_199">199</a>
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xiv" id="Page_xiv">[xiv]</a></span></td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdc" colspan="2">CHAPTER X</td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdcb" colspan="2">
+DOWNING STREET AND CONSTANTINOPLE<br /><br />
+1853</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdind">
+Causes of the Crimean War&mdash;Nicholas seizes his opportunity&mdash;The
+Secret Memorandum&mdash;Napoleon and the susceptibilities
+of the Vatican&mdash;Lord Stratford de Redcliffe and the Porte&mdash;Prince
+Menschikoff shows his hand&mdash;Lord Aberdeen hopes
+against hope&mdash;Lord Palmerston&rsquo;s opinion of the crisis&mdash;The
+Vienna Note&mdash;Lord John grows restive&mdash;Sinope arouses
+England&mdash;The deadlock in the Cabinet</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_213">213</a></td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdc" colspan="2">CHAPTER XI</td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdcb" colspan="2">
+WAR HINDERS REFORM<br /><br />
+1854-1855</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdind">
+A Scheme of Reform&mdash;Palmerston&rsquo;s attitude&mdash;Lord John sore let
+and hindered&mdash;Lord Stratford&rsquo;s diplomatic triumph&mdash;The
+Duke of Newcastle and the War Office&mdash;The dash for Sebastopol&mdash;Procrastination
+and its deadly work&mdash;The Alma&mdash;Inkerman&mdash;The
+Duke&rsquo;s blunder&mdash;Famine and frost in the
+trenches</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_236">236</a></td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdc" colspan="2">CHAPTER XII</td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdcb" colspan="2">
+THE VIENNA DIFFICULTY<br /><br />
+1855</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdind">
+Blunders at home and abroad&mdash;Roebuck&rsquo;s motion&mdash;&lsquo;General
+Février&rsquo; turns traitor&mdash;France and the Crimea&mdash;Lord John at
+Vienna&mdash;The pride of the nation is touched&mdash;Napoleon&rsquo;s visit
+to Windsor&mdash;Lord John&rsquo;s retirement&mdash;The fall of Sebastopol&mdash;The
+treaty of Paris</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_254">254</a>
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xv" id="Page_xv">[xv]</a></span></td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdc" colspan="2">CHAPTER XIII</td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdcb" colspan="2">
+LITERATURE AND EDUCATION</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdind">
+Lord John&rsquo;s position in 1855&mdash;His constituency in the City&mdash;Survey
+of his work in literature&mdash;As man of letters&mdash;His
+historical writings&mdash;Hero-worship of Fox&mdash;Friendship with
+Moore&mdash;Writes the biography of the poet&mdash;&lsquo;Don Carlos&rsquo;&mdash;A
+book wrongly attributed to him&mdash;Publishes his &lsquo;Recollections
+and Suggestions&rsquo;&mdash;An opinion of Kinglake&rsquo;s&mdash;Lord John on
+his own career&mdash;Lord John and National Schools&mdash;Joseph
+Lancaster&rsquo;s tentative efforts&mdash;The formation of the Council of
+Education&mdash;Prejudice blocks the way&mdash;Mr. Forster&rsquo;s tribute</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_270">270</a></td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdc" colspan="2">CHAPTER XIV</td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdcb" colspan="2">
+COMING BACK TO POWER<br /><br />
+1857-1861</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdind">
+Lord John as an Independent Member&mdash;His chance in the City&mdash;The
+Indian Mutiny&mdash;Orsini&rsquo;s attempt on the life of
+Napoleon&mdash;The Conspiracy Bill&mdash;Lord John and the Jewish
+Relief Act&mdash;Palmerston in power&mdash;Lord John at the Foreign
+Office&mdash;Cobden and Bright&mdash;Quits the Commons with a
+Peerage</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_286">286</a></td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdc" colspan="2">CHAPTER XV</td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdcb" colspan="2">
+UNITED ITALY AND THE DIS-UNITED STATES<br /><br />
+1861-1865</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdind">
+Lord John at the Foreign Office&mdash;Austria and Italy&mdash;Victor
+Emmanuel and Mazzini&mdash;Cavour and Napoleon III.&mdash;Lord
+John&rsquo;s energetic protest&mdash;His sympathy with Garibaldi and
+the struggle for freedom&mdash;The gratitude of the Italians&mdash;Death
+of the Prince Consort&mdash;The &lsquo;Trent&rsquo; affair&mdash;Lord
+John&rsquo;s remonstrance&mdash;The &lsquo;Alabama&rsquo; difficulty&mdash;Lord Selborne&rsquo;s
+statement&mdash;The Cotton Famine</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_299">299</a>
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xvi" id="Page_xvi">[xvi]</a></span></td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdc" colspan="2">CHAPTER XVI</td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdcb" colspan="2">
+SECOND PREMIERSHIP<br /><br />
+1865-1866</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdind">
+The Polish Revolt&mdash;Bismarck&rsquo;s bid for power&mdash;The Schleswig-Holstein
+difficulty&mdash;Death of Lord Palmerston&mdash;The Queen
+summons Lord John&mdash;The second Russell Administration&mdash;Lord
+John&rsquo;s tribute to Palmerston&mdash;Mr. Gladstone introduces
+Reform&mdash;The &lsquo;Cave of Adullam&rsquo;&mdash;Defeat of the Russell
+Government&mdash;The people accept Lowe&rsquo;s challenge&mdash;The
+feeling in the country</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_320">320</a></td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdc" colspan="2">CHAPTER XVII</td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdcb" colspan="2">
+OUT OF HARNESS<br /><br />
+1867-1874</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdind">
+Speeches in the House of Lords&mdash;Leisured years&mdash;Mr. Lecky&rsquo;s
+reminiscences&mdash;The question of the Irish Church&mdash;The
+Independence of Belgium&mdash;Lord John on the claims of the
+Vatican&mdash;Letters to Mr. Chichester Fortescue&mdash;His scheme
+for the better government of Ireland&mdash;Lord Selborne&rsquo;s estimate
+of Lord John&rsquo;s public career&mdash;Frank admissions&mdash;As his
+private secretaries saw him</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_334">334</a></td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdc" colspan="2">CHAPTER XVIII</td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdcb" colspan="2">
+PEMBROKE LODGE<br /><br />
+1847-1878</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdind">
+Looking back&mdash;Society at Pembroke Lodge&mdash;Home life&mdash;The
+house and its memories&mdash;Charles Dickens&rsquo;s speech at Liverpool&mdash;Literary
+friendships&mdash;Lady Russell&rsquo;s description of her
+husband&mdash;A packet of letters&mdash;His children&rsquo;s recollections&mdash;A
+glimpse of Carlyle&mdash;A witty impromptu&mdash;Closing days&mdash;Mr.
+and Mrs. Gladstone&mdash;The jubilee of the Repeal of the
+Test and Corporation Acts&mdash;&lsquo;Punch&rsquo; on the &lsquo;Golden Wedding&rsquo;&mdash;Death&mdash;The
+Queen&rsquo;s letter&mdash;Lord Shaftesbury&rsquo;s
+estimate of Lord John&rsquo;s career&mdash;His great qualities</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_349">349</a></td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdind"><br />INDEX</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_371">371</a></td></tr>
+</table>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[1]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h1><a name="LORD_JOHN_RUSSELL" id="LORD_JOHN_RUSSELL"></a>LORD JOHN RUSSELL</h1>
+<hr style="width: 3em; height: 1px; color: black; background-color: black; border: none;" />
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I</h2>
+
+<p class="title">EARLY YEARS, EDUCATION, AND TRAVEL<br /><br />
+
+1792-1813</p>
+
+<p class="desc">Rise of the Russells under the Tudors&mdash;Childhood and early surroundings
+of Lord John&mdash;Schooldays at Westminster&mdash;First journey
+abroad with Lord Holland&mdash;Wellington and the Peninsular campaign&mdash;Student
+days in Edinburgh and speeches at the Speculative
+Society&mdash;Early leanings in Politics and Literature&mdash;Enters the
+House of Commons as member for Tavistock.</p>
+
+
+<p class="noi"><span class="smcap">Government</span> by great families was once a reality in
+England, and when Lord John Russell&rsquo;s long career began
+the old tradition had not yet lost its ascendency. The
+ranks of privilege can at least claim to have given at more
+than one great crisis in the national annals leaders to the
+cause of progress. It is not necessary in this connection
+to seek examples outside the House of Bedford, since the
+name of Lord William Russell in the seventeenth century
+and that of Lord John in the nineteenth stand foremost
+amongst the champions of civil and religious liberty.
+Hugh du Rozel, according to the Battle Roll, crossed from
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[2]</a></span>
+Normandy in the train of the Conqueror. In the reign
+of Henry III. the first John Russell of note was a small
+landed proprietor in Dorset, and held the post of Constable
+of Corfe Castle. William Russell, in the year of Edward II.&rsquo;s
+accession, was returned to Parliament, and his lineal descendant,
+Sir John Russell, was Speaker of the House of Commons
+in the days of Henry VI. The real founder, however,
+of the fortunes of the family was the third John Russell
+who is known to history. He was the son of the Speaker,
+and came to honour and affluence by a happy chance.
+Stress of weather drove Philip, Archduke of Austria
+and, in right of his wife, King of Castile, during a
+voyage from Flanders to Spain in the year 1506, to take
+refuge at Weymouth. Sir Thomas Trenchard, Sheriff of
+Dorset, entertained the unexpected guest, but he knew
+no Spanish, and Philip of Castile knew no English. In
+this emergency Sir Thomas sent in hot haste for his
+cousin, Squire Russell, of Barwick, who had travelled
+abroad and was able to talk Spanish fluently. The Archduke,
+greatly pleased with the sense and sensibility of his
+interpreter, insisted that John Russell must accompany
+him to the English Court, and Henry VII., no mean judge
+of men, was in turn impressed with his ability. The result
+was that, after many important services to the Crown, John
+Russell became first Earl of Bedford, and, under grants from
+Henry VIII. and Edward VI., the rich monastic lands of
+Tavistock and Woburn passed into his possession. The
+part which the Russells as a family have played in history
+of course lies outside the province of this volume, which is
+exclusively concerned with the character and career in
+recent times of one of the most distinguished statesmen of
+the present century.
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[3]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Lord John Russell was born on August 18, 1792, at
+Hertford Street, Mayfair. His father, who was second son of
+Lord Tavistock, and grandson of the fourth Duke of Bedford,
+succeeded his brother Francis, as sixth Duke, in 1802, at
+the age of thirty-six, when his youngest and most famous
+son was ten years old. Long before his accession to the
+title, which was, indeed, quite unexpected, the sixth Duke
+had married the Hon. Georgiana Byng, daughter of Viscount
+Torrington, and the statesman with whose career these pages
+are concerned was the third son of this union. He spent
+his early childhood at Stratton Park, Hampshire. When
+he was a child of eight, Stratton Park was sold by the Duke
+of Bedford, and Oakley House, which he never liked so
+well, became the residence of his father. Although a shy,
+delicate child, he was sent in the spring of 1800, when only
+eight, to a private school at Sunbury&mdash;only a mile or two
+away from Richmond, where nearly eighty years later he
+died. In the autumn of 1801 he lost his mother, to whom
+he was deeply attached, and almost before the bewildered
+child had time to realise his loss, his uncle Francis also died,
+and his father, in consequence, became Duke of Bedford.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">SCHOOLDAYS AT WESTMINSTER</div>
+
+<p>From Sunbury the motherless boy was sent with his
+elder brother to Westminster, in 1803, and the same year
+the Duke married Lady Georgiana Gordon, a daughter
+of the fourth Duke of Gordon, and her kindness to her stepchildren
+was marked and constant. Westminster School at
+the beginning of the century was an ill-disciplined place, in
+which fighting and fagging prevailed, and its rough and
+boisterous life taxed to the utmost the mettle of the plucky
+little fellow. He seems to have made no complaint, but to
+have taken his full share in the rough-and-tumble sports of
+his comrades in a school which has given many distinguished
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[4]</a></span>
+men to the literature and public life of England: as, for
+instance, the younger Vane&mdash;whom Milton extolled&mdash;Ben
+Jonson and Dryden, Prior and Locke, Cowper and Southey,
+Gibbon and Warren Hastings.</p>
+
+<p>He learnt Latin at Westminster, and was kept to the
+work of translation, but he used to declare somewhat ruefully
+in after-days that he had as a schoolboy to devote
+the half-holidays to learning arithmetic and writing, and
+these homely arts were taught him by a pedagogue who
+seems to have kept a private school in Great Dean&rsquo;s Yard.
+Many years later Earl Russell dictated to the Countess some
+reminiscences of his early days, and since Lady Russell has
+granted access to them, the following passages transcribed
+from her own manuscript will be read with interest:&mdash;&lsquo;My
+education, for various reasons, was not a very regular
+one. It began, indeed, in the usual English way by my
+going to a very bad private school at Sunbury, and my being
+transferred to a public school at Westminster at ten or eleven.
+But I never entered the upper school. The hard life of a
+fag&mdash;for in those days it was a hard life&mdash;and the unwholesome
+food disagreed with me so much that my stepmother,
+the Duchess of Bedford, insisted that I should be taken
+away and sent to a private tutor.&rsquo; At Westminster School
+physical hardihood was always encouraged. &lsquo;If two boys
+were engaged to fight during the time of school, those boys
+who wanted to see the fight had to leave school for the
+purpose.&rsquo; At this early period a passion for the theatre
+possessed him, drawing him to Drury Lane or Covent Garden
+whenever an opportunity occurred; and this kind of relaxation
+retained a considerable hold upon him throughout the
+greater portion of his life. Even as a child he was a bit of
+a philosopher. In the journal which he began to keep in
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[5]</a></span>
+the year he went to Westminster School is the following
+entry:&mdash;&lsquo;October 28, 1803.&mdash;Very great mist in the morning,
+but afternoon very fine. There was a grand review to-day
+by the King in Hyde Park of the Volunteers. I did not go,
+as there was such a quantity of people that I should have
+seen nothing, and should have been knocked down.&rsquo; Most
+of the entries in the boy&rsquo;s journal are pithy statements of
+matter of fact, as, for instance:&mdash;&lsquo;Westminster, Monday,
+October 10.&mdash;I was flogged to-day for the first time.&rsquo; A few
+days later the young diarist places on record what he calls
+some of the rules of the school. He states that lessons
+began every morning at eight, and that usually work was
+continued till noon, with an interval at nine for breakfast.
+Lessons were resumed at two on ordinary days, and finished
+for the day at five. &lsquo;All the fellows have verses on Thursdays
+and Saturdays. We go on Sundays to church in the
+morning in Henry VII.&rsquo;s Chapel, and in the evening have
+prayers in the school.&rsquo;</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">DR. CARTWRIGHT AND WOBURN</div>
+
+<p>His &lsquo;broken and disturbed&rsquo; education was next resumed
+at Woburn Abbey under Dr. Cartwright; the Duke&rsquo;s domestic
+chaplain, and brother to Major Cartwright, the well-known
+political reformer. The chaplain at Woburn was a many-sided
+man. He was not only a scholar and a poet, but
+also possessed distinct mechanical skill, and afterwards won
+fame as the inventor of the power-loom. He was quick-witted
+and accomplished, and it was a happy circumstance
+that the high-spirited, impressionable lad, who by this
+time was full of dreams of literary distinction, came under
+his influence. &lsquo;I acquired from Dr. Cartwright,&rsquo; declared
+Lord John, &lsquo;a taste for Latin poetry which has never left
+me.&rsquo; Not merely at work but at play, his new friend came
+to his rescue. &lsquo;He invented the model of a boat which was
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[6]</a></span>
+moved by clockwork and acted upon the water by a paddle
+underneath. He gave me the model, and I used to make
+it go across the ponds in the park.&rsquo; Meanwhile literature
+was not forgotten, and before long the boy&rsquo;s juvenile effusions
+filled a manuscript book, which with an amusing
+flourish of trumpets was dedicated to &lsquo;the Right Hon.
+William Pitt, Chancellor of the Exchequer.&rsquo; A couple of
+sentences will reveal its character, and the dawning humour
+of the youthful scribe:&mdash;&lsquo;This little volume, being graced
+with your name, will prosper; without it my labour would
+be all in vain. May you remain at the Helm of State long
+enough to bestow a pension on your very humble and
+obedient servant, John Russell.&rsquo;</p>
+
+<p>Between the years 1805 and 1808 Lord John pursued
+his education under a country parson in Kent. He was
+placed under the care of Mr. Smith, Vicar of Woodnesborough,
+near Sandwich, an ardent Whig, who taught a select
+number of pupils, amongst whom were several cadets of the
+aristocracy; and to this seminary Lord John now followed
+his brothers, Lord Tavistock and Lord William Russell.
+Amongst his schoolfellows at Woodnesborough was the
+Lord Hartington of that generation, Lord Clare, Lord
+William Fitzgerald, and a future Duke of Leinster. The
+vicar in question, worthy Mr. Smith, was nicknamed &lsquo;Dean
+Smigo&rsquo; by his pupils, but Lord John, looking back in
+after-years, declared that he was an excellent man, well
+acquainted with classical authors, both Greek and Latin,
+though &lsquo;without any remarkable qualities either of character
+or understanding.&rsquo; He evidently won popularity amongst
+the boys by joining in their indoor amusements and granting
+frequent holidays, particularly on occasions when the Whig
+cause was triumphant in the locality or in Parliament.
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[7]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">SMALL GAME</div>
+
+<p>Rambles inland and on the seashore, pony riding,
+shooting small birds, cricket, and other sports, as well as
+winter evening games, filled up the ample leisure from the
+duties of the schoolroom. One or two extracts from his
+journal are sufficient to show that, although still weakly, he
+was not lacking in boyish vivacity and in a healthy desire
+to emulate his elders. When Grenville and Fox joined
+their forces and so brought about the Ministry of &lsquo;All the
+Talents&rsquo; the lads obtained a holiday&mdash;a fact which is thus
+recorded in sprawling schoolboy hand by Lord John in his
+diary. &lsquo;Saturday, February 8, 1806.&mdash;... We did no
+business on Mr. Fox&rsquo;s coming into the Ministry. I shot a
+couple of larks beyond Southerden.... I went out
+shooting for the first time with Mr. Smith&rsquo;s gun. I got
+eight shots at little birds and killed four of them.&rsquo; On
+November 5 in the same year we find him writing:&mdash;&lsquo;Eliza&rsquo;s
+[Miss Smith&rsquo;s] birthday. No business. I went out shooting,
+but only killed some little birds. I used to shoot much
+better than I do at present. Always miss now; have not
+killed a partridge yet.&rsquo; Poor boy! But he lived to kill
+two deer and a wild boar. &lsquo;Similarity of age led me,&rsquo; states
+Lord John, in one of his unpublished notes, &lsquo;to form a more
+intimate friendship with Clare than with any of the others,
+and our mutual liking grew into a strong attachment on
+both sides. I only remark this fact as Lord Byron, who had
+been a friend of Clare&rsquo;s at Harrow, appears to have shown
+some boyish jealousy when the latter expressed his sorrow
+at my departure for Spain.&rsquo;</p>
+
+<p>Now and then he turned his gift for composing verses
+in the direction of a satire on some political celebrity. He
+also wrote and spoke the prologue at private dramatic performances
+at Woburn during the holiday season, and took
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[8]</a></span>
+the part of &lsquo;Lucy&rsquo; in &lsquo;The Rivals.&rsquo; A little later, in the
+brief period of his father&rsquo;s viceroyalty, he wrote another
+prologue, and on this occasion amused an Irish audience by
+his assumption of the part of an old woman.</p>
+
+<p>The political atmosphere of Woburn and <ins class="correction" title="Transcriber's note: original reads 'Woodnesborourgh'">Woodnesborough</ins>
+as well as his father&rsquo;s official position, led the boy of
+fourteen to take a keen interest in public affairs. His satirical
+verses on Melville, Pitt, Hawkesbury, and others, together
+with many passages in his journal, showed that his attention
+was frequently diverted from grammar and lexicon, field
+sports and footlights, to politics and Parliament, and the
+struggle amongst statesmen for place and power. Although
+little is known of the actual incidents of Lord John&rsquo;s boyhood,
+such straws at least show the direction in which the
+current of his life was setting.</p>
+
+<p>Whilst Lord John was the guest of Mr. Fox at Stable
+Yard, the subject of Lord Melville&rsquo;s acquittal by the Peers
+came up for discussion. Next day the shrewd young critic
+wrote the following characteristic remark in his journal:
+&lsquo;What a pity that he who steals a penny loaf should be
+hung, whilst he who steals thousands of the public money
+should be acquitted!&rsquo; The brilliant qualities of Fox made
+a great impression on the lad, and there can be little doubt
+that his intercourse with the great statesman, slight and
+passing though it was, did much to awaken political
+ambition. He also crossed the path of other men of light
+and leading in the political world, and in this way, boy
+though he was, he grew familiar with the strife of parties and
+the great questions of the hour. Holland House opened
+its hospitable gates to him, and there he met a young clergyman
+of an unconventional type&mdash;the Rev. Sydney Smith&mdash;with
+whom he struck up a friendship that was destined to
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[9]</a></span>
+endure. The young schoolboy has left it on record in that
+inevitable &lsquo;journal&rsquo; that he found his odd clerical acquaintance
+&lsquo;very amusing.&rsquo;</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">WITH LORD HOLLAND IN SPAIN</div>
+
+<p>In the summer of 1807 we learn from his journal that
+he passed three months with his father and stepmother at the
+English lakes and in the West of Scotland. With boyish
+glee he recounts the incidents of the journey, and his
+delight in visiting Inverary, Edinburgh, and Melrose. Yet
+it was his rambles and talks with Sir Walter Scott, whom he
+afterwards described as one of the wonders of the age, that
+left the most abiding impression upon him. On his
+way back to Woodnesborough he paid his first visit to
+the House of Lords, and heard a debate on the Copenhagen
+expedition, an affair in which, he considered,
+&lsquo;Ministers cut a most despicable figure.&rsquo; On quitting
+school life at Woodnesborough, an experience was in store
+for him which enlarged his mental horizon, and drew out his
+sympathies for the weak and oppressed. Lord and Lady
+Holland had taken a fancy to the lad, and the Duke of
+Bedford consented to their proposal that he should accompany
+them on their visit to the Peninsula, then the scene
+of hostilities between the French and the allied armies
+of England and Spain. The account of this journey is best
+told in Lord John&rsquo;s own words:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>&lsquo;In the autumn of 1808, when only sixteen years of age,
+I accompanied Lord and Lady Holland to Corunna, and
+afterwards to Lisbon, Seville, and Cadiz, returning by Lisbon
+to England in the summer of 1809. They were eager for
+the success of the Spanish cause, and I joined to sympathy
+for Spain a boyish hatred of Napoleon, who had treacherously
+obtained possession of an independent country by force
+and fraud&mdash;force of immense armies, fraud of the lowest
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[10]</a></span>
+kind.&rsquo; There is in existence at Pembroke Lodge a small
+parchment-bound volume marked &lsquo;Diary, 1808,&rsquo; which
+records in his own handwriting Lord John&rsquo;s first impressions
+of foreign travel. The notes are brief, but they show that
+the writer even then was keenly alive to the picturesque.
+The journal ends somewhat abruptly, and Lord John confesses
+in so many words that he gave up this journal in
+despair, a statement which is followed by the assertion that
+the record at least possesses the &lsquo;merit of brevity.&rsquo;</p>
+
+<p>Spain was in such a disturbed condition that the tour
+was full of excitement. War and rumours of war filled the
+air, and sudden changes of route were often necessary in
+order to avoid perilous encounters with the French. The
+travellers were sometimes accompanied by a military escort,
+but were more frequently left to their devices, and evil tidings
+of disaster to the Allies&mdash;often groundless, but not less
+alarming&mdash;kept the whole party on the alert, and proved,
+naturally, very exciting to the lad, who under such strange
+and dramatic circumstances gained his first experience of
+life abroad. Lord John had, however, taken with him his
+Virgil, Tacitus, and Cicero, and now and then, forgetful of
+the turmoil around him, he improved his acquaintance with
+the classics. He also studied the Spanish language, with
+the result that he acquired an excellent conversational knowledge
+of it. The lad had opinions and the courage of
+them, and when he saw the cause of the Spanish beginning
+to fail he was exasperated by the apathy of the Whigs at
+home, and accordingly, with the audacity of youth, wrote
+to his father:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>&lsquo;I take the liberty of informing you and your Opposition
+friends that the French have not conquered the whole of
+Spain.... Lord Grey&rsquo;s speech appears to me either a mere
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[11]</a></span>
+attempt to plague Ministers for a few hours or a declaration
+against the principle of the people&rsquo;s right to depose an infamous
+despot.... It seems to be the object of the Opposition
+to prove that Spain is conquered, and that the
+Spaniards like being robbed and murdered.&rsquo; It seems,
+therefore, that Lord John, even in his teens, was inclined
+to be dogmatic and oracular, but the soundness of his
+judgment, in this particular instance at least, is not less
+remarkable than his sturdy mental independence. Like his
+friend Sydney Smith, he was already becoming a lover of
+justice and of sympathy towards the oppressed.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">THE QUESTION OF A UNIVERSITY</div>
+
+<p>In the summer of 1809, after a short journey to Cadiz,
+Lord Holland and his party crossed the plains of Estremadura
+on mules to Lisbon and embarked for England,
+though not without an unexpected delay caused by a slight
+attack of fever on the part of Lord John. On the voyage
+back Lord Holland and his secretary, Mr. Allen, pointed
+out to him the advantages of going to Edinburgh for the
+next winter, and in a letter to his father, dated Spithead,
+August 10, 1809, he adds: &lsquo;They say that I am yet too
+young to go to an English university; that I should learn
+more there [Edinburgh] in the meantime than I should anywhere
+else.&rsquo;</p>
+
+<p>He goes on to state that he is convinced by their arguments,
+in spite of the fact that he had previously expressed
+&lsquo;so much dislike to an academical career in Edinburgh.&rsquo;
+The truth is, Lord John wished to follow his elder brother,
+Lord Tavistock, to Cambridge; but the Duke would not hear
+of the idea, and bluntly declared that nothing at that time
+was to be learnt at the English universities.</p>
+
+<p>On his return to England it was decided to send Lord
+John to continue his studies at Edinburgh University. The
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[12]</a></span>
+Northern Athens at that time was full of keen and varied
+intellectual life, and the young student could scarcely have
+set foot in it at a more auspicious moment. Other cadets
+of the English aristocracy, such as Lord Webb Seymour
+and Lord Henry Petty, were attracted at this period to the
+Northern university, partly by the restrictive statutes of
+Oxford and Cambridge, but still more by the genius and
+learning of men like Dugald Stewart and John Playfair.</p>
+
+<p>The Duke of Bedford placed his son under the roof of
+the latter, who at that time held the chair of mathematics
+in the university, with the request that he would take a
+general oversight of his studies. Professor Playfair was a
+teacher who quickened to a remarkable extent the powers of
+his pupils, and at the same time by his own estimable qualities
+won their affection. Looking back in after-years, Lord
+John declared that &lsquo;Professor Playfair was one of the most
+delightful of men and very zealous lover of liberty.&rsquo; He
+adds that the simplicity of the distinguished mathematician,
+as well as the elevation of his sentiments, was remarkable.</p>
+
+<p>It is interesting to learn from Professor Playfair&rsquo;s own
+statement that he was quickly impressed with the ability
+of Lord John. Ambition was stirring in the breast of
+the young Whig, and though he could be idle enough
+at times, he seems on the whole to have lent his mind with
+increasing earnestness to the tasks of the hour. He also
+attended the classes of Professor Dugald Stewart during the
+three years he spent in the grey metropolis of the North, and
+the influence of that remarkable man was not merely stimulating
+at the time, but materially helped to shape his whole
+philosophy of life. After he had left Edinburgh, Lord John
+wrote some glowing lines about Dugald Stewart, which
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[13]</a></span>
+follow&mdash;afar off, it must be admitted&mdash;the style of Pope. We
+have only space to quote a snatch:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">&rsquo;Twas he gave laws to fancy, grace to thought,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Taught virtue&rsquo;s laws, and practised what he taught.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<div class="sidenote">LIFE IN EDINBURGH</div>
+
+<p>Intellectual stimulus came to him through another
+channel. He was elected in the spring of 1810 a member of
+the Edinburgh Speculative Society, and during that and the
+two following years he was zealous in his attendance at its
+weekly meetings. The Speculative Society was founded
+early in the reign of George III., and no less distinguished
+a man than Sir Walter Scott acted for a term of years as
+its secretary. It sought to unite men of different classes
+and pursuits, and to bring young students and more experienced
+thinkers and men of affairs together in friendly
+but keen debate on historical, philosophical, literary, and
+political questions.</p>
+
+<p>It is certain that Lord John first discovered his powers
+of debate in the years when he took a prominent part in the
+Tuesday night discussions in the hall which had been
+erected for the Speculative Society in 1769 in the grounds
+of the university. The subjects about which he spoke are
+at least of passing interest even now as a revelation of character,
+for they show the drift of his thoughts. He was not
+content with merely academic themes, such as Queen
+Elizabeth&rsquo;s treatment of Mary Queen of Scots, or the policy
+of Alcibiades. Topics of more urgent moment, like the war
+of 1793, the proceedings of the Spanish Cortes in 1810, the
+education of the poor, the value of Canada to Great Britain,
+and one at least of the burning subjects of the day&mdash;the
+imprisonment of Gale Jones in Newgate by order of the
+House of Commons&mdash;claimed his attention and drew forth
+his powers of argument and oratory. His mind was already
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[14]</a></span>
+turning in the direction of the subject of Parliamentary
+Reform, and from Edinburgh he forwarded to his father
+an essay on that subject, which still exists among the family
+papers. It shows that he was preparing to vindicate even
+then on a new field the liberal and progressive traditions
+of the Russells.</p>
+
+<p>The Duke of Bedford was never too busy or preoccupied
+to enter into his son&rsquo;s political speculations. He encouraged
+him to continue the habit of reasoning and writing on the
+great questions of the day, and Lord John, who in spite of
+uncertain health had no lack of energy, cheered by such
+kindly recognition, was not slow to respond to his father&rsquo;s
+sensible advice.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">WELLINGTON AND THE WAR</div>
+
+<p>Meanwhile the war in the Peninsula was progressing, and
+it appealed to the Edinburgh undergraduate now with new
+and even painful interest. His brother, Lord William Russell,
+had accompanied his regiment to Spain in the summer of
+1809, and had been wounded at the battle of Talavera. In
+the course of the following summer, Lord John states, in a
+manuscript which is in Lady Russell&rsquo;s possession: &lsquo;I went
+to Cadiz to see my brother William, who was then serving on
+the staff of Sir Thomas Graham. The head-quarters was in a
+small town on the Isle of Leon, and the General, who was
+one of the kindest of men, gave me a bed in his house during
+the time that I remained there.&rsquo; Cadiz was at the moment
+besieged by the French, and Lord John proceeds to describe
+the strategical points in its defence. Afterwards he
+accompanied Colonel Stanhope, a member of General
+Graham&rsquo;s staff, to the head-quarters of Lord Wellington,
+who had just occupied with his army the lines of Torres
+Vedras. He thus records his impressions of the great
+soldier, and of the spectacle which lay before him:
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[15]</a></span>&mdash;&lsquo;Standing
+on the highest point, and looking around him
+on every side, was the English General, his eyes bright and
+searching as those of an eagle, his countenance full of hope,
+beaming with intelligence as he marked with quick perception
+every movement of troops and every change of circumstance
+within the sweep of the horizon. On each side of
+the fort of Sobral rose the entrenchments of the Allies,
+bristling with guns and alive with the troops who formed
+the garrison of this fortified position. Far off, on the left,
+the cliffs rose to a moderate elevation, and the lines of
+Torres Vedras were prominent in the distance.... There
+stood the advanced guard of the conquering legions of
+France; here was the living barrier of England, Spain, and
+Portugal, prepared to stay the destructive flood, and to
+preserve from the deluge the liberty and independence of
+three armed nations. The sight filled me with admiration,
+with confidence, and with hope.&rsquo;</p>
+
+<p>Wellington told Colonel Stanhope that there was nothing
+he should like better than to attack the enemy, but since
+the force which he commanded was England&rsquo;s only army,
+he did not care to risk a battle. &lsquo;In fact, a defeat would
+have been most disastrous, for the English would have been
+obliged to retreat upon Lisbon and embark for England,
+probably after suffering great losses.&rsquo; Within a fortnight
+Lord John was back again in London, and over the dinner
+table at Holland House the enterprising lad of eighteen was
+able to give Lord Grey an animated account of the prospects
+of the campaign, and of the appearance of Wellington&rsquo;s
+soldiers. The desire for Cambridge revived in Lord John
+with the conclusion of his Edinburgh course. His wishes
+were, however, overruled by his father, who, as already hinted,
+held extremely unfavourable views in regard to the
+charac<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[16]</a></span>teristics
+at that period of undergraduate life in the English
+universities. The &lsquo;sciences of horse-racing, fox-hunting,
+and giving extravagant entertainments&rsquo; the Duke regarded
+as the &lsquo;chief studies of our youths at Cambridge,&rsquo; and he
+made no secret of his opinion that his promising son was
+better without them. Lord John&rsquo;s father is described by
+those who knew him as a plain, unpretending man, who
+talked well in private life, but was reserved in society. He
+was a great patron of the fine arts, and one of the best
+farmers in England, and was, moreover, able to hold his
+own in the debates of the House of Lords.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">THE FIELD OF SALAMANCA</div>
+
+<p>Meanwhile, at Woburn, Lord John&rsquo;s military ardour, which
+at this time was great, found an outlet in the command of a
+company of the Bedfordshire Militia. But the life of a
+country gentleman, even when it was varied by military drill,
+was not to the taste of this roving young Englishman. The
+passion for foreign travel, which he never afterwards wholly
+lost, asserted itself, and led him to cast about for congenial
+companions to accompany him abroad. Mr. George Bridgeman,
+afterwards Earl of Bradford, and Mr. Robert Clive, the
+second son of Earl Powis, agreed to accompany him, and
+with light hearts the three friends started in August 1812,
+with the intention of travelling through Sicily, Greece, Egypt,
+and Syria. They had not proceeded far, however, on their
+way to Southern Italy when tidings reached them that the
+battle of Salamanca had been fought and that Wellington
+had entered Madrid. The plans for exploring Sicily, Egypt,
+and Syria were instantly thrown to the winds, and the young
+enthusiasts at once bent their steps to the Spanish capital,
+in order to take part in the rejoicings of the populace at the
+victory of the Allies. They made the best of their way to
+Oporto, but were chagrined to find on arriving there that
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[17]</a></span>
+although Salamanca had been added to the list of Wellington&rsquo;s
+triumphs, the victor had not pushed on to the capital.
+Under these circumstances, Lord John and his companions
+determined to make a short tour in the northern part of
+Portugal before proceeding to Wellington&rsquo;s head-quarters at
+Burgos. They met with a few mild adventures on the road,
+and afterwards crossed the frontier and reached the field
+of Salamanca. The dead still lay unburied, and flocks of
+vultures rose sullenly as the travellers threaded their way
+across that terrible scene of carnage. However, neither
+Lord John&rsquo;s phlegm nor his philosophy deserted him, though
+the awfulness of the spectacle was not lost upon him. &lsquo;The
+blood spilt on that day will become a real saving of life if it
+become the means of delivering Spain from French dominion,&rsquo;
+was his remark.</p>
+
+<p>At Burgos the young civilian renewed his acquaintance
+with the Commander-in-Chief, and added to his experience
+of war by being for a short time under fire from the French,
+who held the neighbouring fortress. Wellington, however,
+like other good soldiers, did not care for non-combatants at
+the front, and accordingly the youths started for Madrid.
+Finding that the French were in possession, they pushed
+southwards, and spent Christmas at Cadiz. The prolonged
+campaign decided them to carry out their original scheme.
+Leaving Cadiz at the end of January they set off, <i>via</i> Gibraltar,
+Cordova, and Cartagena, for Alicante, where they proposed
+to embark for Sicily. But on the way reports reached them of
+French reverses, and they were emboldened once more to
+move towards Madrid. They had hardly started when other
+and less reassuring rumours reached them, and Lord John&rsquo;s
+two companions resolved to return to Alicante; but he himself
+determined to ride across the country to the head-
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[18]</a></span>quarters
+of the army, at Frenida, a distance of 150 miles.
+We are indebted to Mr. Bridgeman&rsquo;s published letters
+for the following account of Lord John&rsquo;s plucky ride:&mdash;&lsquo;Finding
+the French did not continue the retreat, John
+Russell, my strange cousin and your ladyship&rsquo;s mad nephew,
+determined to execute a plan which he had often threatened,
+but it appeared to Clive and me so very injudicious a one
+that we never had an idea of his putting it into execution.
+However, the evening previous to our leaving Almaden, he
+said, &ldquo;Well, I shall go to the army and see William, and I
+will meet you either at Madrid or Alicante.&rdquo; We found he
+was quite serious, and he then informed us of his intentions....
+He would not take his servant, but ordered him to leave
+out half-a-dozen changes of linen, and his gun loaded. He
+was dressed in a blue greatcoat, overalls, and sword, and
+literally took nothing else except his dressing-case, a pair of
+pantaloons and shoes, a journal and an account book, pens
+and ink, and a bag of money. He <ins class="correction" title="Transcriber's note: original reads 'woul'">would</ins> not carry anything
+to reload his gun, which he said his principal reason for
+taking was to sell, should he be short of money, for we had
+too little to spare him any. The next morning he sold his
+pony, bought a young horse, and rode the first league with
+us. Here we parted with each other with much regret, and
+poor John seemed rather forlorn. God grant he may have
+reached head-quarters in safety and health, for he had been
+far from well the last few days he was with us.... Clive
+and I feel fully persuaded that we shall see him no more till
+we return to England.&rsquo;</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">A SENTIMENTAL JOURNEY</div>
+
+<p>The fears entertained for Lord John&rsquo;s safety were well
+founded. Difficulties of many kinds had to be encountered
+on the journey, and there was always the risk of being
+arrested and detained by French piquets. But the 150
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[19]</a></span>
+miles were traversed without mishap, and in twelve days
+the &lsquo;mad nephew&rsquo; entered the English quarters. He
+stayed at Frenida more than a month, probably waiting for
+an opportunity to see a great battle. But the wish was not
+gratified. Dictating to Lady Russell in his later life the
+narrative of his journey in Spain, he said: &lsquo;When Lord
+Wellington left his head-quarters on the frontier of Spain and
+Portugal for his memorable campaign of Vittoria, I thought
+that as I was not a soldier I might as well leave Lord Wellington
+and proceed on a journey of amusement to Madrid.&rsquo;</p>
+
+<p>General Alava gave him introductions, and in the course
+of his journey he was entertained at dinner by a merry
+canon at Plasencia, who pressed upon him a liberal supply
+of wine. When Lord John declined taking any more, his
+host exclaimed: &lsquo;Do you not know the syllogism, &ldquo;Qui bene
+bibit, bene dormit; qui bene dormit, non peccat; qui non
+peccat, salvatus erit&rdquo;?&rsquo; At this stage Lord John found
+it necessary to hire a servant who was capable of acting as
+guide. He used to say that his whole appearance on
+these journeys was somewhat grotesque, and in proof of
+this assertion he was accustomed in relating his adventures
+to add the following description:&mdash;&lsquo;I wore a blue military
+cloak and a military cocked hat; I had a sword by my
+side; my whole luggage was carried in two bags, one on
+each side of the horse. In one of these I usually carried a
+leg of mutton, from which I cut two or three slices when I
+wished to prepare my dinner. My servant had a suit of
+clothes which had never been of the best, and was then
+mostly in rags. He, too, wore a cocked hat, and, being tall
+and thin, stalked before me with great dignity.&rsquo; Such a
+description reads almost like a page from Cervantes.</p>
+
+<p>Thus attended, Lord John visited the scene of the battle
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[20]</a></span>
+of Talavera, in which his brother had been wounded, and
+on June 5, two days after the departure of the French, entered
+Madrid. Before the end of the month news arrived
+of the battle of Vittoria; and the young Englishman shared
+in the public rejoicings which greeted the announcement.
+&lsquo;From Talavera,&rsquo; adds Lord John, &lsquo;I proceeded to Madrid,
+where I met my friends George Bridgeman and Robert
+Clive. With them I travelled to Valencia, and with them in
+a ship laden with salt fish to Majorca.&rsquo;</p>
+
+<p>At Palma the travellers found hospitable quarters at
+the Bishop&rsquo;s palace, and after a brief stay crossed in an
+open boat to Port Mahon in Minorca&mdash;a rather risky trip,
+as the youths, with their love of adventure, made it by night,
+and were overtaken on the way by an alarming thunderstorm.
+Whilst in Minorca Lord John received a letter from his
+father, informing him of the death of his old friend General
+Fitzpatrick, and also stating that the Duke meant to use
+his influence at Tavistock to obtain for his son a seat in
+the House of Commons. &lsquo;He immediately flew home,&rsquo; remarks
+his friend Mr. Bridgeman, &lsquo;on what wings I know
+not, but I suppose on those of political ambition.&rsquo;</p>
+
+<p>The Duke&rsquo;s nomination rendered his election in those
+days of pocket-boroughs a foregone conclusion. As soon as
+Lord John set foot in England he was greeted with the
+tidings that he had already been elected member for Tavistock,
+and so began, at the age of one-and-twenty, a career
+in the House of Commons which was destined to last for
+nearly fifty years.
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[21]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II</h2>
+
+<p class="title">IN PARLIAMENT AND FOR THE PEOPLE<br /><br />
+
+1813-1826</p>
+
+<p class="desc">The political outlook when Lord John entered the House of Commons&mdash;The
+&lsquo;Condition of England&rsquo; question&mdash;The struggle for Parliamentary
+Reform&mdash;Side-lights on Napoleon Bonaparte&mdash;The
+Liverpool Administration in a panic&mdash;Lord John comes to the aid
+of Sir Francis Burdett&mdash;Foreign travel&mdash;First motion in favour of
+Reform&mdash;Making headway</p>
+
+
+<p class="noi"><span class="smcap">Lord Liverpool</span> was at the head of affairs when Lord John
+Russell entered Parliament. His long tenure of power had
+commenced in the previous summer, and it lasted until the
+Premier was struck down by serious illness in the opening
+weeks of 1827. In Lord John&rsquo;s opinion, Lord Liverpool
+was a &lsquo;man of honest but narrow views,&rsquo; and he probably
+would have endorsed the cynical description of him as the
+&lsquo;keystone rather than the capital&rsquo; of his own Cabinet.
+Lord Castlereagh was at the Foreign Office, Lord Sidmouth
+was Home Secretary, Mr. Vansittart Chancellor of
+the Exchequer, Lord Palmerston Secretary at War, and
+Mr. Peel Secretary for Ireland. The political outlook
+on all sides was gloomy and menacing. The absorbing
+subject in Parliament was war and the sinews of war;
+whilst outside its walls hard-pressed taxpayers were moodily
+speculating on the probable figures in the nation&rsquo;s &lsquo;glory
+bill.&rsquo; The two years&rsquo; war with America was in progress.
+The battle between the <i>Shannon</i> and the <i>Chesapeake</i>
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[22]</a></span>
+was still the talk of the hour; but there seemed just then
+no prospect of peace. Napoleon still struggled for the
+dictatorship of Europe, and Englishmen were wondering
+to what extent they would have to share in the attempt
+to foil his ambition. The Peninsular campaign was costly
+enough to the British taxpayer; but his chagrin vanished&mdash;for
+the moment, at least&mdash;when Wellington&rsquo;s victories
+appealed to his pride. Since the beginning of the century
+the attention of Parliament and people had been directed
+mainly to foreign affairs. Domestic legislation was at a
+standstill. With one important exception&mdash;an Act for the
+Abolition of the Slave Trade&mdash;scarcely any measure of note,
+apart from military matters and international questions, had
+passed the House of Commons.</p>
+
+<p>Parliamentary government, so far as it was supposed to
+be representative of the people, was a delusion. The
+number of members returned by private patronage for
+England and Wales amounted to more than three hundred.
+It was publicly asserted, and not without an appeal to statistics,
+that one hundred and fifty-four persons, great and
+small, actually returned no less than three hundred and
+seven members to the House of Commons. Representation
+in the boroughs was on a less worthy scale in the reign
+of George III. than it had been in the days of the Plantagenets,
+and whatever changes had been made in the franchise
+since the Tudors had been to the advantage of the
+privileged rather than to that of the people.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">FALLEN BOROUGHS AND FANCY PRICES</div>
+
+<p>Parliament was little more than an assembly of delegates
+sent by large landowners. Ninety members were
+returned by forty-six places in which there were less than
+fifty electors; and seventy members were returned by
+thirty-five places containing scarcely any electors at all.
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[23]</a></span>
+Places such as Old Sarum&mdash;consisting of a mound and
+a few ruins&mdash;returned two members; whilst Manchester,
+Leeds, and Birmingham, in spite of their great populations,
+and in spite, too, of keen political intelligence and far-reaching
+commercial activity, were not yet judged worthy
+of the least voice in affairs. At Gatton the right of election
+lay in the hands of freeholders and householders paying
+scot and lot; but the only elector was Lord Monson, who
+returned two members. Many of the boroughs were bought
+at a fancy price by men ambitious to enter Parliament&mdash;a
+method which seems, however, to have had the advantage
+of economy when the cost of some of the elections is taken
+into account. An election for Northampton cost the two
+candidates 30,000<i>l.</i> each, whilst Lord Milton and Mr.
+Lascelles, in 1807, spent between them 200,000<i>l.</i> at a
+contested election for the county of York.</p>
+
+<p>Bribery and corruption were of course practised
+wholesale, and publicans fleeced politicians and made
+fortunes out of the pockets of aspirants for Westminster.
+In the &lsquo;People&rsquo;s Book&rsquo; an instance is cited of the way
+some borough elections were &lsquo;managed.&rsquo; &lsquo;The patron of a
+large town in Ireland, finding, on the approach of an
+election, that opposition was to be made to his interest,
+marched a regiment of soldiers into the place from Loughrea,
+where they were quartered, and caused them to be
+elected freemen. These military freemen then voted for
+his friend, who was, of course, returned!&rsquo; Inequality,
+inadequacy, unreality, corruption&mdash;these were the leading
+traits of the House of Commons. The House of Commons
+no more represented the people of the United Kingdom
+than the parish council of Little Peddleton mirrors the
+mind of Europe.
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[24]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The statute-book was disfigured by excessive penalities.
+Men were put in the pillory for perjury, libel, and the like.
+Forgers, robbers, incendiaries, poachers, and mutilators of
+cattle were sent to the gallows. Ignorance and brutality
+prevailed amongst large sections of the people both in
+town and country, and the privileged classes, in spite of
+vulgar ostentation and the parade of fine manners, set
+them an evil example in both directions. Yet, though
+the Church of England had no vision of the needs of
+the people and no voice for their wrongs, the great wave
+of religious life which had followed the preaching of Whitfield
+and Wesley had not spent its force, nor was it destined
+to do so before it had awakened in the multitude a spirit
+of quickened intelligence and self-respect which made them
+restive under political servitude and in the presence of
+acknowledged but unredressed grievances. Education,
+through the disinterested efforts of a group of philanthropists,
+was, moreover, beginning&mdash;in some slight degree, at least&mdash;to
+leaven the mass of ignorance in the country, the power
+of the press was making itself felt, and other agencies were
+also beginning to dispel the old apathy born of despair.</p>
+
+<p>The French Revolution, with its dramatic overthrow of
+tyranny and its splendid watchword, &lsquo;Liberty, Equality,
+Fraternity,&rsquo; made its own appeal to the hope as well as the
+imagination of the English people, although the sanguinary
+incidents which marked it retarded the movement for Reform
+in England, and as a matter of fact sent the Reformers into
+the wilderness for the space of forty years.</p>
+
+<p>More than a quarter of a century before the birth of
+Lord John Russell, who was destined to carry the first
+Reform Bill through the House of Commons, Lord
+Chatham had not hesitated to denounce the borough
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[25]</a></span>
+representation of the country as the &lsquo;rotten part of our
+constitution,&rsquo; which, he said, resembled a mortified limb;
+and he had added the significant words, &lsquo;If it does not drop,
+it must be amputated.&rsquo; He held that it was useless to look
+for the strength and vigour of the constitution in little pocket-boroughs,
+and that the nation ought rather to rely on the
+&lsquo;great cities and counties.&rsquo; Fox, in a debate in 1796,
+declared that peace could never be secured until the Constitution
+was amended. He added: &lsquo;The voice of the
+representatives of the people must prevail over the executive
+ministers of the Crown; the people must be restored to
+their just rights.&rsquo; These warnings fell unheeded, until the
+strain of long-continued war, bad harvests, harsh poor laws,
+and exorbitant taxes on the necessities of life conspired to
+goad the people to the verge of open rebellion.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">&lsquo;FRIENDS OF THE PEOPLE&rsquo;</div>
+
+<p>Wilkes, Pitt, Burdett, Cartwright, and Grey, again and
+again returned to the charge, only to find, however, that the
+strongholds of privilege were not easily overthrown. The year
+1792, in which, by a noteworthy coincidence, Lord John
+Russell was born, was rendered memorable in the history of
+a movement with which his name will always be associated
+by the formation of the society of the &lsquo;Friends of the People,&rsquo;
+an influential association which had its place of meeting at
+the Freemasons&rsquo; Tavern. Amongst its first members were
+Mr. Lambton (father of the first Earl of Durham), Mr.
+(afterwards Sir James) Mackintosh, Mr. Sheridan, Mr.
+(afterwards Lord) Erskine, Mr. Charles (afterwards Earl)
+Grey, and more than twenty other members of Parliament.
+In the following year Mr. Grey brought forward the celebrated
+petition of the Friends of the People in the House
+of Commons. It exposed the abuses of the existing electoral
+system and presented a powerful argument for
+Par<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[26]</a></span>liamentary
+Reform. He moved that the petition should
+be referred to the consideration &lsquo;of a committee&rsquo;; but
+Pitt, in spite of his own measure on the subject in 1785,
+was now lukewarm about Reform, and accordingly opposed
+as &lsquo;inopportune&rsquo; such an inquiry. &lsquo;This is not a time,&rsquo;
+were his words, &lsquo;to make hazardous experiments.&rsquo; The
+spirit of anarchy, in his view, was abroad, and Burke&rsquo;s
+&lsquo;Reflections,&rsquo; had of course increased the panic of the
+moment. Although Grey pressed the motion, only 141
+members supported it, and though four years later he
+moved for leave to bring in a bill on the subject, justice
+and common sense were again over-ridden, and, so far as
+Parliament was concerned, the question slept until 1809,
+when Sir Francis Burdett revived the agitation.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile, men of the stamp of Horne Tooke, William
+Cobbett, Hone, &lsquo;Orator&rsquo; Hunt, and Major Cartwright&mdash;brother
+of Lord John Russell&rsquo;s tutor at Woburn, and the
+originator of the popular cry, &lsquo;One man, one vote&rsquo;&mdash;were in
+various ways keeping the question steadily before the minds
+of the people. Hampden Clubs and other democratic associations
+were also springing up in various parts of the
+country, sometimes to the advantage of demagogues of
+damaged reputation rather than to the advancement of the
+popular cause. Sir Francis Burdett may be said to have
+represented the Reformers in Parliament during the remainder
+of the reign of George III., though, just as the old
+order was changing, Earl Grey, in 1819, publicly renewed his
+connection with the question, and pledged himself to support
+any sound and judicious measure which promised to deal
+effectively with known abuses. In spite of the apathy of
+Parliament and the sullen opposition of the privileged classes
+to all projects of the kind, whether great or small, sweeping
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[27]</a></span>
+or partial, the question was slowly ripening in the public
+mind. Sydney Smith in 1819 declared, &lsquo;I think all wise
+men should begin to turn their minds Reformwards. We
+shall do it better than Mr. Hunt or Mr. Cobbett. Done it
+<i>must</i> and <i>will</i> be.&rsquo; In the following year Lord John Russell,
+at the age of twenty-eight, became identified with the question
+of Parliamentary Reform by bringing before the House of
+Commons a measure for the redress of certain scandalous
+grievances, chiefly at Grampound. When Lord John&rsquo;s Parliamentary
+career began, George III. was hopelessly mad
+and blind, and, as if to heighten the depressing aspect of
+public affairs, the scandalous conduct of his sons was straining
+to the breaking-point the loyalty of men of intelligence
+to the Throne.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">LORD JOHN&rsquo;S MAIDEN SPEECH</div>
+
+<p>Lord John&rsquo;s maiden speech in Parliament was directed
+against the proposal of the Liverpool Administration to
+enforce its views in regard to the union of Norway and
+Sweden. It escaped the attention of Parliamentary reporters
+and has passed into oblivion. The pages of &lsquo;Hansard,&rsquo; however,
+give a brief summary of his next speech, which, like its
+predecessor, was on the side of liberty. It was delivered on
+July 14, 1814, in opposition to the second reading of the
+Alien Acts, which in spite of such a protest quickly became
+law. His comments were concise and characteristic. &lsquo;He
+considered the Act to be one which was very liable to abuse.
+The present time was that which least called for it; and
+Ministers, in bringing forward the measure now because it
+had been necessary before, reminded him of the unfortunate
+wag mentioned in &lsquo;Joe Miller,&rsquo; who was so fond of rehearsing
+a joke that he always repeated it at the wrong time.&rsquo; During
+the first months of his Parliamentary experience Lord
+John was elected a member of Grillion&rsquo;s Club, which had
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[28]</a></span>
+been established in Bond Street about twelve months previously,
+and which became in after-years a favourite haunt
+of many men of light and leading. It was founded on a
+somewhat novel basis. Leading members of the Whig and
+Tory parties met for social purposes. Political discussion
+was strictly tabooed, and nothing but the amenities of life
+were cultivated. In after-years the club became to Lord
+John Russell, as it has also been to many distinguished
+politicians, a welcome haven from the turmoil of Westminster.</p>
+
+<p>Delicate health in the autumn quickened Lord John&rsquo;s
+desire to renew the pleasures of foreign travel. He accordingly
+went by sea to Italy, and arrived at Leghorn in the
+opening days of December. He was still wandering in
+Southern Europe when Parliament reassembled, and the
+Christmas Eve of that year was rendered memorable to
+him by an interview with Napoleon in exile at Elba.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">A GLIMPSE OF NAPOLEON</div>
+
+<p>Through the kindness of Lady Russell it is possible
+here to quote from an old-fashioned leather-bound volume
+in her husband&rsquo;s handwriting, which gives a detailed account
+of the incidents of his Italian tour in 1814-15, and of his
+conversation on this occasion with the banished despot of
+Europe. Part of what follows has already been published
+by Mr. Walpole, but much of it has remained for eighty years
+in the privacy of Lord John&rsquo;s own notebook, from the faded
+pages of which it is now transcribed:&mdash;&lsquo;Napoleon was
+dressed in a green coat, with a hat in his hand, very much
+as he is painted; but, excepting the resemblance of dress,
+I had a very mistaken idea of him from his portrait. He
+appears very short, which is partly owing to his being very
+fat, his hands and legs being quite swollen and unwieldy.
+That makes him appear awkward, and not unlike the
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[29]</a></span>
+whole-length figure of Gibbon the historian. Besides this,
+instead of the bold-marked countenance that I expected,
+he has fat cheeks and rather a turn-up nose, which, to
+bring in another historian, makes the shape of his face
+resemble the portraits of Hume. He has a dusky grey eye,
+which would be called vicious in a horse, and the shape of
+his mouth expresses contempt and decision. His manner
+is very good-natured, and seems studied to put one at one&rsquo;s
+ease by its familiarity; his smile and laugh are very agreeable;
+he asks a number of questions without object, and
+often repeats them, a habit which he has, no doubt, acquired
+during fifteen years of supreme command. He began asking
+me about my family, the allowance my father gave me, if I
+ran into debt, drank, played, &amp;c. He asked me if I had
+been in Spain, and if I was not imprisoned by the Inquisition.
+I told him that I had seen the abolition of the
+Inquisition voted, and of the injudicious manner in which it
+was done.&rsquo;</p>
+
+<p>Napoleon told Lord John that Ferdinand was in the hands
+of the priests. Spain, like Italy, he added, was a fine country,
+especially Andalusia and Seville. Lord John admitted this,
+but spoke of the uncultivated nature of the land. &lsquo;Agriculture,&rsquo;
+replied Napoleon, &lsquo;is neglected because the land is in
+the hands of the Church.&rsquo; &lsquo;And of the grandees,&rsquo; suggested
+his visitor. &lsquo;Yes,&rsquo; was the answer, &lsquo;who have privileges
+contrary to the public prosperity.&rsquo; Napoleon added that
+he thought the evil might be remedied by divided property
+and abolishing hurtful privileges, as was done in
+France. Afterwards Napoleon asked many questions
+about the Cortes, and when Lord John told him that
+many of the members made good speeches on abstract
+questions, but they failed when any practical debate on
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[30]</a></span>
+finance or war took place, Napoleon drily remarked:
+&lsquo;Oui, faute de l&rsquo;habitude de gouverner.&rsquo; Presently the talk
+drifted to Wellington, or rather Napoleon adroitly led it
+thither. He described the man who had driven the French
+out of Spain as a &lsquo;grand chasseur,&rsquo; and asked if Wellington
+liked Paris. Lord John replied that he thought not, and
+added that Wellington had said that he should find himself
+much at a loss as to what to do in time of peace, as he
+seemed scarcely to like anything but war. Whereupon
+Napoleon exclaimed, &lsquo;La guerre est un grand jeu, une belle
+occupation.&rsquo; He expressed his surprise that England should
+have sent the Duke to Paris, and he added, evidently with
+a touch of bitterness, &lsquo;On n&rsquo;aime pas l&rsquo;homme par qui on a
+été battu.&rsquo;</p>
+
+<p>The Emperor&rsquo;s great anxiety seemed to be to get reliable
+tidings of the condition of France. Lord John&rsquo;s own words
+are: &lsquo;He inquired if I had seen at Florence many Englishmen
+who came from there, and when I mentioned Lord
+Holland, he asked if he thought things went well with the
+Bourbons. When I answered in the negative he seemed
+delighted, and asked if Lord Holland thought they would
+be able to stay there.&rsquo; On this point Lord John was not
+able to satisfy him, and Napoleon said that he understood
+that the Bourbons had neglected the Englishmen who had
+treated them well in England, and particularly the Duke of
+Buckingham, and he condemned their lack of gratitude.
+Lord John suggested that the Bourbons were afraid to be
+thought to be dependent on the English, but Napoleon
+brushed this aside by asserting that the English in general
+were very well received. In a mocking tone he expressed
+his wish to know whether the army was much attached to
+the Bourbons. The Vienna Congress was, of course, just
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[31]</a></span>
+then in progress, and Napoleon showed himself nothing
+loth to talk about it. He said: &lsquo;The Powers will disagree,
+but they will not go to war.&rsquo; He spoke of the Regent&rsquo;s
+conduct to the Princess as very impolitic, and he added that
+it shocked the <i>bienséances</i> by the observance of which his
+father George III. had become so popular. He declared
+that our struggle with America was &lsquo;une guerre de vengeance,&rsquo;
+as the frontier question could not possibly be of
+any importance. According to Napoleon, the great superiority
+of England to France lay in her aristocracy.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">NAPOLEON&rsquo;S PREDICTION ABOUT INDIA</div>
+
+<p>Napoleon stated that he had intended to create a new
+aristocracy in France by marrying his officers to the daughters
+of the old nobility, and he added that he had reserved a fund
+from the contributions which he levied when he made
+treaties with Austria, Prussia, &amp;c., in order to found these
+new families. Speaking of some of the naval engagements,
+&lsquo;he found great fault with the French admiral who fought
+the battle of the Nile, and pointed out what he ought to
+have done; but he found most fault with the admiral who
+fought Sir R. Calder for not disabling his fleet, and said
+that if he could have got the Channel clear then, or at any
+other time, he would have invaded England.&rsquo; Talleyrand,
+he declared, had advised the war with Spain, and Napoleon
+also made out that he had prevented him from saving the
+Duc d&rsquo;Enghien. Spain ought to have been conquered, and
+Napoleon declared that he would have gone there himself
+if the war with Russia had not occurred. England would
+repent of bringing the Russians so far, and he added in this
+connection the remarkable words, &lsquo;They will deprive her
+of India.&rsquo;</p>
+
+<p>After lingering for a while in Vienna, Florence, Rome,
+Naples, and other cities, Lord John returned home by way
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[32]</a></span>
+of Germany, and on June 5 he spoke in Parliament against
+the renewal of hostilities. He was one of the small minority
+in Parliament who refused to regard Napoleon&rsquo;s flight from
+Elba as a sufficient <i>casus belli</i>. Counsels of peace, however,
+were naturally just then not likely to prevail, and Wellington&rsquo;s
+victory a fortnight later falsified Lord John&rsquo;s fears.
+He did not speak again until February 1816, when, in
+seconding an amendment to the Address, he protested
+against the continuance of the income-tax as a calamity to
+the country. He pointed out that, although there had been
+repeated victories abroad, prosperity at home had vanished;
+that farmers could not pay their rents nor landlords their
+taxes; and that everybody who was not paid out of the
+public purse felt that prosperity was gone. A few weeks
+later he opposed the Army Estimates, contending that a standing
+army of 150,000 men &lsquo;must alarm every friend of his
+country and its constitution.&rsquo;</p>
+
+<p>It was probably owing in a measure to the hopelessness
+of the situation, but also partly to ill-health, that Lord John
+absented himself to a great extent from Parliament. He
+was, in truth, chagrined at the course of affairs and discouraged
+with his own prospects, and in consequence he lapsed
+for a time into the position of a silent member of the House
+of Commons. Meanwhile, the summer of 1816 was wet
+and cold and the harvest was in consequence a disastrous
+failure. Wheat rose to 103<i>s.</i> a quarter, and bread riots
+broke out in the Eastern Counties. The Luddites, who
+commenced breaking up machinery in manufacturing towns
+in 1811, again committed great excesses. Tumults occurred
+in London, and the Prince Regent was insulted in the
+streets on his return from opening Parliament.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">PANIC-STRICKEN AUTHORITY</div>
+
+<p>The Liverpool Cabinet gave way to panic, and quickly
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[33]</a></span>
+resorted to extreme measures. A secret committee was
+appointed in each House to investigate the causes of the
+disaffection of a portion of his Majesty&rsquo;s subjects. Four
+bills were, as the result of their deliberations, swiftly introduced
+and passed through Parliament. The first enacted
+penalties for decoying sailors and soldiers; the second was a
+pitiful exhibition of lack of confidence, for it aimed at
+special measures for the protection of the Prince Regent; the
+third furnished magistrates with unusual powers for the prevention
+of seditious meetings; and the fourth suspended the
+Habeas Corpus Act till July 1, giving the Executive authority
+&lsquo;to secure and detain such persons as his Majesty shall
+suspect are conspiring against his person and Government.&rsquo;</p>
+
+<p>The measures of the Government filled Lord John
+with indignation, and he assailed the proposal to suspend
+the Habeas Corpus Act in a vigorous speech, which showed
+conclusively that his sympathies were on the side of the
+weak and distressed classes of the community. &lsquo;I had
+not intended,&rsquo; he said, &lsquo;to trouble the House with
+any observations of mine during the present session of
+Parliament. Indeed, the state of my health induced me to
+resolve upon quitting the fatiguing business of this House
+altogether. But he must have no ordinary mind whose attention
+is not roused in a singular manner when it is proposed
+to suspend the rights and liberties of Englishmen,
+though even for a short period. I am determined, for my
+own part, that no weakness of frame, no indisposition of
+body, shall prevent my protesting against the most dangerous
+precedent which this House ever made. We talk much&mdash;I
+think, a great deal too much&mdash;of the wisdom of our
+ancestors. I wish we could imitate the courage of our
+ancestors. They were not ready to lay their liberties at the
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[34]</a></span>
+foot of the Crown upon every vain or imaginary alarm.&rsquo;
+He begged the majority not to give, by the adoption of
+a policy of coercion, the opponents of law and order the
+opportunity of saying, &lsquo;When we ask for redress you refuse
+all innovation; when the Crown asks for protection you
+sanction a new code.&rsquo;</p>
+
+<p>All protests, as usual, were thrown away, and the bill was
+passed. Lord John resumed his literary tasks, and as a
+matter of fact only once addressed the House in the course
+of the next two years. He repeatedly declared his intention
+of entirely giving up politics and devoting his time to literature
+and travel. Many friends urged him to relinquish such
+an idea. Moore&rsquo;s poetical &lsquo;Remonstrance,&rsquo; which gladdened
+Lord John not a little at the moment, is so well known that
+we need scarcely quote more than the closing lines:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Thus gifted, thou never canst sleep in the shade;<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">If the stirring of genius, the music of fame,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And the charm of thy cause have not power to persuade,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Yet think how to freedom thou&rsquo;rt pledged by thy name.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Like the boughs of that laurel, by Delphi&rsquo;s decree<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Set apart for the fane and its service divine,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">All the branches that spring from the old Russell tree<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Are by Liberty claimed for the use of her shrine.&rsquo;<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>Lord John&rsquo;s literary labours began at this time to be
+considerable. He also enlarged his knowledge of the world
+by giving free play to his love of foreign travel.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">FEELING HIS WAY</div>
+
+<p>A general election occurred in the summer of 1818, and
+it proved that though the Tories were weakened they still
+had a majority. Lord John, with his uncle Lord William
+Russell, were, however, returned for Tavistock. Public affairs
+in 1819 were of a kind to draw him from his retirement, and
+as a matter of fact it was in that year that his speeches began
+to attract more than passing notice. He spoke briefly in
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[35]</a></span>
+favour of reducing the number of the Lords of the Admiralty,
+advocated an inquiry into domestic and foreign policy, protested
+against the surrender of the town of Parga, on the
+coast of Epirus, to the Turks, and made an energetic speech
+against the prevailing bribery and corruption which disgraced
+contested elections. The summer of that year was also
+rendered memorable in Lord John&rsquo;s career by his first speech
+on Parliamentary Reform. In July, Sir Francis Burdett,
+undeterred by previous overwhelming defeats, brought forward
+his usual sweeping motion demanding universal suffrage,
+equal electoral districts, vote by ballot, and annual Parliaments.
+Lord John&rsquo;s criticism was level-headed, and therefore
+characteristic. He had little sympathy with extreme
+measures, and he knew, moreover, that it was not merely
+useless but injurious to the cause of Reform to urge them
+at such a moment. The opposition was too powerful and
+too impervious to anything in the nature of an idea to
+give such proposals just then the least chance of success.
+Property meant to fight hard for its privileges, and the
+great landowners looked upon their pocket-boroughs as a
+goodly heritage as well as a rightful appanage of rank and
+wealth. As for the great unrepresented towns, they were
+regarded as hot-beds of sedition, and therefore the people
+were to be kept in their place, and that meant without a
+voice in the affairs of the nation. The close corporations
+and the corrupt boroughs were meanwhile dismissed with a
+shrug of the shoulders or a laugh of scorn.</p>
+
+<p>Lord John was as yet by no means a full-fledged Reformer,
+but it was something in those days for a duke&rsquo;s
+son to take sides, even in a modified way, with the party
+of progress. His speech represented the views not so
+much of the multitude as of the middle classes. They
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[36]</a></span>
+were alarmed at the truculent violence of mob orators up and
+down the country; their fund of inherited reverence for the
+aristocracy was as yet scarcely diminished. They had their
+own dread of spoliation, and they had not quite recovered
+from their fright over the French Revolution. They were
+law abiding, moreover, and the blood and treasure which it
+had cost the nation to crush Napoleon had allayed in
+thousands of them the thirst for glory, and turned them into
+possibly humdrum but very sincere lovers of peace. Lord
+John&rsquo;s speech was an appeal to the average man in his
+strength and in his limitations, and men of cautious common-sense
+everywhere rejoiced that the young Whig&mdash;who was
+liked none the less by farmer and shopkeeper because
+he was a lord&mdash;had struck the nail exactly on the head.
+The growth of Lord John&rsquo;s influence in Parliament was
+watched at Woburn with keen interest. &lsquo;I have had a good
+deal of conversation,&rsquo; wrote the Duke, &lsquo;with old Tierney
+at Cassiobury about you.... I find with pleasure that he
+has a very high opinion of your debating powers; and says,
+if you will stick to one branch of politics and not range
+over too desultory a field, you may become eminently useful
+and conspicuous in the House of Commons.... The line
+I should recommend for your selection would be that of
+foreign politics, and all home politics bearing on civil and
+religious liberty&mdash;a pretty wide range....&rsquo;</p>
+
+<p>As soon as the end of the session brought a respite
+from his Parliamentary duties Lord John started for the
+Continent with Moore the poet. The author of &lsquo;Lalla
+Rookh&rsquo; was at that moment struggling, after the manner of
+the majority of poets at any moment, with the three-headed
+monster pounds, shillings, and pence, through the failure of
+his deputy in an official appointment at Bermuda. The
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[37]</a></span>
+poet&rsquo;s journal contains many allusions to Lord John, and
+the following passage from it, dated September 4, 1819,
+speaks for itself:&mdash;&lsquo;Set off with Lord John in his carriage
+at seven; breakfasted and arrived at Dover to dinner at
+seven o&rsquo;clock; the journey very agreeable. Lord John mild
+and sensible; took off Talma very well. Mentioned
+Buonaparte having instructed Talma in the part of Nero;
+correcting him for being in such a bustle in giving his
+orders, and telling him they ought to be given calmly,
+as coming from a person used to sovereignty.&rsquo;<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> After a
+fortnight in Paris the travellers went on to Milan, where
+they parted company, Moore going to Venice to visit
+Byron, and Lord John to Genoa, to renew a pleasant
+acquaintance with Madame Durazzo, an Italian lady of
+rank who was at one time well known in English society.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">MADAME DURAZZO</div>
+
+<p>Madame Durazzo was a quick-witted and accomplished
+woman, and her vivacious and sympathetic nature was
+hardly less remarkable than her personal charm. There is
+evidence enough that she made a considerable impression
+upon the young English statesman, who, indeed, wrote a
+sonnet about her. Lord John&rsquo;s verdict on Italy and the
+Italians is pithily expressed in a hitherto unpublished
+extract from his journal:&mdash;&lsquo;Italy is a delightful country for
+a traveller&mdash;every town full of the finest specimens of art,
+even now, and many marked by remains of antiquity near
+one another&mdash;all different. Easy travelling, books in
+plenty, living cheap and tolerably good&mdash;what can a man
+wish for but a little grace and good taste in dress amongst
+women? Men of science abound in Italy&mdash;the Papal
+Government discouraged them at Rome; but the country
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[38]</a></span>
+cannot be said to be behind the world in knowledge.
+Poets, too, are plenty; I never read their verses.&rsquo;</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile, the condition of England was becoming
+critical. Birmingham, Leeds, Manchester, and other great
+towns were filled with angry discontent, and turbulent mass
+meetings of the people were held to protest against any
+further neglect of their just demands for political representation.
+Major Cartwright advised these great unrepresented
+communities to &lsquo;send a petition in the form of a living man
+instead of one on parchment or paper,&rsquo; so that he might
+state in unmistakable terms their demands to the Speaker.
+Sir Charles Wolseley, a Staffordshire baronet and a friend
+of Burdett, was elected with a great flourish of trumpets at
+Birmingham to act in this capacity, and Manchester determined
+also to send a representative, and on August 16, 1819,
+a great open-air meeting was called to give effect to this
+resolution. The multitude were dispersed by the military,
+and readers of Bamford&rsquo;s &lsquo;Passages in the Life of a Radical&rsquo;
+will remember his graphic and detailed description of the
+scene of tumult and bloodshed which followed, and which
+is known as the Peterloo Massacre. The carnage inspired
+Shelley&rsquo;s magnificent &lsquo;Mask of Anarchy&rsquo;:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">... One fled past, a maniac maid,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And her name was Hope, she said:<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">But she looked more like Despair,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And she cried out in the air:<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">&lsquo;My father Time is weak and grey<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">With waiting for a better day.&rsquo;<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<div class="sidenote">OIL AND VINEGAR</div>
+
+<p>In those days Parliament did not sit in August, and the
+members of the Cabinet were not at hand when the crisis
+arose. The Prince Regent expressed his approbation of the
+conduct of the magistrates of Manchester as well as of that
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[39]</a></span>
+of the officers and troops of the cavalry, whose firmness and
+effectual support of the civil power preserved the peace of
+the town. The Cabinet also lost no time in giving its emphatic
+support to the high-handed action of the Lancashire
+magistrates, and Major Cartwright and other leaders of
+the popular movement became the heroes of the hour
+because the Liverpool Administration was foolish enough
+to turn them into political martyrs by prosecuting them
+on the charge of sedition. Lord John at this crisis
+received several letters urging his return home immediately.
+That his influence was already regarded as of some importance
+is evident from the terms in which Sir James
+Mackintosh addressed him. &lsquo;You are more wanted than anybody,
+not only for general service, but because your Reform
+must be immediately brought forward&mdash;if possible, as the
+act of the party, but at all events as the creed of all Whig
+Reformers.&rsquo; Writing to Moore from Genoa on November 9,
+Lord John says: &lsquo;I am just setting off for London.
+Mackintosh has written me an oily letter, to which I have
+answered by a vinegar one; but I want you to keep me up
+in acerbity.&rsquo;</p>
+
+<p>Soon after Parliament met, the famous Six Acts&mdash;usually
+termed the &lsquo;Gagging Acts&rsquo;&mdash;were passed, though not without
+strenuous opposition. These measures were intended
+to hinder delay in the administration of justice in the case
+of misdemeanour, to prevent the training of persons to the
+use of arms, to enable magistrates to seize and detain arms,
+to prevent seditious meetings, and to bring to punishment
+the authors of blasphemous and seditious libels. No meeting
+of more than fifty people was to be held without six days&rsquo;
+notice to a magistrate; only freeholders or inhabitants were
+to be allowed even to attend; and adjournments were for
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[40]</a></span>bidden.
+The time and place of meeting were, if deemed
+advisable, to be changed by the local authorities, and no
+banners or flags were to be displayed. The wisdom of
+Lord Eldon, the patriotism of Lord Castlereagh, and the
+panic of Lord Sidmouth were responsible for these tyrannical
+enactments. On December 14 Lord John brought
+forward his first resolutions in favour of Reform. He proposed
+(1) that all boroughs in which gross and notorious
+bribery and corruption should be proved to prevail should
+cease to return members to Parliament; (2) that the right so
+taken away should be given to some great town or to the
+largest counties; (3) that it is the duty of the House to consider
+of further means to detect and to prevent corruption
+in Parliamentary elections; (4) that it is expedient that
+the borough of Grampound should be disfranchised. Even
+Castlereagh complimented him on the manner in which he
+had introduced the question, and undertook that, if Lord
+John would withdraw the resolutions and bring in a bill to
+disfranchise Grampound, he would not oppose the proposition,
+and to this arrangement Lord John consented.
+Shortly before the dissolution of Parliament, consequent
+upon the death of the King, in January 1820, Lord John
+obtained leave to bring in a bill for suspending the issue of
+writs to the corrupt boroughs of Penryn, Camelford, Grampound,
+and Barnstaple. But the alarm occasioned by the
+Cato Street Conspiracy threw back the movement and
+awakened all the old prejudices against even the slightest
+concession.</p>
+
+<p>At the general election of 1820 Lord John was returned
+for the county of Huntingdon. As soon as possible Lord
+John returned to the charge, and brought forward his
+measure for dealing with Grampound and to transfer the
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[41]</a></span>
+right of voting to Leeds, the franchise to be given to
+occupiers of houses rated at 5<i>l.</i> and upwards. In
+his &lsquo;Recollections and Suggestions&rsquo; Lord John says:
+&lsquo;With a view to work my way to a change, not by
+eloquence&mdash;for I had none&mdash;but by patient toil and a
+plain statement of facts, I brought before the House of
+Commons the case of Grampound. I obtained an inquiry,
+and, with the assistance of Mr. Charles Wynn, I forced the
+solicitors employed in bribery to reveal the secrets of their
+employers: the case was clear; the borough was convicted.&rsquo;
+Whilst the debate was proceeding Queen Caroline
+arrived in England from the Continent, and was received
+with much popular enthusiasm. Hostile measures were at
+once taken in the House of Commons against her, and
+though the despicable proceedings eventually came to
+nought, they effectually stopped all further discussion of the
+question of Reform for the time being.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">THE &lsquo;FIRST GENTLEMAN OF EUROPE&rsquo;</div>
+
+<p>Like Canning and Brougham, Lord John took the side of
+the injured Queen, and he drew up a petition to George IV.
+begging him to end the further consideration of the Bill of
+Pains and Penalties against Caroline by proroguing Parliament.
+Such a request was entirely thrown away on a man of
+the character of George IV., for the King was bent on a policy
+of mean revenge; and as only the honour of a woman was
+concerned, the &lsquo;first gentleman of Europe&rsquo; found the Liverpool
+Administration obsequious enough to do his bidding.
+When at length public opinion prevailed and the proceedings
+against the Queen were withdrawn in November, and whilst
+rejoicings and illuminations were going on in London at the
+Queen&rsquo;s deliverance, Lord John went to Paris, remaining
+there till January. Moore was in Paris, and he was much
+in his company, and divided the rest of his time between
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[42]</a></span>
+literature and society. He wrote his now forgotten novel,
+&lsquo;The Nun of Arrouca,&rsquo; during the six weeks which he spent
+in Paris. A Frenchman, visiting the poet, &lsquo;lamented that
+his friend Lord John showed to so little advantage in
+society from his extreme taciturnity, and still more from
+his apparent coldness and indifference to what is said by
+others. Several here to whom he was introduced had been
+much disappointed in consequence of this manner.&rsquo;</p>
+
+<p>Lady Blessington, who was at that time living abroad,
+states that Lord John came and dined with herself and the
+Earl, and the comments of so beautiful and accomplished a
+woman of fashion are at least worthy of passing record.
+&lsquo;Lord John was in better health and spirits than when I
+remember him in England. He is exceedingly well read, and
+has a quiet dash of humour, that renders his observations
+very amusing. When the reserve peculiar to him is thawed,
+he can be very agreeable. Good sense, a considerable power
+of discrimination, a highly cultivated mind, a great equality
+of temper, are the characteristics of Lord John Russell, and
+these peculiarly fit him for taking a distinguished part in
+public life.&rsquo; Lady Blessington adds that the only obstacle,
+in her opinion, to Lord John&rsquo;s success lays in the natural
+reserve of his manners, which might lead people &lsquo;to think
+him cold and proud.&rsquo; This is exactly what happened, and
+only those who knew Lord John intimately were aware of
+the delicate consideration for others which lurked beneath
+his somewhat frigid demeanour.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">HALF A LOAF OR NO BREAD</div>
+
+<p>Early in the year 1821 Lord John reintroduced his bill
+for the disfranchisement of Grampound. Several amendments
+were proposed, and one, brought forward by Mr.
+Stuart Wortley, limiting the right to vote to 20<i>l.</i> householders,
+was carried. Thereupon Lord John declined to take further
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[43]</a></span>
+charge of the measure. After being altered and pruned by
+both Houses the bill was passed, in spite of Lord Eldon,
+&lsquo;with tears and doleful predictions,&rsquo; urging the peers &lsquo;to resist
+this first turn of the helm towards the whirlpool of democracy.&rsquo;
+Grampound ceased to exist as a Parliamentary
+borough, and the county of York gained two members.
+Although Lord John supported the amended bill&mdash;on the
+principle that half a loaf is better than no bread&mdash;he at
+the same time announced that &lsquo;in a future session he proposed
+to call attention to the claims of large towns to send
+members to this House.&rsquo; He was determined to do all
+in his power to deprive what he termed the &lsquo;dead bones
+of a former state of England&rsquo; of political influence, and to
+give representation to what he termed the &lsquo;living energy and
+industry of the England of the nineteenth century, with its
+steam-engines and its factories, its cotton and woollen cloths,
+its cutlery and its coal-mines, its wealth and its intelligence.&rsquo;
+Whilst the bill about Grampound was being discussed
+by the Lords he took further action in this direction, and
+presented four resolutions for the discovery and punishment
+of bribery, the disfranchisement of corrupt boroughs, and the
+enfranchisement of wealthy and populous towns. On a
+division his proposals were defeated by thirty-one votes
+in a House of 279 members, and this, under all the circumstances,
+was a better result than he expected.</p>
+
+<p>On April 25, 1822, Lord John again tested the feeling of
+Parliament with his motion &lsquo;that the present state of the
+representation requires serious consideration.&rsquo; In the course
+of a speech of three hours he startled the House by proposing
+that 100 new members should be added, and, in order
+that the Commons should not be overcrowded, he added
+another resolution, to the effect that a similar number of
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[44]</a></span>
+the small boroughs should be represented by one member
+instead of two. Mr. Canning opposed such a scheme, but
+complimented Lord John on the ability he had displayed in
+its advocacy, and then added: &lsquo;That the noble lord will
+carry his motion this evening I have no fear; but with the
+talents which he has shown himself to possess, and with
+(I sincerely hope) a long and brilliant career of Parliamentary
+distinction before him, he will, no doubt, renew
+his efforts hereafter. If, however, he shall persevere, and if
+his perseverance shall be successful, and if the results of
+that success shall be such as I cannot help apprehending,
+his be the triumph to have precipitated those results, be
+mine the consolation that, to the utmost and to the latest
+of my power, I have opposed them.&rsquo;<a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a></p>
+
+<p>Little persuasion was necessary to win a hostile vote, and
+in a House of 433 members Lord John found himself in a
+minority of 164. Next year he renewed his attempt, but
+with the same result, and in 1826 he once more brought
+forward his proposals for Reform, to be defeated. Two
+months afterwards, however&mdash;May 26, 1826&mdash;undaunted
+by his repeated failures, he brought in a bill for the discovery
+and suppression of bribery at elections. The forces arrayed
+against him again proved too formidable, and Lord John,
+deeming it useless to proceed, abandoned the bill. He
+made one more attempt in the expiring Parliament, in a
+series of resolutions, to arrest political corruption, and when
+the division was taken the numbers were equal, whereupon
+the Speaker recorded his vote on Lord John&rsquo;s side. In
+June the House was dissolved.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">A WHIG OF THE NEW GENERATION</div>
+
+<p>The Whigs of the new generation were meanwhile
+dreaming of projects which had never entered into the
+cal<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[45]</a></span>culations
+of their predecessors. Lord John long afterwards
+gave expression to the views which were beginning to prevail,
+such as non-interference in the internal government of
+other nations, the necessity of peace with America and
+the acknowledgment of her Independence, the satisfaction
+of the people of Ireland by the concession of political
+equality, the advancement of religious liberty, parliamentary
+reform, and the unrestricted liberty of the press. &lsquo;Had
+these principles,&rsquo; he declares, &lsquo;prevailed from 1770 to 1820,
+the country would have avoided the American War and the
+first French Revolutionary War, the rebellion in Ireland in
+1798, and the creation of three or four millions of national
+debt.&rsquo;<a name="FNanchor_3_3" id="FNanchor_3_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> Whenever opportunity allowed, Lord John sought in
+Parliament during the period under review to give practical
+effect to such convictions. He spoke in favour of the
+repeal of the Foreign Enlistment Bill, on the question of the
+evacuation of Spain by the French army, on the Alien Bill,
+on an inquiry into labourers&rsquo; wages, on the Irish Insurrection
+Bill, on Roman Catholic claims and Roman Catholic
+endowment, and on agricultural distress.</p>
+
+<p>During the closing years of George III.&rsquo;s reign and the
+inglorious days of his successor, Lord John Russell rose
+slowly but steadily towards political influence and power.
+His speeches attracted growing attention, and his courage
+and common sense were rewarded with the deepening confidence
+of the nation. Although he was still regarded with
+some little dread by his &lsquo;betters and his elders,&rsquo; to borrow
+his own phrase, the people hailed with satisfaction the rise
+of so honest, clear-headed, and dogged a champion of peace,
+retrenchment, and Reform. Court and Cabinet might look
+askance at the young statesman, but the great towns were
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[46]</a></span>
+at his back, and he knew&mdash;in spite of all appearances to the
+contrary&mdash;that they, though yet unrepresented, were in reality
+stronger than all the forces of selfish privilege and senseless
+prejudice. Lord John had proved himself to be a man of
+action. The nation was beginning to dream that he would
+yet prove himself to be a man of mark.</p>
+
+<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> <i>Memoirs, Journal, and Correspondence of Thomas Moore.</i> Edited
+by the Right Hon. Lord John Russell, M.P.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> Canning&rsquo;s Speeches.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_3_3" id="Footnote_3_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> <i>Recollections and Suggestions</i>, p. 43.</p></div>
+</div>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[47]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III</h2>
+
+<p class="title">WINNING HIS SPURS<br /><br />
+
+1826-1830</p>
+
+<p class="desc">Defeated and out of harness&mdash;Journey to Italy&mdash;Back in Parliament&mdash;Canning&rsquo;s
+accession to power&mdash;Bribery and corruption&mdash;The repeal
+of the Test and Corporation Acts&mdash;The struggle between the
+Court and the Cabinet over Catholic Emancipation&mdash;Defeat of
+Wellington at the polls&mdash;Lord John appointed Paymaster-General.</p>
+
+
+<p class="noi"><span class="smcap">Whig</span> optimists in the newspapers at the General Election of
+1826 declared that the future welfare of the country would
+depend much on the intelligence and independence of the
+new Parliament. Ordinary men accustomed to look facts
+in the face were not, however, so sanguine, and Albany
+Fonblanque expressed the more common view amongst
+Radicals when he asserted that if the national welfare turned
+on the exhibition in an unreformed House of Commons of
+such unparliamentary qualities as intelligence and independence,
+there would be ground not for hope but for despair.
+He added that he saw no shadow of a reason for supposing
+that one Parliament under the existing system would differ
+in any essential degree from another. He maintained that,
+while the sources of corruption continued to flow, legislation
+would roll on in the same course.</p>
+
+<p>Self-improvement was, in truth, the last thing to be expected
+from a House of Commons which represented vested
+rights, and the interests and even the caprices of a few
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[48]</a></span>
+individuals, rather than the convictions or needs of the
+nation. The Tory party was stubborn and defiant even when
+the end of the Liverpool Administration was in sight. The
+Test Acts were unrepealed, prejudice and suspicion shut
+out the Catholics from the Legislature, and the sacred
+rights of property triumphed over the terrible wrongs of the
+slave. The barbarous enactments of the Criminal Code
+had not yet been entirely swept away, and the municipal
+corporations, even to contemporary eyes, appeared as
+nothing less than sinks of corruption.</p>
+
+<p>Lord John was defeated in Huntingdonshire, and, to his
+disappointment, found himself out of harness. He had hoped
+to bring in his Bribery Bill early in the session, and under
+the altered circumstances he persuaded Lord Althorp to press
+the measure forward. In a letter to that statesman which
+was afterwards printed, he states clearly the evils which
+he wished to remedy. A sentence or two will show
+the need of redress: &lsquo;A gentleman from London goes
+down to a borough of which he scarcely before knew the
+existence. The electors do not ask his political opinions;
+they do not inquire into his private character; they only
+require to be satisfied of the impurity of his intentions. If
+he is elected, no one, in all probability, contests the validity
+of his return. His opponents are as guilty as he is, and no
+other person will incur the expense of a petition for the
+sake of a public benefit. Fifteen days after the meeting of
+Parliament (this being the limit for the presentation of a
+petition), a handsome reward is distributed to each of the
+worthy and independent electors.&rsquo;</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">A SARCASTIC APPEAL</div>
+
+<p>In the early autumn Lord John quitted England, with
+the intention of passing the winter in Italy. The Duke of
+Bedford felt that his son had struck the nail on the head
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[49]</a></span>
+with his pithy and outspoken letter to Lord Althorp on
+political bribery, and he was not alone in thinking that Lord
+John ought not to throw away such an advantage by a prolonged
+absence on the Continent. Lord William accordingly
+wrote to his brother to urge a speedy return, and the letter
+is worth quoting, since incidentally it throws light on another
+aspect of Lord John&rsquo;s character: &lsquo;If you feel any ambition&mdash;which
+you have not; if you give up the charms of Genoa&mdash;which
+you cannot; if you could renounce the dinners and
+tea-tables and gossips of Rome&mdash;which you cannot; if you
+would cease to care about attending balls and assemblies, and
+dangling after ladies&mdash;which you cannot, there is a noble
+field of ambition and utility opened to a statesman. It is Ireland,
+suffering, ill-used Ireland! The gratitude of millions,
+the applause of the world, would attend the man who would
+rescue the poor country. The place is open, and must soon
+be filled up. Ireland cannot remain as she is. The Ministers
+feel it, and would gladly listen to any man who would point
+out the way to relieve her. Undertake the task; it is one
+of great difficulty, but let that be your encouragement. See
+the Pope&rsquo;s minister; have his opinion on the Catholic
+question; go to Ireland; find out the causes of her
+suffering; make yourself master of the subject. Set to work,
+as you did about Reform, by curing small evils at first....
+I am pointing to the way for you to make your name immortal,
+by doing good to millions and to your country.
+But you will yawn over this, and go to some good dinner
+to be agreeable, the height of ambition with the present
+generation.&rsquo;</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile, through the influence of the Duke of Devonshire,
+Lord John was elected in November for the Irish
+borough of Bandon Bridge, and in February, fresh from
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[50]</a></span>
+prologue-writing for the private theatricals which Lord
+Normanby was giving that winter in Florence, he took his
+seat in the House of Commons. Lord Liverpool was struck
+down with paralysis on February 18, and it quickly became
+apparent that his case was hopeless. After a few weeks of
+suspense, which were filled with Cabinet intrigues, Mr.
+Canning received the King&rsquo;s commands to reconstruct the
+Ministry; but this was more easily said than done. &lsquo;Lord
+Liverpool&rsquo;s disappearance from the political scene,&rsquo; says
+Lord Russell, &lsquo;gave rise to a great <i>débâcle</i>. The fragments
+of the old system rushed against each other, and for a time
+all was confusion.&rsquo; Six of Canning&rsquo;s colleagues flatly refused
+to serve under him in the new Cabinet&mdash;Peel, Wellington,
+Eldon, Westmoreland, Bathurst, and Bexley&mdash;though
+the latter afterwards took advantage of his second thoughts
+and returned to the fold. Although an opponent of Parliamentary
+reform and of the removal of Nonconformist
+disabilities, Canning gave his support to Catholic emancipation,
+to the demand for free trade, and the abolition of
+slavery. Canning&rsquo;s accession to power threw the Tory
+ranks into confusion. &lsquo;The Tory party,&rsquo; states Lord Russell,
+&lsquo;which had survived the follies and disasters of the
+American war, which had borne the defeats and achieved
+the final glories of the French war, was broken by its
+separation from Mr. Canning into fragments, which could
+not easily be reunited.&rsquo;</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">CANNING IN POWER</div>
+
+<p>Sydney Smith&mdash;who, by the way, had no love for Canning,
+and failed to a quite noteworthy extent to understand him&mdash;like
+the rest, took a gloomy view of the situation, which
+he summed up in his own inimitable fashion. &lsquo;Politics,
+domestic and foreign, are very discouraging; Jesuits abroad,
+Turks in Greece, &ldquo;No Poperists&rdquo; in England! A panting to
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[51]</a></span>
+burn B; B fuming to roast C; C miserable that he can&rsquo;t
+reduce D to ashes; and D consigning to eternal perdition
+the first three letters of the alphabet.&rsquo; Canning&rsquo;s tenure
+of power was brief and uneasy. His opponents were many,
+his difficulties were great, and, to add to all, his health was
+failing. &lsquo;My position,&rsquo; was his own confession, &lsquo;is not that
+of gratified ambition.&rsquo; His Administration only lasted five
+months, for at the end of that period death cut short the
+brilliant though erratic and disappointed career of a statesman
+of courage and capacity, who entered public life as a
+follower of Pitt, and refused in after years to pin his faith
+blindly to either political party, and so incurred the suspicions
+alike of uncompromising Whigs and unbending Tories.</p>
+
+<p>During the Canning Administration, Lord John&rsquo;s influence
+in the House made itself felt, and always along progressive
+lines. When the annual Indemnity Bill for Dissenters
+came up for discussion, he, in answer to a taunt that
+the Whigs were making political capital out of the Catholic
+question, and at the same time neglecting the claims of the
+Nonconformists, declared that he was ready to move the
+repeal of restrictions upon the Dissenters as soon as they
+themselves were of opinion that the moment was ripe for
+action. This virtual challenge, as will be presently seen,
+was recognised by the Nonconformists as a call to arms.
+Meanwhile cases of flagrant bribery at East Retford and
+Penryn&mdash;two notoriously corrupt boroughs&mdash;came before the
+House, and it was proposed to disenfranchise the former
+and to give in its place two members to Birmingham. The
+bill, however, did not get beyond its second reading. Lord
+John, nothing daunted, proposed in the session of 1828
+that Penryn should suffer disenfranchisement, and that Manchester
+should take its place. This was ultimately carried
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[52]</a></span>
+in the House of Commons; but the Peers fought shy of
+Manchester, and preferred to &lsquo;amend&rsquo; the bill by widening
+the right of voting at Penryn to the adjacent Hundred.
+This refusal to take occasion by the hand and to gratify the
+political aspirations of the most important unrepresented
+town in the kingdom, did much to hasten the introduction
+of a wider scheme of reform.</p>
+
+<p>Power slipped for the moment on the death of Canning
+into the weak hands of Lord Goderich, who tried ineffectually
+to keep together a Coalition Ministry. Lord John&rsquo;s
+best friends appear to have been apprehensive at this
+juncture lest the young statesman, in the general confusion
+of parties, should lapse into somewhat of a political Laodicean.
+&lsquo;I feel a little anxious,&rsquo; wrote Moore, &lsquo;to know exactly the
+colour of your politics just now, as from the rumours I hear
+of some of your brother &ldquo;watchmen,&rdquo; Althorp, Milton, and
+the like, I begin sometimes to apprehend that you too may
+be among the fallers off. Lord Lansdowne tells me, however,
+you continue quite staunch, and for his sake I hope
+so.&rsquo; But Lord John was not a &lsquo;faller off.&rsquo; His eyes were
+fully open to the anomalous position in which he in common
+with other members of the party of reform had been placed
+under Canning and Goderich. Relief, however, came
+swiftly. Lord Goderich, after four months of feeble semblance
+of authority, resigned, finding it impossible to adjust
+differences. As a subaltern, declared one who had narrowly
+watched his career, Lord Goderich was respectable, but as
+a chief he proved himself to be despicable. The Duke of
+Wellington became Prime Minister, with a Tory Cabinet at
+his back, and with Peel as leader in the House of Commons.
+Thus the &lsquo;great <i>débâcle</i>,&rsquo; which commenced with Canning&rsquo;s
+accession to power&mdash;in spite of the presence in the Cabinet
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[53]</a></span>
+of Palmerston and Huskisson&mdash;drew to an end, and a line
+of cleavage was once more apparent between the Whigs and
+the Tories. With Wellington, Lord John had of course
+neither part nor lot, and when the Duke accepted office he
+promptly ranged himself in the opposite camp.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">RELIGIOUS EQUALITY</div>
+
+<p>Ireland was on the verge of rebellion when Wellington
+and Peel took office, and in the person of O&rsquo;Connell it possessed
+a leader of splendid eloquence and courage, who
+pressed the claims of the Roman Catholics for immediate
+relief from religious disabilities. Whilst the Government
+was deliberating upon the policy which they ought to pursue
+in presence of the stormy and menacing agitation which
+had arisen in Ireland, the Protestant Dissenters saw their
+opportunity, and rallied their forces into a powerful organisation
+for the total repeal of the Test and Corporation Acts.
+Their cause had been quietly making way, through the
+Press and the platform, during the dark years for political
+and religious liberty which divide 1820 from 1828, and the
+Protestant Society had kept the question steadily before the
+public mind. Meanwhile that organisation had itself become
+a distinct force in the State. &lsquo;The leaders of the Whig
+party now formally identified themselves with it. In one
+year the Duke of Sussex took the chair; in another Lord
+Holland occupied the same position; Sir James Mackintosh
+delivered from its platform a defence of religious liberty,
+such as had scarcely been given to the English people since
+the time of Locke; and Lord John Russell, boldly identifying
+himself and his party with the political interests of
+Dissenters, came forward as chairman in another year,
+to advocate the full civil and religious rights of the three
+millions who were now openly connected with one or other
+of the Free Churches. The period of the Revolution, when
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[54]</a></span>
+Somers, Halifax, Burnet, and their associates laid the foundations
+of constitutional government, seemed to have
+returned.&rsquo;<a name="FNanchor_4_4" id="FNanchor_4_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> Immediately Parliament assembled, Lord John
+Russell&mdash;backed by many petitions from the Nonconformists&mdash;gave
+notice that on February 26 it was his intention to
+move the repeal of the Test and Corporation Acts.</p>
+
+<p>The Test Act compelled all persons holding any office
+of profit and trust under the Crown to take the oath of
+allegiance, to partake of the Sacrament according to the
+rites of the Church of England, and to subscribe the declaration
+against Transubstantiation. It was an evil legacy
+from the reign of Charles II., and became law in 1673.
+The Corporation Act was also placed on the statute-book in
+the same reign, and in point of time twelve years earlier&mdash;namely,
+in 1661. It was a well-directed blow against the
+political ascendency of Nonconformists in the cities and
+towns. It required all public officials to take the Sacrament
+according to the rites of the Church of England, within
+twelve months of their appointment, and, whilst it excluded
+conscientious men, it proved no barrier to unprincipled hypocrites.
+The repeal of the Test and Corporation Acts had been
+mooted from time to time, but the forces of prejudice and
+apathy had hitherto proved invincible. Fox espoused the
+cause of the Dissenters in 1790, and moved for a committee
+of the whole House to deal with the question. He urged
+that men were to be judged not by their opinions, but by
+their actions, and he asserted that no one could charge the
+Dissenters with ideas or conduct dangerous to the State.
+Parliament, he further contended, had practically admitted
+the injustice of such disqualifications by passing annual Acts
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[55]</a></span>
+of Indemnity. He laid stress on the loyalty which the Dissenters
+had shown during the Jacobite risings of 1715 and 1745,
+when the High Church party, which now resisted their just
+demands, had been &lsquo;hostile to the reigning family, and active
+in exciting tumults, insurrections, and rebellions.&rsquo; The
+authority of Pitt and the eloquence of Burke were put forth
+in opposition to the repeal of the Test Acts, and the panic
+awakened by the French Revolution threw Parliament into
+a reactionary mood, which rendered reform in any direction
+impossible. The result was that the question, so far as the
+House of Commons was concerned, was shirked from 1790
+until 1828, when Lord John Russell took up the advocacy
+of a cause in which, nearly forty years earlier, the genius of
+Charles James Fox had been unavailingly enlisted.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">THE RIGHTS OF CONSCIENCE</div>
+
+<p>In moving the repeal of the Test and Corporation Acts,
+Lord John recapitulated their history and advanced cogent
+arguments on behalf of the rights of conscience. It could
+not, he contended, be urged that these laws were necessary
+for the security of the Church, for they were not in force
+either in Scotland or in Ireland. The number and variety
+of offices embraced by the Test Act reduced the measure,
+so far as its practical working was concerned, to a palpable
+absurdity, as non-commissioned officers, as well as commissioned
+excisemen, tide-waiters, and even pedlars, were embraced
+in its provisions. In theory, at least, the penalties
+incurred by these different classes of men were neither few
+nor slight&mdash;forfeiture of the office, disqualification for any
+other under Government, incapacity to maintain a suit at
+law, to act as guardian or executor, or to inherit a legacy,
+and even liability to a pecuniary penalty of 500<i>l.</i>! Of
+course, such ridiculous penalties were in most cases suspended,
+but the law which imposed them still disgraced
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[56]</a></span>
+the statute-book, and was acknowledged by all unprejudiced
+persons to be indefensible. Besides, the most Holy Sacrament
+of the Christian Church was habitually reduced to a
+mere civil form imposed by Act of Parliament upon persons
+who either derided its solemn meaning or might be spiritually
+unfit to receive it. Was it decent, asked Cowper in his
+famous &lsquo;Expostulation,&rsquo; thus&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">To make the symbols of atoning grace<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">An office-key, a pick-lock to a place?<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>To such a question, put in such a form, only one answer
+was possible. Under circumstances men took the Communion,
+declared Lord John, for the purpose of qualifying
+for office, and with no other intent, and the least
+worthy were the most unscrupulous. &lsquo;Such are the consequences
+of mixing politics with religion. You embitter and
+aggravate political dissensions by the venom of theological
+disputes, and you profane religion with the vices of political
+ambition, making it both hateful to man and offensive to
+God.&rsquo;</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">THE RARITY OF CHRISTIAN CHARITY</div>
+
+<p>Peel opposed the motion, and professed to regard the
+grievances of the Dissenters as more sentimental than real.
+Huskisson and Palmerston followed on the same side,
+whilst Althorp and Brougham lent their aid to the demand
+for religious liberty. The result of the division showed a
+majority of forty-four in favour of the motion, and the bill
+was accordingly brought in and read a second time without
+discussion. During the progress of the measure through
+the House of Lords, the two Archbishops&mdash;less fearful for
+the safety of the Established Church than some of their
+followers&mdash;met Lord John&rsquo;s motion for the repeal of the
+Acts in a liberal and enlightened manner. &lsquo;Religious
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[57]</a></span>
+tests,&rsquo; said Archbishop Harcourt of York, &lsquo;imposed for political
+purposes, must in themselves be always liable more or
+less to endanger religious sincerity.&rsquo; Such an admission, of
+course, materially strengthened Lord John Russell&rsquo;s hands,
+and prepared the way for a speedy revision of the law.
+Many who had hitherto supported the Test Act began to
+see that such measures were, after all, a failure and a sham.
+If their terms were so lax that any man could subscribe to
+them with undisturbed conscience, then they ceased to be
+any test at all. On the contrary, if they were hard and rigid,
+then they forced men to the most odious form of dissimulation.
+A declaration, if required by the Crown, was therefore
+substituted for the sacramental test, by which a person
+entering office pledged himself not to use its influence as a
+means for subverting the Established Church. On the
+motion of the Bishop of Llandaff, the words &lsquo;on the true
+faith of a Christian&rsquo; were inserted in the declaration&mdash;a
+clause which, by the way, had the effect, as Lord Holland
+perceived at the time, of excluding Jews from Parliament
+until the year 1858.</p>
+
+<p>Lord Winchilsea endeavoured by an amendment to shut
+out Unitarians from the relief thus afforded to conscience,
+but, happily, such an intolerant proceeding, even in an unreformed
+Parliament, met with no success. Lord Eldon
+fiercely attacked the measure&mdash;&lsquo;like a lion,&rsquo; as he said, &lsquo;but
+with his talons cut off&rsquo;&mdash;but met with little support. It
+was felt that the great weight of authority as well as argument
+was in favour of the liberal policy which Lord John
+Russell advocated, and hence, after a protracted debate,
+the cause of religious freedom triumphed, and on May 9,
+1828, the Test and Corporation Acts were finally repealed.
+A great and forward impulse was thus given to the cause of
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[58]</a></span>
+religious equality, and under the same energetic leadership
+the party of progress set themselves with fresh hope to
+invade other citadels of privilege.</p>
+
+<p>The victory came as a surprise not merely to Lord John
+but also to the Nonconformists. The fact that a Tory
+Government was in power was responsible for the widespread
+anticipation of a bitter and protracted struggle. Amongst
+the congratulations which Lord John received, none perhaps
+was more significant than Lord Grey&rsquo;s generous
+admission that &lsquo;he had done more than any man now
+living&rsquo; on behalf of liberty. &lsquo;I am a little anxious,&rsquo; wrote
+Moore, &lsquo;to know that your glory has done you no harm
+in the way of health, as I see you are a pretty constant
+attendant on the House. There is nothing, I fear, worse for
+a man&rsquo;s constitution than to trouble himself too much
+about the constitution of Church and State. So pray
+let me have one line to say how you are.&rsquo; &lsquo;My constitution,&rsquo;
+wrote back Lord John, &lsquo;is not quite so much improved
+as the Constitution of the country by late events, but the
+joy of it will soon revive me. It is really a gratifying thing to
+force the enemy to give up his first line&mdash;that none but
+Churchmen are worthy to serve the State; I trust we shall
+soon make him give up the second, that none but Protestants
+are.&rsquo;</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">CATHOLIC EMANCIPATION</div>
+
+<p>Lord Eldon had predicted that Catholic Emancipation
+would follow on the heels of the repeal of the Test and
+Corporation Acts, and the event proved that he was right.
+The election of Daniel O&rsquo;Connell for Clare had suddenly
+raised the question in an acute form. Although the followers
+of Canning had already left the Ministry, the Duke of
+Wellington and Peel found themselves powerless to quell
+the agitation which O&rsquo;Connell and the Catholic
+Associa<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[59]</a></span>tion
+had raised in Ireland by any means short of civil war.
+&lsquo;What our Ministry will do,&rsquo; wrote Lord John, &lsquo;Heaven
+only knows, but I cannot blame O&rsquo;Connell for being a
+little impatient, after twenty-seven years of just expectation
+disappointed.&rsquo; The allusion was, of course, to Pitt&rsquo;s
+scheme at the beginning of the century to enable Catholics
+to sit in Parliament and so to reconcile the Irish people to
+the Union&mdash;a generous project which was brought to nought
+by the obstinate attitude of George III. Lord John was
+meditating introducing a measure for Catholic Emancipation,
+when Peel took the wind from his sails. George IV., however,
+supported by a majority of the Lords Spiritual and
+Temporal, was as stoutly opposed to concession as George III.
+Lord John Russell&rsquo;s words on this point are significant
+&lsquo;George III.&rsquo;s religious scruples, and even his personal
+prejudices, were respected by the nation, and formed real
+barriers so long as he did not himself waive them; the
+religious scruples of George IV. did not meet with ready
+belief, nor did his personal dislikes inspire national respect
+nor obtain national acquiescence.&rsquo; The struggle between
+the Court and the Cabinet was, however, of brief duration,
+and Wellington bore down the opposition of the Lords, and
+on April 13, 1829, the Roman Catholic Emancipation Bill
+became law.</p>
+
+<p>In June the question of Parliamentary reform was
+brought before Parliament by Lord Blandford, but his resolutions&mdash;which
+were the outcome of Tory panic concerning
+the probable result of Roman Catholic Emancipation&mdash;met
+with little favour, either then or when they were renewed at
+the commencement of the session of 1830. Lord Blandford
+had in truth made himself conspicuous by his opposition to
+the Catholic claims, and the nation distrusted the sudden
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[60]</a></span>
+zeal of the heir to Blenheim in such a cause. On February
+23, 1830, Lord John Russell sought leave to bring in a bill
+for conferring the franchise upon Manchester, Birmingham,
+and Leeds, on the plea that they were the three largest
+unrepresented towns in the country. The moderate proposal
+was, however, rejected in a House of three hundred
+and twenty-eight members by a majority of forty-eight.
+Three months later Mr. O&rsquo;Connell brought forward a
+motion for Triennial Parliaments, Universal Suffrage, and
+the adoption of the Ballot; but this was rejected. But
+in a House of three hundred and thirty-two members,
+only thirteen were in favour of it, whilst an amendment by
+Lord John stating that it was &lsquo;expedient to extend the basis
+of the representation of the people&rsquo; was also rejected by a
+majority of ninety-six. On June 26 George IV. died, and
+a few weeks later Parliament was dissolved. At the
+General Election, Lord John stood for Bedford, and,
+much to his chagrin, was defeated by a single vote. After
+the declaration of the poll in August, he crossed over to
+Paris, where he prolonged his stay till November. The
+unconstitutional ordinances of July 25, 1830, had brought
+about a revolution, and Lord John Russell, who was
+intimate with the chief statesman concerned, was wishful
+to study the crisis on the spot, and in the recital of its
+dramatic incidents to find relief from his own political disappointment.</p>
+
+<p>During this visit he used his influence with General
+Lafayette for the life of Prince de Polignac, who was connected
+by marriage with a noble English family, and was
+about to be put on his trial. Lord John was intimately acquainted,
+not only with Lafayette, but with other leaders in
+the French political world, and his intercession, on which
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[61]</a></span>
+his friends in England placed much reliance, seems to have
+carried effectual weight, for the Prince&rsquo;s life was spared.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">WELLINGTON&rsquo;S PROTEST AGAINST REFORM</div>
+
+<p>With distress at home and revolution abroad, signs of
+the coming change made themselves felt at the General
+Election. Outside the pocket boroughs, the Ministerialists
+went almost everywhere to the wall, and &lsquo;not a single
+member of the Duke of Wellington&rsquo;s Cabinet obtained a
+seat in the new Parliament by anything approaching to free
+and open election.&rsquo;<a name="FNanchor_5_5" id="FNanchor_5_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> The first Parliament of William IV.
+met on October 26, and two or three days later, in the
+debate on the King&rsquo;s Speech, Wellington made his now
+historic statement in answer to Earl Grey, who resented
+the lack of reference to Reform: &lsquo;I am not prepared to
+bring forward any measure of the description alluded to
+by the noble lord. I am not only not prepared to bring
+forward any measure of this nature, but I will at once
+declare that, as far as I am concerned, as long as I hold any
+station in the government of the country, I shall always
+feel it my duty to resist such measures when proposed by
+others.&rsquo;</p>
+
+<p>This statement produced a feeling of dismay even
+in the calm atmosphere of the House of Lords, and the
+Duke, noticing the scarcely suppressed excitement, turned to
+one of his colleagues and whispered: &lsquo;What can I have
+said which seems to have made so great a disturbance?&rsquo;
+Quick came the dry retort of the candid friend: &lsquo;You have
+announced the fall of your Government, that is all.&rsquo; The
+consternation was almost comic. &lsquo;Never was there an act
+of more egregious folly, or one so universally condemned,&rsquo;
+says Charles Greville. &lsquo;I came to town last night (five days
+after the Duke&rsquo;s speech), and found the town ringing with
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[62]</a></span>
+his imprudence and everybody expecting that a few days
+would produce his resignation.&rsquo; Within a fortnight the
+general expectation was fulfilled, for on November 16
+the Duke, making a pretext of an unexpected defeat over
+Sir H. Parnell&rsquo;s motion regarding the Civil List, threw up
+the sponge, and Lord Grey was sent for by the King and
+entrusted with the new Administration. The irony of the
+situation became complete when Lord Grey made it a
+stipulation to his acceptance of office that Parliamentary
+Reform should be a Cabinet measure.</p>
+
+<p>Lord John, meanwhile, was a candidate for Tavistock,
+and when the election was still in progress the new Premier
+offered him the comparatively unimportant post of Paymaster-General,
+and, though he might reasonably have expected
+higher rank in the Government, he accepted the
+appointment. He was accustomed to assert that the actual
+duties of the Paymaster were performed by cashiers; and
+he has left it on record that the only official act of any importance
+that he performed was the pleasant task of allotting
+garden-plots at Chelsea to seventy old soldiers, a boon
+which the pensioners highly appreciated.</p>
+
+<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_4_4" id="Footnote_4_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_4"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> <i>History of the Free Churches of England</i>, pp. 457-458, by H. S.
+Skeats and C. S. Miall.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_5_5" id="Footnote_5_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_5"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> <i>The Three Reforms of Parliament</i>, by William Heaton, chap. ii. p. 38.</p></div>
+</div>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[63]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV</h2>
+
+<p class="title">A FIGHT FOR LIBERTY<br /><br />
+
+1830-1832</p>
+
+<p class="desc">Lord Grey and the cause of Reform&mdash;Lord Durham&rsquo;s share in the
+Reform Bill&mdash;The voice of the people&mdash;Lord John introduces the
+Bill and explains its provisions&mdash;The surprise of the Tories&mdash;&lsquo;Reform,
+Aye or No&rsquo;&mdash;Lord John in the Cabinet&mdash;The Bill thrown
+out&mdash;The indignation of the country&mdash;Proposed creation of Peers&mdash;Wellington
+and Sidmouth in despair&mdash;The Bill carried&mdash;Lord
+John&rsquo;s tribute to Althorp.</p>
+
+
+<p class="noi"><span class="smcap">Earl Grey</span> was a man of sixty-six when he was called to
+power, and during the whole of his public career he had
+been identified with the cause of Reform. He, more than
+any other man, was the founder, in 1792&mdash;the year in which
+Lord John Russell was born&mdash;of &lsquo;The Friends of the People,&rsquo;
+a political association which united the forces of the patriotic
+societies which just then were struggling into existence in
+various parts of the land. He was the foe of Pitt and the
+friend of Fox, and his official career began during the
+short-lived but glorious Administration of All the Talents.
+During the dreary quarter of a century which succeeded,
+when the destinies of England were committed to men of
+despotic calibre and narrow capacity like Sidmouth, Liverpool,
+Eldon, and Castlereagh, he remained, through good
+and evil report, in deed as well as in name, a Friend of the
+People. As far back as 1793, he declared: &lsquo;I am more
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[64]</a></span>
+convinced than ever that a reform in Parliament might now
+be peaceably effected. I am afraid that we are not wise
+enough to profit by experience, and what has occasioned
+the ruin of other Governments will overthrow this&mdash;a perseverance
+in abuse until the people, maddened by excessive
+injury and roused to a feeling of their own strength, will
+not stop within the limits of moderate reformation.&rsquo; The
+conduct of Ministers during the dark period which followed
+the fall of the Ministry of All the Talents in 1807, was, in
+Grey&rsquo;s deliberate opinion, calculated to excite insurrection,
+since it was a policy of relentless coercion and repression.</p>
+
+<p>He made no secret of his conviction that the Government,
+by issuing proclamations in which whole classes of the community
+were denounced as seditious, as well as by fulminating
+against insurrections that only existed in their own guilty
+imaginations, filled the minds of the people with false
+alarms, and taught every man to distrust if not to hate his
+neighbour. There was no more chance of Reform under the
+existing <i>régime</i> than of &lsquo;a thaw in Zembla,&rsquo; to borrow a famous
+simile. Cobbett was right in his assertion that the measures
+and manners of George IV.&rsquo;s reign did more to shake the
+long-settled ideas of the people in favour of monarchical
+government than anything which had happened since the
+days of Cromwell. The day of the King&rsquo;s funeral&mdash;it was
+early in July and beautifully fine&mdash;was marked, of course, by
+official signs of mourning, but the rank and file of the people
+rejoiced, and, according to a contemporary record, the
+merry-making and junketing in the villages round London
+recalled the scenes of an ordinary Whit Monday.</p>
+
+<p>On the whole, the nation accepted the accession of the
+Sailor King with equanimity, though scarcely with enthusiasm,
+and for the moment it was not thought that the new
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[65]</a></span>
+reign would bring an immediate change of Ministry. The
+dull, uncompromising nonsense, however, which Wellington
+put into the King&rsquo;s lips in the Speech from the Throne at
+the beginning of November, threatening with punishment
+the seditious and disaffected, followed as it quickly was by
+the Duke&rsquo;s own statement in answer to Lord Grey, that no
+measure of Parliamentary reform should be proposed by
+the Government as long as he was responsible for its policy,
+awoke the storm which drove the Tories from power and
+compelled the King to send for Grey. The distress in the
+country was universal&mdash;riots prevailed, rick-burning was
+common. Lord Grey&rsquo;s prediction of 1793 seemed about
+to be fulfilled, for the people, &lsquo;maddened by excessive
+injury and roused to a feeling of their own strength,&rsquo; seemed
+about to break the traces and to take the bit between their
+teeth. The deep and widespread confidence alike in the
+character and capacity of Lord Grey did more than anything
+else at that moment to calm the public mind and to
+turn wild clamour into quiet and resistless enthusiasm.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">LORD GREY AS LEADER</div>
+
+<p>Yet in certain respects Lord Grey was out of touch with
+the new spirit of the nation. If his own political ardour
+had not cooled, the lapse of years had not widened to any
+perceptible degree his vision of the issues at stake. He
+was a man of stately manners and fastidious tastes, and,
+though admirably qualified to hold the position of leader
+of the aristocratic Whigs, he had little in common with the
+toiling masses of the people. He was a conscientious and
+even chivalrous statesman, but he held himself too much
+aloof from the rank and file of his party, and thin-skinned
+Radicals were inclined to think him somewhat cold and even
+condescending. Lord Grey lacked the warm heart of Fox,
+and his speeches, in consequence, able and philosophic
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[66]</a></span>
+though they were, were destitute of that unpremeditated
+and magical eloquence which led Grattan to describe Fox&rsquo;s
+oratory as &lsquo;rolling in, resistless as the waves of the
+Atlantic.&rsquo; On one memorable occasion&mdash;the second reading
+of the Reform Bill in the House of Lords&mdash;Lord Grey entirely
+escaped from such oratorical restraints, and even the
+Peers were moved to unwonted enthusiasm by the strong
+emotion which pervaded that singularly outspoken appeal.</p>
+
+<p>His son-in-law, Lord Durham, on the other hand, had
+the making of a great popular leader, in spite of his imperious
+manners and somewhat dictatorial bearing. The head
+of one of the oldest families in the North of England,
+Lord Durham entered the House of Commons in the year
+1813, at the age of twenty-one, as Mr. John George Lambton,
+and quickly distinguished himself by his advanced views on
+questions of foreign policy as well as Parliamentary reform.
+He married the daughter of Lord Grey in 1816, and gave
+his support in Parliament to Canning. On the formation of
+his father-in-law&rsquo;s Cabinet in 1830, he was appointed Lord
+Privy Seal. His popular sobriquet, &lsquo;Radical Jack,&rsquo; itself
+attests the admiration of the populace, and when Lambton
+was raised to the peerage in 1828 he carried to the House
+of Lords the enthusiastic homage as well as the great expectations
+of the crowd. Lord Durham was the idol of the
+Radicals, and his presence in the Grey Administration was
+justly regarded as a pledge of energetic action.</p>
+
+<p>He would unquestionably have had the honour of introducing
+the Reform Bill in the House of Commons if he had
+still been a member of that assembly, for he had made the
+question peculiarly his own, and behind him lay the enthusiasm
+of the entire party of Reform. Althorp, though
+leader of the House, and in spite of the confidence which
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[67]</a></span>
+his character inspired, lacked the power of initiative and
+the Parliamentary courage necessary to steer the Ship of
+State through such rough waters. When Lord Grey proposed
+to entrust the measure to Lord John, Brougham
+pushed the claims of Althorp, and raised objections to Lord
+John on the ground that the young Paymaster-General was
+not in the Cabinet; but Durham stoutly opposed him, and
+urged that Lord John had the first claim, since he had last
+been in possession of the question.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">THE COMMITTEE OF FOUR</div>
+
+<p>An unpublished paper of Lord Durham&rsquo;s, in the possession
+of the present Earl, throws passing light on the
+action, at this juncture, of the Ministry, and therefore
+it may be well to quote it. &lsquo;Shortly after the formation
+of the Government, Lord Grey asked me in the
+House of Lords if I would assist him in preparing the
+Reform Bill. I answered that I would do so with the
+greatest pleasure. He then said, &ldquo;You can have no objection
+to consult Lord John Russell?&rdquo; I replied, &ldquo;Certainly
+not, but the reverse.&rdquo;&rsquo; In consequence of this conversation,
+Lord Durham goes on to state, he placed himself in
+communication with Lord John, and they together agreed
+to summon to their councils Sir James Graham and Lord
+Duncannon. Thus the famous Committee of Four came
+into existence. Durham acted as chairman, and in that
+capacity signed the daily minutes of the proceedings. The
+meetings were held at his house in Cleveland Row, and he
+there received, on behalf of Lord Grey, the various deputations
+from different parts of the kingdom which were flocking
+up to impress their views of the situation on the new
+Premier. Since the measure had of necessity to originate
+in the House of Commons, and Lord John, it was already
+settled, was to be its first spokesman, Lord Durham
+sug<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[68]</a></span>gested
+that Russell should draw up a plan. This was done,
+and it was carefully discussed and amended in various directions,
+and eventually the measure as finally agreed upon was
+submitted to Lord Grey, with a report which Lord Durham,
+as chairman, drew up, and which was signed not only by
+him but by his three colleagues. Lord Durham states, in
+speaking of the part he took as chairman of the Committee
+on Reform, that Lord Grey intrusted him with the preparation
+in the first instance of the measure, and that he called
+to his aid the three other statesmen. He adds: &lsquo;This was
+no Cabinet secret, for it was necessarily known to hundreds,
+Lord Grey having referred to me all the memorials from
+different towns and bodies.&rsquo; Lord Durham was in advance
+of his colleagues on this as upon most questions, for he took
+his stand on household suffrage, vote by ballot and triennial
+Parliaments, and if he could have carried his original draft
+of the Reform Bill that measure would have been far more
+revolutionary than that which became law. His proposals
+in the House of Commons in 1821 went, in fact, much
+further than the measure which became law under Lord
+Grey.</p>
+
+<p>Lord Grey announced in the Lords on February 3 that
+a Reform measure had been framed and would be introduced
+in the House of Commons on March 1 by Lord John
+Russell, who, &lsquo;having advocated the cause of Parliamentary
+Reform, with ability and perseverance, in days when it was
+not popular, ought, in the opinion of the Administration, to
+be selected, now that the cause was prosperous, to bring
+forward a measure of full and efficient Reform, instead of
+the partial measures he had hitherto proposed.&rsquo;</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">LEADING THE ATTACK</div>
+
+<p>Petitions in favour of Reform from all parts of the
+kingdom poured into both Houses. The excitement in the
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[69]</a></span>
+country rose steadily week by week, mingled with expressions
+of satisfaction that the Bill was to be committed to
+the charge of such able hands. In Parliament speculations
+were rife as to the scope of the measure, whilst rumours of
+dissension in the Cabinet flew around the clubs. Even as
+late as the middle of February, the Duke of Wellington
+went about predicting that the Reform question could not
+be carried, and that the Grey Administration could not
+stand. Ministers contrived to keep their secret uncommonly
+well, and when at length the eventful day, March 1, arrived,
+the House of Commons was packed by a crowd such as had
+scarcely been seen there in its history. Troops of eager
+politicians came up from the country and waited at all the
+inlets of the House, whilst the leading supporters of the
+Whigs in London society gathered at dinner-parties, and
+anxiously awaited intelligence from Westminster.</p>
+
+<p>Lord John&rsquo;s speech began at six o&rsquo;clock, and lasted for
+two hours and a quarter. Beginning in a low voice, he proceeded
+gradually to unfold his measure, greeted in turns by
+cheers of approval and shouts of derision. Greville says
+it was ludicrous to see the faces of the members for those
+places doomed to disfranchisement, as they were severally
+announced. Wetherell, a typical Tory of the no-surrender
+school, began to take notes as the plan was unfolded, but
+after various contortions and grimaces he threw down his
+paper, with a look of mingled despair, ridicule, and horror.
+Lord Durham, seated under the gallery, doubted the reality
+of the scene passing before his eyes. &lsquo;They are mad, they
+are mad!&rsquo; was one of the running comments to Lord John&rsquo;s
+statement. The Opposition, on the whole, seemed inclined
+to laugh out of court such extravagant proposals, but Peel,
+on the contrary, looked both grave and angry, for he saw
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[70]</a></span>
+further than most, and knew very well that boldness was the
+best chance. &lsquo;Burdett and I walked home together,&rsquo; states
+Hobhouse, &lsquo;and agreed that there was very little chance of
+the measure being carried. We thought our friends in
+Westminster would oppose the ten-pound franchise.&rsquo;</p>
+
+<p>&lsquo;I rise, sir,&rsquo; Lord John commenced, &lsquo;with feelings of
+the deepest anxiety to bring forward a question which, unparalleled
+as it is in importance, is as unparalleled in points
+of difficulty. Nor is my anxiety, in approaching this
+question, lessened by reflecting that on former occasions I
+have brought this subject before the consideration of the
+House. For if, on other occasions, I have invited the
+attention of the House of Commons to this most important
+subject, it has been upon my own responsibility&mdash;unaided
+by anyone&mdash;and involving no one in the consequences of
+defeat.... But the measure which I have now to bring
+forward, is a measure, not of mine but of the Government....
+It is, therefore, with the greatest anxiety that I venture
+to explain their intentions to this House on a subject, the
+interest of which is shown by the crowded audience who
+have assembled here, but still more by the deep interest
+which is felt by millions out of this House, who look with
+anxiety, with hope, and with expectation, to the result of
+this day&rsquo;s debate.&rsquo;</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">OLD SARUM VERSUS MANCHESTER</div>
+
+<p>In the course of his argument, setting forth the need of
+Reform, he alluded to the feelings of a foreigner, having
+heard of British wealth, civilisation, and renown, coming to
+England to examine our institutions. &lsquo;Would not such a
+foreigner be much astonished if he were taken to a green
+mound, and informed that it sent two members to the
+British Parliament; if he were shown a stone wall, and told
+that it also sent two members to the British Parliament; or,
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[71]</a></span>
+if he walked into a park, without the vestige of a dwelling,
+and was told that it, too, sent two members to the British
+Parliament? But if he were surprised at this, how much
+more would he be astonished if he were carried into the
+North of England, where he would see large flourishing
+towns, full of trade, activity, and intelligence, vast magazines
+of wealth and manufactures, and were told that these places
+sent no representatives to Parliament. But his wonder
+would not end here; he would be astonished if he were
+carried to such a place as Liverpool, and were there told
+that he might see a specimen of a popular election, what
+would be the result? He would see bribery employed in
+the most unblushing manner, he would see every voter
+receiving a number of guineas in a box as the price of his
+corruption; and after such a spectacle would he not be
+indeed surprised that representatives so chosen could
+possibly perform the functions of legislators, or enjoy
+respect in any degree?&rsquo; In speaking of the reasons for
+giving representatives to Manchester, Leeds, Birmingham,
+and other large towns, Lord John argued: &lsquo;Because Old
+Sarum sent members to Parliament in the reign of Edward
+III., when it had a population to be benefited by it, the
+Government on the same principle deprived that forsaken
+place of the franchise in order to bestow the privilege
+where the population was now found.&rsquo;</p>
+
+<p>Lord John explained that by the provisions of the bill
+sixty boroughs with less than 2,000 inhabitants were to lose
+the franchise; forty-seven boroughs, returning ninety-four
+members, were to lose one member each. Of the seats thus
+placed at the disposal of the Government eight were to be
+given to London, thirty-four to large towns, fifty-five to
+English counties, five to Scotland, three to Ireland, and one
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[72]</a></span>
+to Wales. The franchise was to be extended to inhabitants
+of houses rated at ten pounds a year, and to leaseholders
+and copyholders of counties. It was reckoned that about
+half a million persons would be enfranchised by the bill;
+but the number of members in the House would be reduced
+by sixty-two. Lord John laid significant stress on the
+fact that they had come to the deliberate opinion that &lsquo;no
+half-measures would be sufficient, that no trifling, no
+paltry reform could give stability to the Crown, strength
+to the Parliament, or satisfaction to the country.&rsquo; Long
+afterwards Lord John Russell declared that the measure
+when thus first placed before the House of Commons
+awoke feelings of astonishment mingled with joy or with
+consternation according to the temper of the hearers.
+&lsquo;Some, perhaps many, thought that the measure was a prelude
+to civil war, which, in point of fact, it averted. But
+incredulity was the prevailing feeling, both among the
+moderate Whigs and the great mass of the Tories. The
+Radicals alone were delighted and triumphant. Joseph
+Hume, whom I met in the streets a day or two afterwards, assured
+me of his hearty support of the Government.&rsquo; There
+were many Radicals, however, who thought that the measure
+scarcely went far enough, and one of them happily summed
+up the situation by saying that, although the Reform Bill
+did not give the people all they wanted, it broke up the old
+system and took the weapons from the hands of the enemies
+of progress.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">CAPITULATION OR BOMBARDMENT</div>
+
+<p>Night after night the debate proceeded, and it became
+plain that the Tories had been completely taken by surprise.
+Meanwhile outside the House of Commons the people followed
+the debate with feverish interest. &lsquo;Nothing talked
+of, thought of, dreamt of but Reform,&rsquo; wrote Greville.
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[73]</a></span>
+&lsquo;Every creature one meets asks, &ldquo;What is said now? How
+will it go? What is the last news? What do you think?&rdquo;
+And so it is from morning till night, in the streets, in the
+clubs, and in private houses.&rsquo; After a week of controversy,
+leave was given to bring in the bill. On March 21,
+Lord John moved the second reading, but was met by
+an amendment, that the Reform Bill be read a second
+time that day six months. The House divided at three
+o&rsquo;clock on the morning of the 23rd, and the second reading
+was carried by a majority of one&mdash;333-332&mdash;in the fullest
+House on record. &lsquo;It is better to capitulate than to be
+taken by storm,&rsquo; was the comment of one of the cynics of
+the hour. Illuminations took place all over the country.
+The people were good-humoured but determined, and the
+Opposition began to recover from its fright and to declare
+that the Government could not proceed with the measure
+and were certain to resign. Peel&rsquo;s action&mdash;and sometimes
+his lack of it&mdash;was severely criticised by many of his own
+followers, and not a few of the Tories, unable to forgive the
+surrender to the claims of the Catholics, met the new crisis
+in the time-honoured spirit of Gallio. They seemed to
+have thought not only that the country was fast going to
+the dogs, but that under all the circumstances, it did not
+much matter.</p>
+
+<p>Parliament met after the usual Easter recess, and on
+April 18 General Gascoigne moved as an instruction to the
+committee that the number of members of Parliament ought
+not to be diminished, and after a debate which lasted till
+four o&rsquo;clock in the morning the resolution was carried in a
+House of 490 members by a majority of eight. The Government
+thus suddenly placed in a minority saw their opportunity
+and took it. Lord Grey and his colleagues had begun
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[74]</a></span>
+to realise that it was impossible for them to carry the Reform
+Bill in the existing House of Commons without modifications
+which would have robbed the boon of half its worth.
+The Tories had made a blunder in tactics over Gascoigne&rsquo;s
+motion, and their opponents took occasion by the forelock,
+with the result that, after an extraordinary scene in the Lords,
+Parliament was suddenly dissolved by the King in person.
+Brougham had given the people their cry, and &lsquo;the bill,
+the whole bill, and nothing but the bill,&rsquo; was the popular
+watchword during the tumult of the General Election. On
+the dissolution of Parliament the Lord Mayor sanctioned
+the illumination of London, and an angry mob, forgetful of
+the soldier in the statesman, broke the windows of Apsley
+House.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">THE FLOWING TIDE</div>
+
+<p>Speaking at a political meeting two days after the dissolution,
+Lord John Russell said that the electors in the <ins class="correction" title="Transcriber's note: original reads 'approachhing'">approaching</ins>
+struggle were called on not merely to select the best
+men to defend their rights and interests, but also to give a
+plain answer to the question, put to the constituencies by the
+King in dissolving Parliament, Do you approve, aye or no, of
+the principle of Reform in the representation? Right through
+the length and breadth of the kingdom his words were caught
+up, and from hundreds of platforms came the question, &lsquo;Reform:
+Aye or No?&rsquo; and the response in favour of the measure
+was emphatic and overwhelming. The country was split into
+the opposing camps of the Reformers and anti-Reformers,
+and every other question was thrust aside in the struggle.
+The political unions proved themselves to be a power in
+the land, and the operatives and artisans of the great manufacturing
+centres, though still excluded from citizenship, left
+no stone unturned to ensure the popular triumph. Lord
+John was pressed to stand both for Lancashire and
+Devon<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[75]</a></span>shire;
+he chose the latter county, with which he was closely
+associated by family traditions as well as by personal friendships,
+and was triumphantly returned, with Lord Ebrington as
+colleague. Even in the agricultural districts the ascendency
+of the old landed families was powerless to arrest the movement,
+and as the results of the elections became known it was
+seen that Lord Sefton had caught the situation in his dry
+remark: &lsquo;The county members are tumbling about like
+ninepins.&rsquo; Parliament assembled in June, and it became plain
+at a glance that democratic ideas were working like leaven
+upon public opinion in England. In spite of rotten boroughs,
+close corporations, the opposition of the majority of the
+territorial aristocracy, and the panic of thousands of timid
+people, who imagined that the British Constitution was imperilled,
+the Reformers came back in strength, and at least
+a hundred who had fought the Bill in the late Parliament
+were shut out from a renewal of the struggle, whilst out of
+eighty-two county members that were returned, only six
+were hostile to Reform.</p>
+
+<p>On June 24, Lord John Russell, now raised to Cabinet
+rank, introduced the Second Reform Bill, which was substantially
+the same as the first, and the measure was carried
+rapidly through its preliminary stage, and on July 8 it passed
+the second reading by a majority of 136. The Government,
+however, in Committee was met night after night by an irritating
+cross-fire of criticism; repeated motions for adjournment
+were made; there was a systematic division of labour in
+the task of obstruction. In order to promote delay, the
+leaders of the Opposition stood up again and again and
+repeated the same statements and arguments, and often in
+almost the same words. &lsquo;If Mr. Speaker,&rsquo; wrote Jekyll,
+&lsquo;outlives the Reform debate, he may defy <i>la grippe</i> and
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[76]</a></span>
+the cholera. I can recommend no books, for the booksellers
+declare nobody reads or buys in the present fever.
+The newspapers are furious, the Sunday papers are talking
+treason by wholesale.... Peel does all he can to make his
+friends behave like gentlemen. But the nightly vulgarities of
+the House of Commons furnish new reasons for Reform, and
+not a ray of talent glimmers among them all. Double-distilled
+stupidity!&rsquo;<a name="FNanchor_6_6" id="FNanchor_6_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a> In the midst of it all Russell fell ill,
+worn out with fatigue and excitement, and as the summer
+slipped past the people became alarmed and indignant at
+the dead-lock, and in various parts of the kingdom the
+attitude of the masses grew not merely restless but menacing.
+At length the tactics of the Opposition were exhausted, and
+it was possible to report progress. &lsquo;On September 7,&rsquo; is
+Lord John&rsquo;s statement, &lsquo;the debate was closed, and after
+much labour, and considerable sacrifice of health, I was
+able on that night to propose, amid much cheering, that
+the bill should be reported to the House.&rsquo; The third
+reading was carried on September 19 by a majority of
+fifty-five. Three days later, at five in the morning on
+September 22, the question was at length put, and in a
+House of five hundred and eighty-one members the majority
+for Ministers was one hundred and nine.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">LORD GREY ARISES TO THE OCCASION</div>
+
+<p>The bill was promptly sent up to the Peers, and Lord Grey
+proposed the second reading on October 3 in a speech of
+sustained eloquence. Lord Grey spoke as if he felt the
+occasion to be the most critical event in a political career
+which had extended to nearly half a century. He struck
+at once the right key-note, the gravity of the situation, the
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[77]</a></span>
+magnitude of the issues involved, the welfare of the nation.
+He made a modest but dignified allusion to his own life-long
+association with the question. &lsquo;In 1786 I voted for Reform.
+I supported Mr. Pitt in his motion for shortening the duration
+of Parliaments. I gave my best assistance to the measure of
+Reform introduced by Mr. Flood before the French Revolution.<a name="FNanchor_7_7" id="FNanchor_7_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a>
+On one or two occasions I originated motions on
+the subject.&rsquo; Then he turned abruptly from his own personal
+association with the subject to what he finely termed
+the &lsquo;mighty interests of the State,&rsquo; and the course which
+Ministers felt they must take if they were to meet the demands
+of justice, and not to imperil the safety of the nation.
+He laid stress on the general discontent which prevailed, on
+the political agitation of the last twelve months, on the distress
+that reigned in the manufacturing districts, on the
+influence of the numerous political associations which had
+grown powerful because of that distress, on the suffering of the
+agricultural population, on the &lsquo;nightly alarms, burnings, and
+popular disturbances,&rsquo; as well as on the &lsquo;general feeling of
+doubt and apprehension observable in every countenance.&rsquo;
+He endeavoured to show that the measure was not revolutionary
+in spirit or subversive of the British Constitution,
+as many people proclaimed.</p>
+
+<p>Lord Grey contended that there was nothing in the
+measure that was not founded on the principles of English
+government, nothing that was not perfectly consistent with the
+ancient practices of the Constitution, and nothing that might
+not be adopted with absolute safety to the rights and privileges
+of all orders of the State. He made a scathing allusion
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[78]</a></span>
+to the &lsquo;gross and scandalous corruption practised without
+disguise&rsquo; at elections, and he declared that the sale of seats
+in the House of Commons was a matter of equal notoriety
+with the return of nominees of noble and wealthy persons to
+that House. He laid stress on the fact that a few individuals
+under the existing system were able to turn into a means
+of personal profit privileges which had been conferred in
+past centuries for the benefit of the nation. &lsquo;It is with
+these views that the Government has considered that the
+boroughs which are called nomination boroughs ought to be
+abolished. In looking at these boroughs, we found that
+some of them were incapable of correction, for it is impossible
+to extend their constituency. Some of them consisted
+only of the sites of ancient boroughs, which, however,
+might perhaps in former times have been very fit places to
+return members to Parliament; in others, the constituency
+was insignificantly small, and from their local situation
+incapable of receiving any increase; so that, upon the
+whole, this gangrene of our representative system bade
+defiance to all remedies but that of excision.&rsquo;</p>
+
+<p>After several nights&rsquo; debate, in which Brougham, according
+to Lord John, delivered one of the greatest speeches ever
+heard in the House of Lords, the bill was at length rejected,
+after an all-night sitting, at twenty minutes past six o&rsquo;clock
+on Saturday morning, October 8, by a majority of forty-one
+(199 to 158), in which majority were twenty-one bishops.
+Had these prelates voted the other way, the bill would have
+passed the second reading. As the carriages of the nobility
+rattled through the streets at daybreak, artisans and labourers
+trudging to their work learnt with indignation that the
+demands of the people had been treated with characteristic
+contempt by the Peers.
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[79]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">THE NATION GROWS INDIGNANT</div>
+
+<p>The next few days were full of wild excitement. The
+people were exasperated, and their attitude grew suddenly
+menacing. Even those who had hitherto remained calm
+and almost apathetic grew indignant. Wild threats prevailed,
+and it seemed as if there might be at any moment a general
+outbreak of violence. Even as it was, riots of the most disquieting
+kind took place at Bristol, Derby, and other places.
+Nottingham Castle was burnt down by an infuriated mob;
+newspapers appeared in mourning; the bells of some of the
+churches rang muffled peals; the Marquis of Londonderry
+and other Peers who had made themselves peculiarly obnoxious
+were assaulted in the streets; and the Bishops could
+not stir abroad without being followed by the jeers and execrations
+of the multitude. Quiet middle-class people talked
+of refusing to pay the taxes, and showed unmistakably that
+they had caught the revolutionary spirit of the hour. Birmingham,
+which was the head-quarters of the Political Union,
+held a vast open-air meeting, at which one hundred and fifty
+thousand people were present, and resolutions were passed,
+beseeching the King to create as many new Peers as might
+be necessary to ensure the triumph of Reform. Lord
+Althorp and Lord John Russell were publicly thanked at
+this gathering for their action, and the reply of the latter is
+historic: &lsquo;Our prospects are obscured for a moment, but, I
+trust, only for a moment; it is impossible that the whisper
+of a faction should prevail against the voice of a nation.&rsquo;</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile Lord Ebrington, Lord John&rsquo;s colleague in
+the representation of Devonshire, came to the rescue of the
+Government with a vote of confidence, which was carried by
+a sweeping majority. Two days later, on Wednesday, October
+12, many of the shops of the metropolis were closed in token
+of political mourning, and on that day sixty thousand men
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[80]</a></span>
+marched in procession to St. James&rsquo;s Palace, bearing a petition
+to the King in favour of the retention of the Grey Administration.
+Hume presented it, and when he returned to the waiting
+crowd in the Park, he was able to tell them that their prayer
+would not pass unheeded. No wonder that Croker wrote
+shortly afterwards: &lsquo;The four M&rsquo;s&mdash;the Monarch, the Ministry,
+the Members, and the Multitude&mdash;all against us. The King
+stands on his Government, the Government on the House
+of Commons, the House of Commons on the people. How
+can we attack a line thus linked and supported?&rsquo; Indignation
+meetings were held in all parts of the country, and at
+one of them, held at Taunton, Sydney Smith delivered the
+famous speech in which he compared the attempt of the
+House of Lords to restrain the rising tide of Democracy to
+the frantic but futile battle which Dame Partington waged
+with her mop, during a storm at Sidmouth, when the Atlantic
+invaded her threshold. &lsquo;The Atlantic was roused.
+Mrs. Partington&rsquo;s spirit was up. But I need not tell you
+that the contest was unequal. The Atlantic Ocean beat
+Mrs. Partington. Gentlemen, be at your ease, be quiet and
+steady; you will beat&mdash;Mrs. Partington.&rsquo; The newspapers
+carried the witty allusion everywhere. It tickled the public
+fancy, and did much to relax the bitter mood of the nation,
+and vapouring heroics were forgotten in laughter, and indignation
+gave way to amused contempt.</p>
+
+<p>Parliament, which had been prorogued towards the end
+of October, reassembled in the first week of December, and
+on the 12th of that month Lord John once more introduced&mdash;for
+the third time in twelve months&mdash;the Reform Bill.
+A few alterations had been made in its text, the outcome
+chiefly of the facts which the new census had brought to
+light. In order to meet certain anomalies in the original
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[81]</a></span>
+scheme, Ministers, with the help of Thomas Drummond, who
+shortly afterwards honourably distinguished himself in Irish
+affairs, drew up two lists of boroughs, one for total disenfranchisement
+and the other for semi-disenfranchisement;
+and the principle on which fifty-six towns were included in
+the first list, and thirty in the second, was determined by
+the number of houses in each borough and the value of the
+assessed taxes. Six days later the second reading was
+passed, after three nights&rsquo; discussion, by a majority of 324 to
+162. The House rose immediately for the Christmas recess,
+and on January 20 the bill reached the committee stage,
+and there it remained till March 14. The third reading took
+place on March 23, and the bill was passed by a majority
+of 116. Althorp, as the leader of the Commons, and Russell,
+as the Minister in charge of the measure, carried the Reform
+Bill promptly to the House of Lords, and made formal
+request for the &lsquo;concurrence of their lordships to the same.&rsquo;
+Other men had laboured to bring about this result; but the
+nation felt that, but for the pluck and persistency of Russell,
+and the judgment and tact of Althorp, failure would have
+attended their efforts.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">LORD ALTHORP&rsquo;S TACT</div>
+
+<p>It is difficult now to understand the secret of the influence
+which Althorp wielded in the Grey Administration, but it was
+great enough to lead the Premier to ask him to accept a peerage,
+in order&mdash;in the crisis which was now at hand&mdash;to bring
+the Lords to their senses. Althorp was in no sense of the
+word a great statesman; in fact, his career was the triumph
+of character rather than capacity. All through the struggle,
+when controversy grew furious and passion rose high, Althorp
+kept a cool head, and his adroitness in conciliatory speech was
+remarkable. He was a moderate man, who never failed to do
+justice to his opponent&rsquo;s case, and his influence was not merely
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[82]</a></span>
+in the Commons; it made itself felt to good purpose in the
+Court, as well as in the country. He was a man of chivalrous
+instincts and unchallenged probity. It was one of his political
+opponents, Sir Henry Hardinge, who exclaimed,
+&lsquo;Althorp carried the bill. His fine temper did it!&rsquo;</p>
+
+<p>Lord John Russell, like his colleagues, was fully alive to
+the gravity of the crisis. He made no secret of his conviction
+that, if another deadlock arose, the consequence
+would be bloodshed, and the outbreak of a conflict in which
+the British Constitution would probably perish. Twelve
+months before, the cry in the country had been, &lsquo;What will
+the Lords do?&rsquo; but now an altogether different question
+was on men&rsquo;s lips, &lsquo;What must be done with the Lords?&rsquo;
+Government knew that the real struggle over the bill would
+be in Committee, and therefore they refused to be unduly
+elated when the second reading was carried on April 14
+with a majority of nine, in spite of the Duke of Wellington&rsquo;s
+blustering heroics. Three weeks later, Lord Lyndhurst
+carried, by a majority of thirty-five, a motion for the mutilation
+of the bill, in spite of Lord Grey&rsquo;s assurance that it
+dealt a fatal blow at the measure. The Premier immediately
+moved the adjournment of the debate, and the situation
+grew suddenly dramatic. The Cabinet had made its
+last concession; Ministers determined, in Lord Durham&rsquo;s
+words, that a &lsquo;sufficient creation of Peers was absolutely
+necessary&rsquo; if their resignation was not to take immediate
+effect, and they laid their views before the King. William
+IV., like his predecessor, lived in a narrow world; he was surrounded
+by gossips who played upon his fears of revolution,
+and took care to appeal to his prejudices. His zeal for
+Reform had already cooled, and Queen Adelaide was hostile
+to Lord Grey&rsquo;s measure.
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[83]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>When, therefore, Lord Grey and Lord Brougham went
+down to Windsor to urge the creation of new Peers, they
+met with a chilling reception. The King refused his
+sanction, and the Ministry had no other alternative than to
+resign. William IV. took counsel with Lord Lyndhurst,
+and summoned the Duke of Wellington. Meanwhile the
+House of Commons at the instance of Lord Ebrington,
+again passed a vote of confidence in the Grey Administration,
+and adopted an address to His Majesty, begging him to call
+to his councils such persons only as &lsquo;will carry into effect
+unimpaired in all its essential provisions that bill for reforming
+the representation of the people which has recently
+passed the House of Commons.&rsquo; Wellington tried to form
+a Ministry in order to carry out some emasculated scheme
+of Reform, but Peel was inexorable, and refused to have
+part or lot in the project.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">THE FIERCE CRY OF THE STREETS</div>
+
+<p>Meanwhile the cry rang through the country, &lsquo;The bill,
+the whole bill, and nothing but the bill!&rsquo; William IV. was
+hissed as he passed through the streets, and the walls blazed
+with insulting lampoons and caricatures. Signboards which
+displayed the King&rsquo;s portrait were framed with crape, and
+Queen Adelaide&rsquo;s likeness was disfigured with lampblack.
+Rumours of projected riots filled the town, and
+whispers of a plot for seizing the wives and children of the
+aristocracy led the authorities to order the swords of the
+Scots Greys to be rough-sharpened. At the last moment,
+when the attitude of the country was menacing, the King
+yielded, on May 17, and sent for Lord Grey. &lsquo;Only think,&rsquo;
+wrote Joseph Parkes on May 18, &lsquo;that at three yesterday
+all was gloomy foreboding in the Cabinet, and at twenty-five
+minutes before five last night Lord Althorp did not know
+the King&rsquo;s answer till Lord Grey returned at half-past five
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[84]</a></span>&mdash;&ldquo;All
+right.&rdquo; Thus on the decision of one man rests the fate
+of nations.&rsquo;<a name="FNanchor_8_8" id="FNanchor_8_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a></p>
+
+<p>Instead of creating new Peers, the King addressed a letter
+to members of the House of Lords who were hostile to the
+bill, urging them to withdraw their opposition. A hint from
+Windsor went further with the aristocracy in those days than
+any number of appeals, reasonable or just, from the country.
+About a hundred of the Peers, in angry sullen mood, shook
+off the dust of Westminster, and, in Lord John&rsquo;s words,
+&lsquo;skulked in clubs and country houses.&rsquo; Sindbad, to borrow
+Albany Fonblanque&rsquo;s vigorous simile, was getting rid of the
+old man of the sea, not permanently, alas! but at least for
+the occasion. During the progress of these negotiations, the
+nation, now confident of victory, stood not merely at attention
+but on the alert. &lsquo;I say,&rsquo; exclaimed Attwood at
+Birmingham&mdash;and the phrase expressed the situation&mdash;&lsquo;the
+people of England stand at this moment like greyhounds on
+the slip!&rsquo; Triumph was only a matter of time. &lsquo;Pray beg
+of Lord Grey to keep well,&rsquo; wrote Sydney Smith to the
+Countess; &lsquo;I have no doubt of a favourable issue. I see an
+open sea beyond the icebergs.&rsquo; At length the open sea was
+reached, and on June 7 the Reform Bill received the Royal
+Assent and became the law of the land, and with it the era
+of government by public opinion began. The mode by
+which the country at last obtained this great measure of
+redress did not commend itself to Lord John&rsquo;s judgment.
+He did not disguise his opinion that the creation of many
+new Peers favourable to Reform would have been a more
+dignified proceeding than the request from Windsor to noble
+lords to dissemble and cloak their disappointment. &lsquo;Whether
+twelve or one hundred be the number requisite to enable
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[85]</a></span>
+the Peers to give their votes in conformity with public
+opinion,&rsquo; were his words, &lsquo;it seems to me that the House of
+Lords, sympathising with the people at large, and acting
+in concurrence with the enlightened state of the prevailing
+wish, represents far better the dignity of the House, and its
+share in legislation, than a majority got together by the long
+supremacy of one party in the State, eager to show its ill-will
+by rejecting bills of small importance, but afraid to appear,
+and skulking in clubs and country houses, in face of a
+measure which has attracted the ardent sympathy of public
+opinion.&rsquo;</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">BOWING BEFORE THE STORM</div>
+
+<p>&lsquo;God may and, I hope, will forgive you for this bill,&rsquo;
+was Lord Sidmouth&rsquo;s plaintive lament to Earl Grey, &lsquo;but I
+do not think I ever can!&rsquo; There lives no record of reply.
+The last protest of the Duke of Wellington, delivered just
+before the measure became law, was characteristic in many
+respects, and not least in its blunt honesty. &lsquo;Reform, my
+lords, has triumphed, the barriers of the Constitution are
+broken down, the waters of destruction have burst the gates
+of the temple, and the tempest begins to howl. Who can
+say where its course should stop? who can stay its speed?
+For my own part, I earnestly hope that my predictions may
+not be fulfilled, and that my country may not be ruined by
+the measure which the noble earl and his colleagues have
+sanctioned.&rsquo; Lord John Russell, on the contrary, held then
+the view which he afterwards expressed: &lsquo;It is the right of
+a people to represent its grievances: it is the business of a
+statesman to devise remedies.&rsquo; In the first quarter of the
+present century the people made their grievances known.
+Lord Grey and his Cabinet in 1831-2 devised remedies, and,
+in Lord John&rsquo;s memorable phrase, &lsquo;popular enthusiasm rose
+in its strength and converted them into law.
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[86]</a></span>&rsquo;</p>
+
+<p>The Reform Bill, as Walter Bagehot has shown, did
+nothing to remove the worst evils from which the nation
+suffered, for the simple reason that those evils were not
+political but economical. But if it left unchallenged the
+reign of protection and much else in the way of palpable
+and glaring injustice, it ushered in a new temper in regard
+to public questions. It recognised the new conditions of
+English society, and gave the mercantile and manufacturing
+classes, with their wealth, intelligence, and energy, not only
+the consciousness of power, but the sense of responsibility.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">A GENEROUS TRIBUTE</div>
+
+<p>The political struggle under Pitt had been between
+the aristocracy and the monarchy, but that under Grey
+was between the aristocracy and the middle classes, for
+the claims of the democracy in the broad sense of the
+word lay outside the scope of the measure. In spite of its
+halting confidence in the people, men felt that former things
+of harsh oppression had passed away, and that the Reform
+Bill rendered their return impossible. It was at best only
+a half measure, but it broke the old exclusive traditions and
+diminished to a remarkable degree the power of the landed
+interest in Parliament. It has been said that it was the
+business of Lord John Russell at that crisis to save England
+from copying the example of the French Revolution, and
+there can be no doubt whatever that the measure was a
+safety-valve at a moment when political excitement assumed
+a menacing form. The public rejoicings were inspired
+as much by hope as by gladness. A new era had dawned,
+the will of the nation had prevailed, the spirit of progress
+was abroad, and the multitudes knew that other reforms
+less showy perhaps but not less substantial, were at hand.
+&lsquo;Look at England before the Reform Bill, and look at it
+now,&rsquo; wrote Mr. Froude <ins class="correction" title="Transcriber's note: original reads 'in in 1874'">in 1874</ins>. &lsquo;Its population
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[87]</a></span>
+almost doubled; its commerce quadrupled; every individual
+in the kingdom lifted to a high level of comfort
+and intelligence&mdash;the speed quickening every year; the
+advance so enormous, the increase so splendid, that language
+turns to rhetoric in describing it.&rsquo; When due allowance is
+made for the rhetoric of such a description&mdash;for alas! the
+&lsquo;high level of comfort&rsquo; for every individual in the kingdom
+is still unattained&mdash;the substantial truth of such a statement
+cannot be gainsaid. When the battle was fought, Lord
+John was generous enough to say that the success of the
+Reform Bill in the House of Commons was due mainly to
+the confidence felt in the integrity and sound judgment of
+Lord Althorp. At the same time he never concealed his
+conviction that it was the multitude outside who made the
+measure resistless.</p>
+
+<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_6_6" id="Footnote_6_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_6"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> <i>Correspondence of Mr. Joseph Jekyll</i>, 1818-1838. Edited, with a
+brief Memoir, by the Hon. Algernon Bourke. Pp. 272-273.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_7_7" id="Footnote_7_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_7"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> Flood&rsquo;s Reform proposals were made in 1790. His idea was to
+augment the House of Commons by one hundred members, to be elected
+by the resident householders of every county.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_8_8" id="Footnote_8_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_8"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> <i>Life of George Grote</i>, by Mrs. Grote, p. 80.</p></div>
+</div>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[88]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V</h2>
+
+<p class="title">THE DAWN OF A NEW ERA<br /><br />
+
+1833-1838</p>
+
+<p class="desc">The turn of the tide with the Whigs&mdash;The two voices in the Cabinet&mdash;Lord
+John and Ireland&mdash;Althorp and the Poor Law&mdash;The Melbourne
+Administration on the rocks&mdash;Peel in power&mdash;The question
+of Irish tithes&mdash;Marriage of Lord John&mdash;Grievances of Nonconformists&mdash;Lord
+Melbourne&rsquo;s influence over the Queen&mdash;Lord
+Durham&rsquo;s mission to Canada&mdash;Personal sorrow.</p>
+
+
+<p class="noi"><span class="smcap">High-water</span> mark was reached with the Whigs in the spring
+of 1833, and before the tide turned, two years later, Lord
+Grey and his colleagues had, in various directions, done
+much to justify the hopes of their followers. The result of
+the General Election in the previous December was seen
+when the first Reformed Parliament assembled at Westminster,
+on January 29, 1833. Lord Althorp, as Leader of
+the House of Commons, found himself with 485 members
+at his back, whilst Sir Robert Peel confronted him with
+about 170 stalwart Tories. After all, the disparity was
+hardly as great as it looked, for it was a mixed multitude
+which followed Althorp, and in its ranks were the elements
+of conflict and even of revolt. The Whigs had made common
+cause with the Radicals when the Reform Bill stood in
+jeopardy every hour, but the triumph of the measure
+imperilled this grand alliance. Not a few of the Whigs had
+been faint-hearted during the struggle, and were now
+some<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[89]</a></span>what
+alarmed at its overwhelming success. Their inclination
+was either to rest on their laurels or to make haste slowly.
+The Radicals, on the contrary, longed for new worlds to
+conquer. They were full of energy and enthusiasm, and
+desired nothing so much as to ride abroad redressing human
+wrongs. The traditions of the past were dear to the Whigs,
+but the Radicals thrust such considerations impatiently
+aside, and boasted that 1832 was the Year 1 of the people.
+It was impossible that such warring elements should permanently
+coalesce; the marvel is that they held together so
+long.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">REMEDIAL MEASURES</div>
+
+<p>Even in the Cabinet there were two voices. The Duke
+of Richmond was at heart a Tory masquerading in the
+dress of a Whig. Lord Durham was a Radical of an outspoken
+and uncompromising type, in spite of his aristocratic
+trappings and his great possessions. Nevertheless, the new
+era opened, not merely with a flourish of trumpets, but with
+notable work in the realm of practical statesmanship.
+Fowell Buxton took up the work of Wilberforce on behalf
+of the desolate and oppressed, and lived to bring about
+the abolition of slavery; whilst Shaftesbury&rsquo;s charity began
+at home with the neglected factory children. Religious
+toleration was represented in the Commons by the
+Jewish Relief Bill, and its opposite in the Lords by the
+defeat of that measure. Althorp amended the Poor
+Laws, and, though neither he nor his colleagues would
+admit the fact, the bill rendered, by its alterations in the
+provisions of settlement and the bold attack which it made
+on the thraldom of labour, the repeal of the Corn Laws
+inevitable. Grant renewed the charter of the East India
+Company, but not its monopoly of the trade with the East.
+Roebuck brought forward a great scheme of education, whilst
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[90]</a></span>
+Grote sought to introduce the ballot, and Hume, in the
+interests of economy, but at the cost of much personal odium,
+assailed sinecures and extravagance in every shape and form.
+Ward drew attention to the abuses of the Irish Church, and
+did much by his exertions to lessen them; and Lord John
+Russell a year or two later brought about a civic revolution
+by the Municipal Reform Act&mdash;a measure which, next to
+the reform of Parliament, did more to broaden and uplift the
+political life of the people than any other enactment of the
+century. Ireland blocked the way of Lord Grey&rsquo;s Ministry,
+and the wild talk and hectoring attitude of O&rsquo;Connell, and
+his bold bid for personal ascendency, made it difficult for
+responsible statesmen to deal calmly with the problems by
+which they were confronted.</p>
+
+<p>It is true that Lord John was not always on the side of the
+angels of progress and redress. He blundered occasionally
+like other men, and sometimes even hesitated strangely to
+give effect to his convictions, and therefore it would be idle
+as well as absurd to attempt to make out that he was
+consistent, much less infallible. The Radicals a little later
+complained that he talked of finality in reform, and supported
+the coercive measures of Stanley in Ireland, and opposed
+Hume in his efforts to secure the abolition of naval and military
+sinecures. He declined to support a proposed investigation
+of the pension list. He set his face against Tennyson&rsquo;s
+scheme for shortening the duration of Parliaments, and Grote
+had to reckon with his hostility to the adoption of the ballot.
+But in spite of it all, he was still, in Sydney Smith&rsquo;s happy
+phrase, to all intents and purposes &lsquo;Lord John Reformer.&rsquo;
+No one doubted his honesty or challenged his motives.
+The compass by which Russell steered his course through
+political life might tremble, but men felt that it remained true.
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[91]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">FIRST VISIT TO IRELAND</div>
+
+<p>Ireland drew forth his sympathies, but he failed to
+see any way out of the difficulty. &lsquo;I wish I knew what
+to do to help your country,&rsquo; were his words to Moore,
+&lsquo;but, as I do not, it is of no use giving her smooth words,
+as O&rsquo;Connell told me, and I must be silent.&rsquo; It was
+not in his nature, however, to sit still with folded hands.
+He held his peace, but quietly crossed the Channel to
+study the problem on the spot. It was his first visit to
+the distressful country for many years, and he wished Moore
+to accompany him as guide, philosopher, and friend. He
+assured the poet that he would allow him to be as patriotic
+as he pleased about &lsquo;the first flower of the earth and first
+gem of the sea&rsquo; during the proposed sentimental journey.
+&lsquo;Your being a rebel,&rsquo; were his words, &lsquo;may somewhat atone
+for my being a Cabinet Minister.&rsquo; Moore, however, was
+compelled to decline the tempting proposal by the necessity
+of making ends meet by sticking to the hack work which
+that universal provider of knowledge, Dr. Lardner, had set
+him in the interests of the &lsquo;Cabinet Encyclopædia&rsquo;&mdash;an enterprise
+to which men of the calibre of Mackintosh, Southey,
+Herschell, and even Walter Scott had lent a helping hand.</p>
+
+<p>Lord John landed in Ireland in the beginning of September
+1833, and went first to Lord Duncannon&rsquo;s place at
+Bessborough. Afterwards he proceeded to Waterford to
+visit Lord Ebrington, his colleague in the representation of
+Devonshire. He next found his way to Cork and Killarney,
+and he wrote again to Moore urging him to &lsquo;hang Dr.
+Lardner on his tree of knowledge,&rsquo; and to join him at the
+eleventh hour. Moore must have been in somewhat
+reduced circumstances at the moment&mdash;for he was a luxurious,
+pleasure-loving man, who never required much persuasion
+to throw down his work&mdash;since such an appeal availed
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[92]</a></span>
+nothing. Meanwhile Lord John had carried Lord Ebrington
+back to Dublin, and they went together to the North of
+Ireland. The visit to Belfast attracted considerable attention;
+Lord John&rsquo;s services over the Reform Bill were of
+course fresh in the public mind, and he was entertained in
+orthodox fashion at a public dinner. This short tour in
+Ireland did much to open his eyes to the real grievances of
+the people, and, fresh from the scene of disaffection, he was
+able to speak with authority when the late autumn compelled
+the Whig Cabinet to throw everything else aside in order to
+devise if possible some measure of relief for Ireland. Stanley
+was Chief Secretary, and, though one of the most brilliant
+men of his time alike in deed and word, unfortunately his
+haughty temper and autocratic leanings were a grievous
+hindrance if a policy of coercion was to be exchanged for
+the more excellent way of conciliation. O&rsquo;Connell opposed
+his policy in scathing terms, and attacked him personally with
+bitter invective, and in the end there was open war between
+the two men.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">POOR LAW REFORM</div>
+
+<p>Lord Grey, now that Parliamentary Reform had been
+conceded, was developing into an easy-going aristocratic
+Whig of somewhat contracted sympathies, and Stanley,
+though still in the Cabinet, was apparently determined
+to administer the affairs of Ireland on the most approved
+Tory principles. Althorp, Russell, and Duncannon
+were men whose sympathies leaned more or less decidedly
+in the opposite direction, and therefore, especially with
+O&rsquo;Connell thundering at the gates with the Irish people and
+the English Radicals at his back, a deadlock was inevitable.
+Durham, in ill health and chagrin, and irritated by the stationary,
+if not reactionary, attitude of certain members of
+the Grey Administration, resigned office in the spring of
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[93]</a></span>
+1833. Goderich became Privy Seal, and this enabled Stanley
+to exchange the Irish Secretaryship for that of the Colonies.
+He had driven Ireland to the verge of revolt, but he had
+nevertheless made an honest attempt to grapple with many
+practical evils, and his Education Bill was a piece of constructive
+statesmanship which placed Roman Catholics on
+an equality with Protestants. Early in the session of
+1834 Althorp introduced the Poor Law Amendment
+Act, and the measure was passed in July. The changes
+which it brought about were startling, for its enactments
+were drastic. This great economic measure came
+to the relief of a nation in which &lsquo;one person in every
+seven was a pauper.&rsquo; The new law limited relief to
+destitution, prohibited out-door help to the able-bodied,
+beyond medical aid, instituted tests to detect imposture,
+confederated parishes into unions, and substituted large
+district workhouses for merely local shelters for the destitute.
+In five years the poor rate was reduced by three millions,
+and the population, set free by the new interpretation of
+&lsquo;Settlement,&rsquo; were able, in their own phrase, to follow the
+work and to congregate accordingly wherever the chance of
+a livelihood offered. One great question followed hard
+on the heels of another.</p>
+
+<p>In the King&rsquo;s Speech at the opening of Parliament, the
+consideration of Irish tithes was recommended, for extinguishing
+&lsquo;all just causes of complaint without injury to the
+rights and property of any class of subjects or to any institution
+in Church or State.&rsquo; Mr. Littleton (afterwards Lord
+Hatherton), who had succeeded Stanley as Irish Secretary
+accordingly introduced a new Tithe Bill, the object of which
+was to change the tithe first into a rent-charge payable by
+the landlord, and eventually into land tax. The measure also
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[94]</a></span>
+proposed that the clergy should be content with a sum which
+fell short of the amount to which they were entitled by law,
+so that riot and bloodshed might be avoided by lessened
+demands. On the second reading of the bill, Lord John
+frankly avowed the faith that was in him, a circumstance
+which led to unexpected results. He declared that, as he
+understood it, the aim of the bill was to determine and secure
+the amount of the tithe. The question of appropriation was
+to be kept entirely distinct. If the object of the bill was
+to grant a certain sum to the Established Church of Ireland,
+and the question was to end there, his opinion of it might
+be different. But he understood it to be a bill to secure
+a certain amount of property and revenue destined by the
+State to religious and charitable purposes, and if the State
+should find that it was not appropriated justly to the purposes
+of religious and moral instruction, it would then be
+the duty of Parliament to consider the necessity of a different
+appropriation. His opinion was that the revenues of the
+Church of Ireland were larger than necessary for the religious
+and moral instruction of the persons belonging to that
+Church, and for the stability of the Church itself.</p>
+
+<p>Lord John did not think it would be advisable or wise
+to mix the question of appropriation with the question of
+amount of the revenues; but when Parliament had vindicated
+the property in tithes, he should then be prepared to
+assert his opinion with regard to their appropriation. If,
+when the revenue was once secured, the assertion of that
+opinion should lead him to differ and separate from those
+with whom he was united by political connection, and for
+whom he entertained the deepest private affection, he should
+feel much regret; yet he should, at whatever cost and
+sacrifice, do what he should consider his bounden duty&mdash;namely,
+do justice to Ireland.
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[95]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">UPSETTING THE COACH</div>
+
+<p>He afterwards explained that this speech, which produced
+a great impression, was prompted by the attitude of
+Stanley concerning the permanence and inviolability of the
+Irish Church. He was, in fact, afraid that if Stanley&rsquo;s
+statement was allowed to pass in silence by his colleagues,
+the whole Government would be regarded as pledged to the
+maintenance in their existing shape of the temporalities of
+an alien institution. Lord John accordingly struck from his
+own bat, amid the cheers of the Radicals. Stanley expressed
+to Sir James Graham his view of the situation in the now
+familiar phrase, &lsquo;Johnny has upset the coach.&rsquo; The truth
+was, divided counsels existed in the Cabinet on this question
+of appropriation, and Lord John&rsquo;s blunt deliverance, though
+it did not wreck the Ministry, placed it in a dilemma. He
+was urged by some of his colleagues to explain away what
+he had said, but he had made up his mind and was in no
+humour to retract.</p>
+
+<p>Palmerston, with whom he was destined to have many an
+encounter in coming days, thought he ought to have been
+turned out of the Cabinet, and others of his colleagues were
+hardly less incensed. The independent member, in the person
+of Mr. Ward, who sat for St. Albans, promptly took advantage
+of Russell&rsquo;s speech to bring forward a motion to the effect
+that the Church in Ireland &lsquo;exceeds the wants of the population,
+and ought to be reduced.&rsquo; This proposition was
+elbowed out of the way by the appointment of a Royal Commission
+of Inquiry into the revenues of the Irish Church; but
+Stanley felt that his position in the Cabinet was now untenable,
+and therefore retired from office in the company of the
+Duke of Richmond, Lord Ripon, and Sir James Graham. The
+Radicals made no secret of their glee. Ward, they held, had
+been a benefactor to the party beyond their wildest dreams,
+for he had exorcised the evil spirits of the Grey Administration.
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[96]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Lord Grey had an opportunity at this crisis of infusing
+fresh vigour into his Ministry by raising to Cabinet rank men
+of progressive views who stood well with the country.
+Another course was, however, taken, for the Marquis of
+Conyngham became Postmaster-General, the Earl of Carlisle
+Privy Seal, whilst Lord Auckland went to the Admiralty, and
+Mr. Spring Rice became Colonial Secretary, and so the opportunity
+of a genuine reconstruction of the Government was
+lost. The result was, the Government was weakened, and
+no one was satisfied. &lsquo;Whigs, Tories, and Radicals,&rsquo; wrote
+Greville, &lsquo;join in full cry against them, and the &ldquo;Times,&rdquo; in a
+succession of bitter vituperative articles very well done, fires
+off its contempt and disgust at the paltry patching-up of the
+Cabinet.&rsquo;</p>
+
+<p>Durham&rsquo;s retirement, though made on the score of
+ill-health, had not merely cooled the enthusiasm of the
+Radicals towards the Grey Administration, but had also
+awakened their suspicions. Lord John was restive, and
+inclined to kick over the traces; whilst Althorp, whose tastes
+were bucolic, had also a desire to depart. &lsquo;Nature,&rsquo; he
+exclaimed, &lsquo;intended me to be a grazier; but men will
+insist on making me a statesman.&rsquo; He confided to Lord
+John that he detested office to such an extent that he
+&lsquo;wished himself dead&rsquo; every morning when he awoke.
+Meanwhile vested interests here, there, and everywhere,
+were uniting their forces against the Ministry, and its sins
+of omission as well as of commission were leaping to light
+on the platform and in the Press. Wellington found his
+reputation for political sagacity agreeably recognised, and
+he fell into the attitude of an oracle whose jeremiads
+had come true. When Lord Grey proposed the renewal
+of the Coercion Act without alteration, Lord Althorp
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[97]</a></span>
+expressed a strong objection to such a proceeding. He had
+assured Littleton that the Act would not be put in force
+again in its entirety, and the latter, with more candour than
+discretion, had communicated the intimation to O&rsquo;Connell,
+who bruited it abroad.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">O&rsquo;CONNELL THROWS DOWN THE GAUNTLET</div>
+
+<p>Lord John had come to definite convictions about
+Ireland, and he was determined not to remain in the Cabinet
+unless he was allowed to speak out. On June 23 the Irish
+Tithe Bill reached the stage of committee, and Littleton
+drew attention to the changes which had been introduced
+into the measure&mdash;slight concessions to public opinion which
+Lord John felt were too paltry to meet the gravity of the
+case. O&rsquo;Connell threw down the gauntlet to the Ministry,
+and asked the House to pass an amendment asserting that
+the surplus revenues of the Church ought to be applied to
+purposes of public utility. Peel laid significant stress on
+the divided counsels in the Ministry, and accused Lord John
+of asserting that the Irish Church was the greatest grievance
+of which the nation had ever had to complain. The latter
+repudiated such a charge, and explained that what he had
+said was that the revenues of the Church were too great for
+its stability, thereby implying that he both desired and contemplated
+its continued existence. Although not unwilling
+to support a mild Coercion Bill, if it went hand in hand with
+a determined effort to deal with abuses, he made it clear
+that repressive enactments without such an effort at Reform
+were altogether repugnant to his sense of justice. He
+declared that Coercion Acts were &lsquo;peculiarly abhorrent to
+those who pride themselves on the name of Whigs;&rsquo; and he
+added that, when such a necessity arose, Ministers were confronted
+with the duty of looking &lsquo;deeper into the causes of
+the long-standing and permanent evils&rsquo; of Ireland. I am
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[98]</a></span>
+not prepared to continue the government of Ireland without
+fully probing her condition; I am not prepared to propose
+bills for coercion, and the maintenance of a large force of
+military and police, without endeavouring to improve, so far
+as lies in my power, the condition of the people. I will not
+be a Minister to carry on systems which I think founded
+on bigotry and prejudice. Be the consequence what it
+may, I am content to abide by these opinions, to carry them
+out to their fullest extent, not by any premature declaration
+of mere opinion, but by going on gradually, from time to
+time improving our institutions, and, without injuring the
+ancient and venerable fabrics, rendering them fit and proper
+mansions for a great, free, and intelligent people.&rsquo; Such a
+speech was worthy of Fox, and it recalls a passage in Lord
+John&rsquo;s biography of that illustrious statesman. Fox did his
+best in the teeth of prejudice and obloquy to free Ireland
+from the thraldom which centuries of oppression had
+created: &lsquo;In 1780, in 1793, and in 1829, that which had
+been denied to reason was granted to force. Ireland
+triumphed, not because the justice of her claims was apparent,
+but because the threat of insurrection overcame prejudice,
+made fear superior to bigotry, and concession triumphant
+over persecution.&rsquo;<a name="FNanchor_9_9" id="FNanchor_9_9"></a><a href="#Footnote_9_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a></p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">CROSS CURRENTS</div>
+
+<p>Even O&rsquo;Connell expressed his admiration of this bold
+and fearless declaration, and the speech did much to increase
+Lord John&rsquo;s reputation, both within and without the
+House of Commons. In answer to a letter of congratulation,
+he said that his friends would make him, by their
+encouragement&mdash;what he felt he was not by nature&mdash;a
+good speaker. &lsquo;There are occasions,&rsquo; he added, &lsquo;on
+which one must express one&rsquo;s feelings or sink into contempt.
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[99]</a></span>
+I own I have not been easy during the period in which I
+thought it absolutely necessary to suspend the assertion of
+my opinions in order to secure peace in this country.&rsquo; Lord
+John&rsquo;s attitude on this occasion threw into relief his keen
+sense of political responsibility, no less than the honesty
+and courage which were characteristic of the man. A day
+or two later the Cabinet drifted on to the rocks. The
+policy of Coercion was reaffirmed in spite of Althorp&rsquo;s protests,
+and in spite also of Littleton&rsquo;s pledge to the contrary
+to O&rsquo;Connell. Generosity was not the strong point of the
+Irish orator, and, to the confusion of Littleton and the
+annoyance of Grey, he insisted on taking the world into his
+confidence from his place in Parliament. This was the last
+straw. Lord Althorp would no longer serve, and Lord
+Grey, harassed to death, determined no longer to lead.
+After all, &lsquo;Johnny&rsquo; was only one of many who upset the
+coach, which, in truth, turned over because its wheels were
+rotten. On the evening of June 29 a meeting of the Cabinet
+was held, and, in Russell&rsquo;s words, &lsquo;Lord Grey placed before
+us the letters containing his own resignation and that of Lord
+Althorp, which he had sent early in the morning to the
+King. He likewise laid before us the King&rsquo;s gracious
+acceptance of his resignation, and he gave to Lord Melbourne
+a sealed letter from his Majesty. Lord Melbourne,
+upon opening this letter, found in it an invitation to him to
+undertake the formation of a Government. Seeing that
+nothing was to be done that night, I left the Cabinet and
+went to the Opera.&rsquo;</p>
+
+<p>Lord Melbourne was sent for in July, and took his
+place at the head of a Cabinet which remained practically
+unaltered. He had been Home Secretary under Grey,
+and Duncannon was now called to fill that post. The
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[100]</a></span>
+first Melbourne Administration was short-lived, for when
+it had existed four months Earl Spencer died, and Althorp,
+on his succession to the peerage, was compelled to
+relinquish his leadership of the House of Commons.
+William IV. cared little for Melbourne, and less for Russell,
+and, as he wished to pick a quarrel with the Whigs, since
+their policy excited his alarm, he used Althorp for a pretext.
+Lord Grey had professed to regard Althorp as indispensable
+to the Ministry, and the King imagined that Melbourne
+would adopt the same view. Although reluctant to part with
+Althorp, who eagerly seized the occasion of his accession to
+an earldom to retire from official life, Melbourne refused to
+believe that the heavens would fall because of that fact.</p>
+
+<p>There was no pressing conflict of opinion between
+the King and his advisers, but William IV. nevertheless
+availed himself of the accident of Althorp&rsquo;s elevation
+to the peerage to dismiss the Ministry. The reversion
+of the leadership in the Commons fell naturally to Lord
+John, and Melbourne was quick to recognise the fact.
+&lsquo;Thus invited,&rsquo; says Lord John Russell, &lsquo;I considered it
+my duty to accept the task, though I told Lord Melbourne
+that I could not expect to have the same influence with the
+House of Commons which Lord Althorp had possessed.
+In conversation with Mr. Abercromby I said, more in joke
+than in earnest, that if I were offered the command of the
+Channel Fleet, and thought it my duty to accept, I should not
+refuse it.&rsquo; It was unlike Sydney Smith to treat the remark
+about taking command of the Channel Fleet seriously, when
+&lsquo;he elaborated a charge&rsquo; against Lord John on the Deans
+and Chapters question; but even the witty Canon could lose
+his temper sometimes.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">WILLIAM IV. DEFENDER OF THE FAITH</div>
+
+<p>The King, however, had strong opinions on the subject
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[101]</a></span>
+of Lord John&rsquo;s qualifications, and he expressed in emphatic
+terms his disapproval. The nation trusted Lord John, and
+had come to definite and flattering conclusions about him
+as a statesman, but at Windsor a different opinion prevailed.
+The King, in fact, made no secret to Lord Melbourne,
+in the famous interview at Brighton, of his conviction
+that Lord John Russell had neither the ability nor the influence
+to qualify him for the task; and he added that
+he would &lsquo;make a wretched figure&rsquo; when opposed in the
+Commons by men like Peel and Stanley. His Majesty
+further volunteered the remark that he did not &lsquo;understand
+that young gentleman,&rsquo; and could not agree to the arrangement
+proposed. William, moreover, took occasion to pose
+as a veritable, as well as titular, Defender of the Faith, for,
+on the authority of Baron Stockmar, the King &lsquo;considered
+Lord John Russell to have pledged himself to certain encroachments
+on the Church, which his Majesty had made
+up his mind and expressed his determination to resist.&rsquo; As
+Russell was clearly quite out of the reckoning, Melbourne
+suggested two other names. But the King had made up his
+mind on more subjects than one, and next morning, Lord
+Melbourne found himself in possession of a written paper,
+which informed him his Majesty had no further occasion
+either for his services or for those of his colleagues.</p>
+
+<p>William IV. acted within his constitutional rights,
+but such an exercise of the royal prerogative was, to
+say the least, worthy of George III. in his most uninspired
+mood. Althorp regarded the King&rsquo;s action as the
+&lsquo;greatest piece of folly ever committed,&rsquo; and Lord John,
+in reply to the friendly note which contained this emphatic
+verdict, summoned his philosophy to his aid in the following
+characteristic rejoinder: &lsquo;I suppose everything is for
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[102]</a></span>
+the best in this world; otherwise the only good which I
+should see in this event would be that it saves me from
+being sadly pommelled by Peel and Stanley, to say nothing
+of O&rsquo;Connell.&rsquo; Wellington, who was hastily summoned by
+the King, suggested that Sir Robert Peel should be entrusted
+with the formation of a new Government.</p>
+
+<p>Sir Robert Peel was accordingly sent for in hot haste from
+Rome to form a new Ministry. On his arrival in London in
+December 1834, he at once set about the formation of a
+Cabinet. This is Jekyll&rsquo;s comment: &lsquo;Our crisis has been
+entertaining, and Peel is expected to-day. I wish he could
+have remained long enough at Rome to have learnt mosaic,
+of which parti-coloured materials our Cabinets have been
+constructed for twenty years, and for want of cement have
+fallen to pieces. The Whigs squall out, &ldquo;Let us depart,
+for the Reformers grow too impatient.&rdquo; The Tories squall
+out, &ldquo;Let us come in, and we will be very good boys, and
+become Reformers ourselves.&rdquo; However, the country is safe
+by the Reform Bill, for no Minister can remain in office now
+by corrupt Parliaments; he must act with approbation of the
+country or lose his Cabinet in a couple of months.&rsquo; At the
+General Election which followed, Peel issued his celebrated
+address to the electors of Tamworth, in which he declared
+himself favourable to the reform of &lsquo;proved abuses,&rsquo; and to
+the carrying out of such measures &lsquo;gradually, dispassionately,
+and deliberately,&rsquo; in order that it might be lasting. Lord
+John was returned again for South Devon; but on the reassembling
+of Parliament the Liberal majority had dwindled
+from 314 to 107. It was during his election tour that he
+delivered an address at Totnes, which Greville described as
+not merely &lsquo;a very masterly performance,&rsquo; but &lsquo;one of the
+cleverest and most appropriate speeches&rsquo; he had ever read,
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[103]</a></span>
+and for which his friends warmly complimented him. It
+was a powerful and humorous examination of the Tories&rsquo;
+professed anxiety for Reform, and of the prospects of any
+Reform measures being carried out by their instrumentality.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">LEADER OF THE OPPOSITION</div>
+
+<p>Lord John now became leader of the Opposition, though
+the Duke of Bedford dreaded the strain, and expostulated
+with his son on his acceptance of so irksome and laborious
+a task. &lsquo;You will have to conduct and keep in order a
+noisy and turbulent pack of hounds which, I think, you will
+find it quite impossible to restrain.&rsquo; The Duke of Bedford&rsquo;s
+fears were not groundless, and Lord John afterwards confessed
+that, in the whole period during which he had led the
+Liberal party in the House of Commons, he never had so
+difficult a task. The forces under his command consisted
+of a few stalwart Radicals, a number of Whigs of the traditional
+and somewhat stationary type, and some sixty Irish
+members. Nevertheless, he promptly assumed an aggressive
+attitude, and his first victory as leader of the Opposition was
+won on the question of the choice of a new Speaker, when
+Mr. Abercromby was placed in the chair in preference to
+the Ministerial candidate. As the session went on, Lord
+John&rsquo;s resources in attack grew more and more marked, but
+he was foiled by the lack of cohesion amongst his followers.
+It became evident that, unless all sections of the Opposition
+were united as one man, the Government of Sir Robert
+Peel could not be overthrown. Alliance with the Radicals
+and the Irish party, although hateful to the old-fashioned
+Whigs, was in fact imperative. Lord John summoned a
+meeting of the Opposition at Lord Lichfield&rsquo;s house; the
+support of the Radicals and Irish was secured, and then
+the leader marshalled his forces for what he hoped would
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[104]</a></span>
+prove a decisive victory. His expectations were not disappointed,
+for early in April he brought forward a motion for the
+appropriation of the surplus revenues of the Irish Church
+to general moral and religious purposes, and won with a
+majority of twenty-seven votes (285 to 258). Sir Robert Peel
+forthwith resigned, and the Whigs were avenged for their
+cavalier dismissal by the King.</p>
+
+<p>On the day after the Prime Minister&rsquo;s resignation, Lord
+John Russell was married&mdash;April 11, 1835, at St. George&rsquo;s,
+Hanover Square&mdash;to Adelaide, Lady Ribblesdale, the widow
+of the second bearer of that title. The respite from political
+strife was of short duration, for at the end of forty-eight
+hours he was summoned from Woburn to take the seals of
+the Home Office in the second Melbourne Administration.
+The members of the new Cabinet presented themselves
+to their constituents for re-election, and Lord John suffered
+defeat in Devonshire. A seat was, however, found for him
+at Stroud, and in May he was back again in the House of
+Commons. The first measure of importance introduced by
+him, on June 5, was the Municipal Reform Act&mdash;a measure
+which embodied the results of the Commission on the
+subject appointed by Lord Grey. The bill swept away
+a host of antiquated and absurd privileges of corporate
+cities and towns, abolished the authority of cliques of
+freemen, rectified a variety of abuses, and entrusted municipal
+government to the hands of all taxpayers. Lord
+John piloted the measure through the Commons, and
+fought almost single-handed the representatives of vested
+rights. After a long contest with the Opposition and the
+Lords, he had the satisfaction of passing the bill, in a
+somewhat modified form, through its final stages in September,
+though the Peers, as usual, opposed it as long as they
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[105]</a></span>
+dared, and only yielded at last when Peel in the one House
+and Wellington in the other recommended concession.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">A POPULAR OVATION</div>
+
+<p>The Irish Tithes Bill was subsequently introduced,
+and, though it now included the clauses for the appropriation
+of certain revenues, it passed the Commons by
+a majority of thirty-seven. The Lords, however, struck
+out the appropriation clauses, and the Government in consequence
+abandoned the measure. The Irish Municipal
+Bill shared a similar fate, and Lord John&rsquo;s desire to see
+justice done in Ireland was brought for the moment to
+naught. The labours of the session had been peculiarly
+arduous, and in the autumn his health suffered from the
+prolonged strain. His ability as a leader of the House of
+Commons, in spite of the dismal predictions of William IV.
+and the admonitions of paternal solicitude, was now recognised
+by men of all shades of opinion, though, of course, he
+had to confront the criticism alike of candid friends and
+equally outspoken foes. He recruited his energies in the
+West of England, and, though he had been so recently
+defeated in Devonshire, wherever he went the people, by
+way of amends, gave him an ovation. Votes of thanks were
+accorded to him for his championship of civil and religious
+liberty, and in November he was entertained at a banquet
+at Bristol, and presented with a handsome testimonial,
+raised by the sixpences of ardent Reformers.</p>
+
+<p>Parliament, in the Speech from the Throne, when the
+session of 1836 began, was called upon to take into early
+consideration various measures of Reform. The programme
+of the Ministry, like that of many subsequent administrations,
+was not lacking in ambition. It was proposed to deal with
+the antiquated and vexatious manner in which from time
+immemorial the tithes of the English Church had been
+col<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[106]</a></span>lected.
+The question of Irish tithes was also once more to
+be brought forward for solution; the municipal corporations
+of Ireland and the relief of its poor were to be dealt with
+in the light of recent legislation for England in the same
+direction. Improvements in the practical working of the
+administration of justice, &lsquo;more especially in the Court of
+Chancery,&rsquo; were foreshadowed, and it was announced that
+the early attention of Parliament would also be called to
+certain &lsquo;grievances which affect those who dissent from the
+doctrines or discipline of the Established Church.&rsquo; Such a
+list of measures bore on its very face the unmistakeable
+stamp of Lord John Russell&rsquo;s zeal for political redress and
+religious toleration. Early in the session he brought forward
+two measures for the relief of Nonconformists. One of them
+legalised marriages in the presence of a registrar in Nonconformist
+places of worship, and the other provided for a
+general civil registration of births, marriages, and deaths.
+His original proposal was that marriage in church as
+well as chapel should only take place after due notice
+had been given to the registrar. The bishops refused
+to entertain such an idea, and the House of Lords gave
+effect to their objections, with the result that the registrar
+was bowed out of church, though not out of chapel, where
+indeed he remains to this day. The Tithe Commutation
+Act and three other measures&mdash;one for equalising the
+incomes of prelates, rearranging ancient dioceses and
+creating new sees; another for the better application of
+the revenues of the Church to its general purposes; and
+a third to diminish pluralities&mdash;bore witness to his ardour
+for ecclesiastical reform. The first became law in 1836, and
+the other two respectively in 1838 and 1839. He lent
+his aid also to the movement for the foundation on a broad
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[107]</a></span>
+and liberal basis of a new university in London with power
+to confer degrees&mdash;a concession to Nonconformist scholarship
+and liberal culture generally, which was the more
+appreciated since Oxford and Cambridge still jealously
+excluded by their religious tests the youth of the Free
+Churches.</p>
+
+<p>The Tithe Commutation Act was passed in June; it
+provided for the exchange of tithes into a rent-charge upon
+land payable in money, but according to a sliding scale
+which varied with the average price of corn during the
+seven preceding years. In the opinion of Lord Farnborough,
+to no measure since the Reformation has the
+Church owed so much peace and security. The Irish
+Municipal Bill was carried in the course of the session
+through the Commons, but the Lords rendered the measure
+impossible; and though the Irish Poor Law Bill was carried,
+a different fate awaited Irish Tithes. This measure was
+introduced for the fifth time, but in consequence of the
+King&rsquo;s death, on June 20, and the dissolution of Parliament
+which followed, it had to be abandoned. Between 1835
+and 1837 Lord John, as Home Secretary, brought about
+many changes for the better in the regulation of prisons, and
+especially in the treatment of juvenile offenders. By his
+directions prisoners in Newgate, from metropolitan counties,
+were transferred to the gaol of each county. Following in
+the steps of Sir Samuel Romilly, he also reduced the number
+of capital crimes, and, later on, brought about various prison
+reforms, notably the establishment of a reformatory for juvenile
+offenders.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">THE QUEEN&rsquo;S ACCESSION</div>
+
+<p>The rejoicings over Queen Victoria&rsquo;s accession in the
+summer of 1837 were quickly followed by a General Election.
+The result of this appeal to the country was that the Liberal
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[108]</a></span>
+majority in the House of Commons was reduced to less
+than forty. Lord John was again returned for Stroud, and
+on that occasion he delivered a speech in which he cleverly
+contrasted the legislative achievements of the Tories with
+those of the Whigs. He made a chivalrous allusion to the
+&lsquo;illustrious Princess who has ascended the Throne with purest
+intentions and the justest desires.&rsquo; One passage from his
+speech merits quotation: &lsquo;We have had glorious female
+reigns. Those of Elizabeth and Anne led us to great victories.
+Let us now hope that we are going to have a female reign
+illustrious in its deeds of peace&mdash;an Elizabeth without her
+tyranny, an Anne without her weakness.... I trust that we
+may succeed in making the reign of Victoria celebrated among
+the nations of the earth and to all posterity, and that England
+may not forget her precedence of teaching the nations
+how to live.&rsquo;</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">LORD MELBOURNE AND THE COURT</div>
+
+<p>Lord Melbourne had never been a favourite with William,
+but from the first he stood high in the regard of the young
+Queen. Her Majesty was but eighteen when she ascended
+the throne upon which her reign has shed so great a lustre;
+she had been brought up in comparative seclusion, and her
+knowledge of public affairs was, of necessity, small. Lord
+Melbourne at that time was approaching sixty, and the
+respect which her Majesty gave to his years was heightened
+by the quick recognition of the fact that the Prime Minister
+was one of the most experienced statesmen which the
+country at that moment possessed. He was also a man of
+ready wit, and endowed with the charm of fine manners, and
+under his easy nonchalance there lurked more earnest and
+patriotic conviction than he ever cared to admit. &lsquo;I am
+sorry to hurt any man&rsquo;s feelings,&rsquo; said Sydney Smith, &lsquo;and
+to brush aside the magnificent fabric of levity and gaiety he
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[109]</a></span>
+has reared; but I accuse our Minister of honesty and diligence.&rsquo;
+Ridiculous rumours filled the air during the earliest
+years of her Majesty&rsquo;s reign concerning the supposed undue
+influence which Lord Melbourne exerted at Court. The
+more advanced Radicals complained that he sought to
+render himself indispensable to the sovereign, and that his
+plan was to surround her with his friends, relations, and
+creatures, and so to obtain a prolonged tenure of power.
+The Tories also grumbled, and made no secret of the same
+ungenerous suspicions. They knew neither her Majesty
+nor Lord Melbourne who thus spoke. At the same time, it
+must be admitted that Lord Melbourne was becoming more
+and more out of touch with popular aspirations, and the
+political and social questions which were rapidly coming to
+the front were treated by him in a somewhat cavalier
+manner.</p>
+
+<p>Russell had his own misgivings, and was by no means
+inclined to lay too much stress on the opinions of philosophical
+Radicals of the type of Grote. At the same time,
+he urged upon Melbourne the desirability of meeting the
+Radicals as far as possible, and he laid stress on the fact
+that they, at least, were not seeking for grounds of difference
+with the Premier. &lsquo;There are two things which I think
+would be more acceptable than any others to this body&mdash;the
+one to make the ballot an open question, the other to
+remove Tories from the political command of the army.&rsquo;
+Lord Melbourne, however, believed that the ballot would
+create many evils and cure none. Lord John yielded to his
+chief, but in doing so brought upon himself a good deal of
+angry criticism, which was intensified by an unadvised
+declaration in the House of Commons. In his speech on
+the Address he referred to the question of Reform, and
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[110]</a></span>
+declared that it was quite impossible for him to take part
+in further measures of Reform. The people of England
+might revise the Act of 1832, or agitate for a new one;
+but as for himself, he refused to be associated with any such
+movement. A storm of expostulation and angry protest
+broke out; but the advanced Reformers failed to move
+Lord John from the position which he had taken. So
+they concentrated their hostility in a harmless nickname,
+and Lord John for some time forward was called in Radical
+circles and certain journalistic publications, &lsquo;Finality Jack.&rsquo;
+This honest but superfluous and embarrassing deliverance
+brought him taunts and reproaches, as well as a temporary
+loss of popularity. It was always characteristic of
+Lord John to speak his mind, and he sometimes did it not
+wisely but too well. Grote wrote in February 1838: &lsquo;The
+degeneracy of the Liberal party, and their passive acquiescence
+in everything, good or bad, which emanates from the
+present Ministry, puts the accomplishment of any political
+good out of the question; and it is not worth while to undergo
+the fatigue of a nightly attendance in Parliament for
+the simple purpose of sustaining Whig Conservatism against
+Tory Conservatism. I now look back wistfully to my unfinished
+Greek history.&rsquo; Yet Lord Brougham, in the year
+of the Queen&rsquo;s accession, declared that Russell was the
+&lsquo;stoutest Reformer of them all.&rsquo;</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">LORD DURHAM AND CANADA</div>
+
+<p>The rebellion in Canada was the first great incident in the
+new reign, and the Melbourne Cabinet met the crisis by proposals&mdash;which
+were moved by Lord John in the Commons,
+and adopted&mdash;for suspending the Canadian Constitution for
+the space of four years. The Earl of Durham, at the beginning
+of 1838, was appointed Governor-General with
+extraordinary powers, and he reluctantly accepted the
+diffi<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[111]</a></span>cult
+post, trusting, as he himself said, to the confidence and
+support of the Government, and to the forbearance of those
+who differed from his political views. No one doubts that
+Durham acted to the best of his judgment, though everyone
+admits that he exceeded at least the letter of his authority;
+and no one can challenge, in the light of the subsequent
+history of Canada, the greatness and far-reaching nature of
+his services, both to the Crown and to the Dominion. Relying
+on the forbearance and support, in the faith of which
+he had accepted his difficult commission, the Governor-General
+took a high hand with the rebels; but his ordinances
+were disallowed, and he was practically discredited and
+openly deserted by the Government. When he was on the
+point of returning home, a broken-hearted man, in failing
+health, it was Lord John Russell who at length stood up in
+Durham&rsquo;s defence. Speaking on the Durham Indemnity
+Bill, Lord John said: &lsquo;I ask you to pass this Bill of Indemnity,
+telling you that I shall be prepared when the time
+comes, not indeed to say that the terms or words of the
+ordinances passed by the Earl of Durham are altogether
+to be justified, but that, looking at his conduct as a whole,
+I shall be ready to take part with him. I shall be ready to
+bear my share of any responsibility which is to be incurred
+in these difficult circumstances.&rsquo; The generous nature of
+this declaration was everywhere recognised, and by none
+more heartily than Lord Durham. &lsquo;I do not conceal from
+you that my feelings have been deeply wounded by the conduct
+of the Ministry. From you, however, and you alone
+of them all, have I received any cordial support personally;
+and I feel, as I have told you in a former letter, very
+grateful to you.&rsquo;</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile Lord John Russell had been called upon
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[112]</a></span>
+to oppose Mr. Grote&rsquo;s motion in favour of the ballot.
+Although the motion was lost by 315 to 198 votes, the
+result was peculiarly galling to Lord John, for amongst the
+majority were those members who were usually opposed to
+the Government, whilst the minority was made up of Lord
+Melbourne&rsquo;s followers. But the crisis threatening the
+Ministry passed away when a motion of want of confidence
+in Lord Glenelg, the head of the Colonial Office, was
+defeated by twenty-nine votes. The Irish legislation of the
+Government as represented by the Tithe Bill did not prosper,
+and it became evident that, in order to pass the measure, the
+Appropriation Clause must be abandoned. Although Lord
+John Russell emphatically declared in 1835 that no Tithe
+Bill could be effective which did not include an Appropriation
+Clause, he gave way to the claims of political expediency,
+and further alienated the Radicals by allowing a
+measure which had been robbed of its potency to pass
+through Parliament. Lord Melbourne&rsquo;s Government accomplished
+during the session something in the direction of
+Irish Reform by the passage of the Poor Law, but it failed
+to carry the Municipal Bill, which in many respects was the
+most important of the three.</p>
+
+<p>The autumn, which witnessed on both sides of the
+Atlantic the excitement over Lord Durham&rsquo;s mission to
+Canada, was darkened in the home of Lord John by the
+death at Brighton, on November 1, of his wife. His first
+impulse was to place the resignation of his office and of
+leadership in the Commons in the hands of his chief. Urgent
+appeals from all quarters were made to him to remain at his
+post, and, though his own health was precarious, cheered by
+the sympathy of his colleagues and of the country, he resumed
+his work after a few weeks of quiet at Cassiobury.
+</p>
+
+<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_9_9" id="Footnote_9_9"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9_9"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> Russell&rsquo;s <i>Life of Fox</i>, vol. i. p. 242.</p></div>
+</div>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[113]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI</h2>
+
+<p class="title">THE TWO FRONT BENCHES<br /><br />
+
+1840-1845</p>
+
+<p class="desc">Lord John&rsquo;s position in the Cabinet and in the Commons&mdash;His
+services to Education&mdash;Joseph Lancaster&mdash;Lord John&rsquo;s Colonial
+Policy&mdash;Mr. Gladstone&rsquo;s opinion&mdash;Lord Stanmore&rsquo;s recollections&mdash;The
+mistakes of the Melbourne Cabinet&mdash;The Duke of Wellington&rsquo;s
+opinion of Lord John&mdash;The agitation against the Corn Laws&mdash;Lord
+John&rsquo;s view of Sir Robert Peel&mdash;The Edinburgh Letter&mdash;Peel&rsquo;s
+dilemma&mdash;Lord John&rsquo;s comment on the situation.</p>
+
+
+<p class="noi"><span class="smcap">The</span> truth was, Lord John could not be spared, and his
+strong sense of duty triumphed over his personal grief. One
+shrewd contemporary observer of men and movements
+declared that Melbourne and Russell were the only two men
+in the Cabinet for whom the country cared a straw. The
+opinion of the man in the street was summed up in Sydney
+Smith&rsquo;s assertion that the Melbourne Government could
+not possibly exist without Lord John, for the simple reason
+that five minutes after his departure it would be dissolved
+into &lsquo;sparks of liberality and splinters of reform.&rsquo; In
+1839 the Irish policy of the Government was challenged,
+and, on the motion of Lord Roden, a vote of censure was
+carried in the House of Lords. When the matter came
+before the Commons, Lord John delivered a speech so
+adroit and so skilful that friends and foes alike were satisfied,
+and even pronounced Radicals forgot to grumble.
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[114]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Lord John&rsquo;s speech averted a Ministerial crisis, and on a
+division the Government won by twenty-two votes. A month
+later the affairs of Jamaica came up for discussion, for the
+Government found itself forced, by the action of the House
+of Assembly in refusing to adopt the Prisons Act which
+had been passed by the Imperial Legislature, to ask Parliament
+to suspend the Constitution of the colony for a period
+of five years; and on a division they gained their point by
+a majority of only five votes. The Jamaica Bill was an
+autocratic measure, which served still further to discredit
+Lord Melbourne with the party of progress. Chagrined at
+the narrow majority, the Cabinet submitted its resignation
+to her Majesty, who assured Lord John that she had
+&lsquo;never felt more pain&rsquo; than when she learnt the decision
+of her Ministers. The Queen sent first for Wellington,
+and afterwards, at his suggestion, for Peel, who undertook
+to form an Administration; but when her Majesty insisted
+on retaining the services of the Whig Ladies-in-Waiting, Sir
+Robert declined to act, and the former Cabinet was recalled
+to office, though hardly with flying colours.</p>
+
+<p>Education, to hark back for a moment, was the next great
+question with which Lord John dealt, for, in the summer
+of 1839, he brought in a bill to increase the grant to elementary
+schools from 20,000<i>l.</i> a year to 30,000<i>l.</i>&mdash;first made
+in 1833&mdash;and to place it under the control of the Privy
+Council, as well as to subject the aided schools to inspection.
+&lsquo;I explained,&rsquo; was his own statement, &lsquo;in the simplest terms,
+without any exaggeration, the want of education in the
+country, the deficiencies of religious instruction, and the
+injustice of subjecting to the penalties of the criminal law
+persons who had never been taught their duty to God and
+man.&rsquo; His proposals, particularly with regard to the
+establish<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[115]</a></span>ment
+of a Normal school, were met with a storm of opposition.
+This part of the scheme was therefore abandoned;
+&lsquo;but the throwing out of one of our children to the wolf,&rsquo;
+remarks Lord John, &lsquo;did little to appease his fury!&rsquo; At
+length the measure, in its modified shape, was carried in
+the Commons; but the House of Lords, led on this occasion
+by the Archbishop of Canterbury, by a majority of more than
+a hundred, condemned the scheme entirely. Dr. Blomfield,
+Bishop of London, at this juncture came forward as peacemaker,
+and, at a private meeting at Lansdowne House,
+consisting of the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Bishops of
+London and Salisbury, Lord Lansdowne, and Lord John
+Russell, the dispute was amicably adjusted, on the basis of
+the reports of the Inspectors of Schools being sent to the
+Bishops as well as to the Committee of Privy Council, and
+co-operation between the Bishops and the Committee in
+the work of education.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">JOSEPH LANCASTER</div>
+
+<p>The Duke of Bedford was one of the first men of position
+in the country to come to the aid of Joseph Lancaster&mdash;a
+young Quaker philanthropist, who, in spite of poverty and
+obscurity, did more for the cause of popular education in
+England in the early years of the century than all the privileged
+people in the country.<a name="FNanchor_10_10" id="FNanchor_10_10"></a><a href="#Footnote_10_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a> Here a floating straw of reminiscence
+may be cited, since it throws momentary light on the
+mischievous instincts of a quick-witted boy. Lord John,
+looking back towards the close of his life, said: &lsquo;One of my
+earliest recollections as a boy at Woburn Abbey is that of
+putting on Joseph Lancaster&rsquo;s broad hat and mimicking his
+mode of salutation.&rsquo;</p>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[116]</a></span></p>
+<p>Other changes were imminent. Lord Normanby had
+proved himself to be a popular Viceroy of Ireland; indeed,
+O&rsquo;Connell asserted that he was one of the best Englishmen
+that had ever been sent across St. George&rsquo;s Channel in an
+official capacity. He was now Colonial Secretary; and,
+in spite of his virtues, he was scarcely the man for such a
+position&mdash;at all events, at a crisis in which affairs required
+firm handling. He managed matters so badly that the
+Under-Secretary (Mr. Labouchere, afterwards Lord Taunton)
+was in open revolt. The cards were accordingly shuffled
+in May 1839, and, amongst other and less significant
+changes, Normanby and Russell changed places. Lord
+John quickly made his presence felt at the Colonial Office.
+He was a patient listener to the permanent officials; indeed,
+he declared that he meant to give six months to making
+himself master of the new duties of his position. Like all
+men of the highest capacity, Lord John was never unwilling
+to learn. He held that the Imperial Government was bound
+not merely by honour, but by enlightened self-interest, to
+protect the rights and to advance the welfare of the Colonies.
+His words are significant, and it seems well to quote them,
+since they gather up the policy which he consistently
+followed: &lsquo;If Great Britain gives up her supremacy from a
+niggardly spirit of parsimony, or from a craven fear of helplessness,
+other Powers will soon look upon the Empire, not
+with the regard due to an equal, as she once was, but with
+jealousy of the height she once held, without the fear she once
+inspired. To build up an empire extending over every sea,
+swaying many diverse races, and combining many forms of
+religion, requires courage and capacity; to allow such an
+empire to fall to pieces is a task which may be performed
+by the poor in intellect, and the pusillanimous in conduct.
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[117]</a></span>&rsquo;</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">COLONIAL POLICY</div>
+
+<p>When Lord John was once asked at the Colonial Office
+by an official of the French Government how much of
+Australia was claimed as the dominion of Great Britain, he
+promptly answered, &lsquo;The whole.&rsquo; The visitor, quite taken
+aback, found it expedient to take his departure. Lord John
+vigorously assailed the view that colonies which had their
+own parliaments, framed on the British model, were virtually
+independent, and, therefore, had no right to expect more
+than moral help from the Mother Country. During his
+tenure of office New Zealand became part of the British
+dominions. By the treaty of Waitangi, the Queen assumed
+the sovereignty, and the new colony was assured of the
+protection of England. Lord John assured the British
+Provinces of North America that, so long as they wished
+to remain subjects of the Queen, they might confidently rely
+on the protection of England in all emergencies.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Gladstone has in recent years done justice to
+the remarkable prescience, and scarcely less remarkable
+administrative skill, which Lord John brought to bear at a
+critical juncture in the conduct of the Colonial policy of
+the Melbourne Government. He lays stress on the &lsquo;unfaltering
+courage&rsquo; which Russell displayed in meeting, as far
+as was then possible, the legitimate demand for responsible
+self-government. It is not, therefore, surprising that, to
+borrow Mr. Gladstone&rsquo;s words, &lsquo;Lord John Russell substituted
+harmony for antagonism in the daily conduct of
+affairs for those Colonies, each of which, in an infancy of
+irrepressible vigour, was bursting its swaddling clothes. Is
+it inexcusable to say that by this decision, which was far
+ahead of the current opinion of the day, he saved the
+Empire, possibly from disruption, certainly from much
+em<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[118]</a></span>barrassment
+and much discredit.&rsquo;<a name="FNanchor_11_11" id="FNanchor_11_11"></a><a href="#Footnote_11_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a> Lord John was a man of
+vision. He saw, beyond most of his contemporaries, the
+coming magnitude of the Empire, and he did his best to
+shape on broad lines and to far-reaching issues the policy of
+England towards her children beyond the seas. Lord John
+recognised in no churlish or half-hearted spirit the claims
+of the Colonies, nor did he stand dismayed by the vision
+of Empire. &lsquo;There was a time when we might have stood
+alone,&rsquo; are his words. &lsquo;That time has passed. We conquered
+and peopled Canada, we took possession of the
+whole of Australia, Van Dieman&rsquo;s Land, and New Zealand.
+We have annexed India to the Crown. There is no
+going back. For my part, I delight in observing the imitation
+of our free institutions, and even our habits and
+manners, in colonies at a distance from the Palace of Westminster.&rsquo;
+He trusted the Colonies, and refused to believe
+that all the wisdom which was profitable to direct their
+affairs was centred in Downing Street. His attitude was sympathetic
+and generous, and at the same time it was candid
+and firm.</p>
+
+<p>Lord Stanmore&rsquo;s recollections of his father&rsquo;s colleague
+go back to this period, and will be read with interest: &lsquo;As
+a boy of ten or twelve I often saw Lord John. His half-sister,
+Lady Louisa Russell, was the wife of my half-brother,
+Lord Abercorn, and Lord John was a frequent guest at Lord
+Abercorn&rsquo;s villa at Stanmore, where my father habitually
+passed his Saturdays and Sundays during the session, and
+where I almost wholly lived. My first conscious remembrance
+of Lord John dates from the summer of 1839, and
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[119]</a></span>
+in that and the following years I often saw him at the Priory.
+Towards the close of 1839 Lord John lost his first wife, and
+the picture of his little figure, in deep mourning, walking by
+the side of my father on the gravel walks about the house in
+the spring and summer of 1840 is one vividly impressed on
+my recollection. His manner to children was not unpleasant,
+and I well remember his pausing, an amused listener to
+a childish and vehement political discussion between his
+step-daughter, Miss Lister, and myself&mdash;a discussion which
+he from time to time stirred up to increased animation by
+playfully mischievous suggestions.&rsquo;</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">A HOSTILE RESOLUTION</div>
+
+<p>Early in the session of 1840, the Ministry was met by a
+vote of want of confidence, and in the course of the discussion
+Sir James Graham accused Lord John of encouraging
+sedition by appointing as magistrate one of the leaders of
+the Chartist agitation at Newport. Lord John, it turned
+out, had appointed Mr. Frost, the leader in question, on the
+advice of the Lord-Lieutenant, and he was able to prove that
+his own speech at Liverpool had been erroneously reported.
+The hostile resolution was accordingly repelled, and the
+division resulted in favour of the Government. For six years
+Turkey and Egypt had been openly hostile to each other,
+and in 1839 the war had been pushed to such extremities
+that Great Britain, Austria, Russia, and Prussia entered into
+a compact to bring about&mdash;by compulsion if necessary&mdash;a
+cessation of hostilities. Lord Holland and Lord Clarendon
+objected to England&rsquo;s share in the Treaty of July 1840,
+but Lord Palmerston compelled the Cabinet to acquiesce
+by a threat of resignation, and Lord John, at this crisis,
+showed that he was strongly in favour of his colleague&rsquo;s
+policy. The matter, however, was by no means settled, for
+once more a grave division of opinion in the party arose as
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[120]</a></span>
+to the wisdom of practically throwing away our alliance
+with France. Althorp&mdash;now Lord Spencer&mdash;reminded his
+former colleagues that that nation was most fitted to be our
+ally of any in Europe, on the threefold ground of situation,
+institutions, and civilisation.</p>
+
+<p>Lord John drew up a memorandum and submitted
+it to his colleagues, in which he recognised the rights of
+France, and proposed to summon her, under given conditions,
+to take measures with the other Powers to preserve
+the peace of Europe. The personal ascendency of
+Lord Palmerston on questions of foreign policy was, however,
+already so marked that Lord Melbourne&mdash;now his
+brother-in-law, was reluctant to insist on moderation. Lord
+John, however, stood firm, and the breaking up of the
+Government seemed inevitable. During the crisis which
+followed, Lord Palmerston, striking, as was his wont, from his
+own bat, rejected, under circumstances which Mr. Walpole
+has explained in detail in his Life of Lord John Russell, a
+proposal for a conference of the allied Powers. Lord John
+had already entered his protest against any one member of
+the Cabinet being allowed to conduct affairs as he pleased,
+without consultation or control, and he now informed Lord
+Melbourne in a letter dated November 1, 1840&mdash;which
+Mr. Walpole prints&mdash;that Palmerston&rsquo;s reply to Austria
+compelled him to once more consider his position, as he
+could not defend in the House of Commons measures
+which he thought wrong. Lord Melbourne promptly recognised
+that Russell was the only possible leader in the
+Commons, and he induced Lord Palmerston to admit his
+mistake over the despatch to Metternich, and in this way the
+misunderstanding was brought to an end. Meanwhile, the
+fortunes of the war in the East turned against Ibrahim Pasha,
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[121]</a></span>
+and Palmerston&rsquo;s policy, though not his manner of carrying
+it out, was justified.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">DIVIDED COUNSELS</div>
+
+<p>The closing years of the Melbourne Administration were
+marked not only by divided counsels, but by actual blunders
+of policy, and in this connection it is perhaps enough to cite
+the Opium war against China and the foolhardy invasion of
+Afghanistan. At home the question of Free Trade was
+coming rapidly to the front, and the Anti-corn Law League,
+which was founded in Manchester in 1838, was already
+beginning to prove itself a power in the land. As far back
+as 1826, Hume had taken up his parable in Parliament
+against the Corn Laws as a blight on the trade of the country;
+and two years after the Reform Bill was passed he had
+returned to the attack, only to find, however, that the nation
+was still wedded to Protection. Afterwards, year after year,
+Mr. Villiers drew attention to the subject, and moved for an
+inquiry into the working of the Corn Laws. He declared
+that the existing system was opposed by the industry, the
+intelligence, and the commerce of the nation, and at length,
+in a half-hearted fashion, the Government found itself compelled,
+if it was to exist at all, to make some attempt to deal
+with the problem. Lord Melbourne, and some at least of
+his colleagues, were but little interested in the question, and
+they failed to gauge the feeling of the country.</p>
+
+<p>In the spring of 1841 action of some kind grew inevitable,
+and the Cabinet determined to propose a fixed duty of
+eight shillings per quarter on wheat, and to reduce the
+duty on sugar. Lord John opened the debate on the latter
+proposal in a speech which moved even Greville to
+enthusiasm; but neither his arguments nor his eloquence
+produced the desired impression on the House, for the
+Government was defeated by thirty-six votes. Everyone
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[122]</a></span>
+expected the Ministry at once to face the question of dissolution
+or resignation; but Melbourne was determined to
+cling to office as long as possible, in spite of the growing
+difficulties and even humiliations of his position. On June
+4, the day on which Lord John was to bring forward his
+proposal for a fixed duty on wheat, Sir Robert Peel carried
+a vote of want of confidence by a majority of one, and, as
+an appeal to the country was at length inevitable, Parliament
+was dissolved a few days later. The Melbourne
+Ministry had outstayed its welcome. The manner in which
+it had left Lord Durham in the lurch over his ill-advised
+ordinances had aroused widespread indignation, for the
+multitude at least could not forget the greatness of his
+services to the cause of Reform. If the dissolution had
+come two or three years earlier, the Government might have
+gone to the country without fear; but in 1841, both at home
+and abroad, their blunders and their vacillation had alienated
+confidence, and it was not difficult to forecast the result.
+The General Election brought Lord John a personal
+triumph. He was presented with a requisition signed by
+several thousand persons, asking him to contest the City of
+London, and after an exciting struggle he was returned,
+though with only a narrow majority; and during the political
+vicissitudes of the next eighteen years London was
+faithful to him.</p>
+
+<p>Lord John Russell was essentially a home-loving man, and
+the gloom which bereavement had cast over his life in the
+autumn of 1839 was at best only partially dispelled by the
+close and sympathetic relations with his family. It was,
+therefore, with satisfaction that all his friends, both on his
+own account and that of his motherless young children,
+heard of his approaching second marriage. Immediately
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[123]</a></span>
+after the election for the City, Lord John was married to Lady
+Fanny Elliot, second daughter of the Earl of Minto, a union
+which brought him lasting happiness.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">&lsquo;A HOST IN HIMSELF&rsquo;</div>
+
+<p>Parliament met in the middle of August, and the Government
+were defeated on the Address by a majority of ninety-one,
+and on August 28 Lord John found himself once more
+out of harness. In his speech in the House of Commons
+announcing the resignation of the Government, he said that
+the Whigs under Lord Grey had begun with the Reform Act,
+and that they were closing their tenure of power by proposals
+for the relief of commerce. The truth was, the
+Melbourne Administration had not risen to its opportunities.
+Its fixed duty on corn was a paltry compromise. The
+leaders of the party needed to be educated up to the level
+of the national demands. Opposition was to bring about
+unexpected political combinations and new political opportunities,
+and the years of conflict which were dawning were
+also to bring more clearly into view Lord John Russell&rsquo;s
+claims to the Liberal leadership. When the Melbourne
+Administration was manifestly losing the confidence of
+the nation, Rogers the poet was walking one day with
+the Duke of Wellington in Hyde Park, and the talk turned
+on the political situation. Rogers remarked, &lsquo;What a
+powerful band Lord John Russell will have to contend
+with! There&rsquo;s Peel, Lord Stanley, Sir James Graham&mdash;&mdash;;&rsquo;
+and the Duke interrupted him at this point with the laconic
+reply, &lsquo;Lord John Russell is a host in himself.&rsquo;</p>
+
+<p>Protection had triumphed at the General Election, and
+Sir Robert Peel came to power as champion of the Corn
+Laws. The Whigs had fallen between two stools, for the
+country was not in a humour to tolerate vacillation. The
+Melbourne Cabinet had, in truth, in the years which had
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[124]</a></span>
+witnessed its decline and fall, spoken with the voice of
+Jacob, but stretched forth the hands of Esau. The
+Radicals shook their heads, scouted the Ministry&rsquo;s deplorable
+efforts at finance, and felt, to say the least, lukewarm
+about their spirited foreign policy. &lsquo;I don&rsquo;t thank a man
+for supporting me when he thinks me right,&rsquo; was the cynical
+confession of a statesman of an earlier generation; &lsquo;my
+gratitude is with the man who supports me when he thinks
+me wrong.&rsquo; Melbourne was doubtless of the same mind;
+but the man in the crowd, of Liberal proclivities, was, for the
+most part, rather disgusted with the turn which affairs had
+taken, and the polling booths made it plain that he thought
+the Prime Minister wrong, and, that being the case, he was
+not obliging enough to return him to power. The big drum
+had been successfully beaten, moreover, at the General Election
+by the defenders of all sorts and sizes of vested interests,
+sinecures, monopolies, and the like, and Sir Robert Peel&mdash;though
+not without personal misgivings&mdash;accordingly succeeded
+Melbourne as First Lord, whilst Stanley, now the
+hope of stern unbending Tories, took Russell&rsquo;s place as
+Secretary for the Colonies.</p>
+
+<p>The annals of the Peel Administration of course
+lie outside the province of this monograph; they have
+already been told with insight and vigour in a companion
+volume, and the temptation to wander at a tangent into the
+history of the Queen&rsquo;s reign&mdash;especially with Lord John out
+of office&mdash;must be resisted in deference to the exigencies of
+space. In the Peel Cabinet the men who had revolted
+under Melbourne, with the exception of the Duke of Richmond,
+were rewarded with place and power. Lord Ripon,
+who was spoken of at the time with scarcely disguised contempt
+as a man of tried inefficiency, became President of
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[125]</a></span>
+the Board of Trade. Sir James Graham, a statesman who
+was becoming somewhat impervious to new ideas, and who
+as a Minister displayed little tact in regard to either movements
+or men, was appointed Home Secretary. Stanley,
+who had proved himself to be a strong man in the wrong
+camp, and therefore the evil genius of his party, now
+carried his unquestionable skill, and his brilliant powers of
+debate, as well as his imperious temper and contracted
+views, to the service of the Tories. One other man held a
+prominent place in Peel&rsquo;s Cabinet, and proved a tower of
+strength in it&mdash;Lord Aberdeen, who was Secretary for Foreign
+Affairs, and who did much to maintain the peace of Europe
+when the Tahiti incident and the Spanish marriages
+threatened embroilment. Lord Aberdeen, from 1841 to
+1846, guided the foreign policy of England with ability and
+discretion, and, as a matter of fact, steered the nation through
+diplomatic quarrels which, if Lord Palmerston had been at
+the Foreign Office, would probably have ended in war.
+This circumstance heightens the irony of his subsequent
+career.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">THE POLITICAL OUTLOOK</div>
+
+<p>The outlook, political and social, when Peel took office
+and Russell confronted him as leader of the Opposition, was
+gloomy and full of hazard. The times, in Peel&rsquo;s judgment,
+were &lsquo;out of joint,&rsquo; and this threw party Government out of
+joint and raised issues which confused ordinary minds.
+The old political catchwords &lsquo;Peace, retrenchment, and
+reform,&rsquo; no longer awoke enthusiasm. Civil and religious
+liberty were all very well in their way, but they naturally
+failed to satisfy men and women who were ground down
+by economic oppression, and were famished through lack
+of bread. The social condition of England was deplorable,
+for, though the Reform Bill had brought in its wake
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[126]</a></span>
+measures of relief for the middle classes, it had left the
+artisans and the peasants almost where it found them.
+In spite of the new Poor Law and other enactments,
+the people were burdened with the curse of bitter and
+hopeless poverty, and the misery and squalor in which
+they were permitted to live threw a menacing shadow
+over the fair promise of the opening years of the young
+Queen&rsquo;s reign. The historians of the period are responsible
+for the statement that in Manchester, for example, one-tenth
+of the population lived in cellars; even in the rural
+districts, the overcrowding, with all its attending horrors in
+the direction of disease and vice, was scarcely less terrible,
+for in one parish in Dorset thirty-six persons dwelt, on an
+average, in each house. The wonder is, not that the Anti-Corn
+Law League under such circumstances grew strong
+and the demand for the People&rsquo;s Charter rang through the
+land, but that the masses in town and country alike bore the
+harsh servitude of their lot with the patience that was
+common, and with the heroism that was not rare.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">PEEL&rsquo;S OPEN MIND</div>
+
+<p>Lord John Russell never refused to admit the ability of
+Peel&rsquo;s Administration. He described it as powerful, popular,
+and successful. He recognised the honesty of his great
+rival, his openness of mind, the courage which he displayed
+in turning a deaf ear to the croakers in his own Cabinet, and
+the genuine concern which he manifested for the unredressed
+grievances of the people. In his &lsquo;Recollections&rsquo; he lays
+stress on the fact that Sir Robert Peel did not hesitate, when
+he thought such a step essential to the public welfare, to
+risk the fate of his Ministry on behalf of an unpopular
+measure. Ireland was a stone of stumbling in his path, and
+long after he had parted with his old ideas of Protestant
+ascendency he found himself confronted with the suspicion
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[127]</a></span>
+of the Roman Catholics, who, in Lord John&rsquo;s words, &lsquo;obstinately
+refused favours at Peel&rsquo;s hands, which they would
+have been willing to accept from a Liberal Administration.&rsquo;
+The allusion is, of course, to the Maynooth Grant&mdash;a measure
+of practical relief to the Irish Catholics, which would, without
+doubt, have thrown Sir Robert Peel out of office if he
+had been left to the tender mercies of his own supporters.
+Disraeli was fond of asserting that Peel lacked imagination,
+and there was a measure of truth in the charge. He was a
+great patriotic statesman, haunted by no foolish bugbear of
+consistency, but willing to learn by experience, and courageous
+enough to follow what he believed to be right, with
+unpolitical but patriotic scorn of consequence. Men with
+stereotyped ideas, who persisted in interpreting concession,
+however just, as weakness, and reform, however urgent, as
+revolution, were unable to follow such a leader.</p>
+
+<p>Peel might lack imagination, but he never lacked courage,
+and the generosity of vision which imposed on courage great
+and difficult tasks of statesmanship. He could educate himself&mdash;for
+he kept an open mind&mdash;and was swift to seize and
+to interpret great issues in the affairs of the nation; but it
+was altogether a different matter for him to educate his party.
+In the spring of 1845, Sir Robert Peel determined to meet
+the situation in Ireland by bold proposals for the education
+of the Catholic priesthood. Almost to the close of the
+eighteenth century the Catholics were compelled by the existing
+laws to train young men intended for the work of the
+priesthood in Ireland in French colleges, since no seminary
+of the kind was permitted in Ireland. The French Revolution
+overthrew this arrangement, and in 1795, by an Act of the
+Irish Parliament, Maynooth College was founded, and was
+supported by annual grants, which were continued, though
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[128]</a></span>
+not without much opposition, by the Imperial Parliament
+after the Union. On April 3, Sir Robert Peel brought forward
+his measure for dealing in a generous manner with the
+needs and claims of this great institution. He proposed
+that the annual grant should be raised from 9,000<i>l.</i> to upwards
+of 26,000<i>l.</i>, that a charter of incorporation should be
+given, and that the trustees should be allowed to hold land
+to the value of 3,000<i>l.</i> a year. He also proposed that the
+new endowment should be a charge upon the Consolidated
+Fund, so that angry discussions of the kind in which bigotry
+and prejudice delight might be avoided. Moreover, in order
+to restore and enlarge the college buildings, Sir Robert
+finally proposed an immediate and separate grant of 30,000<i>l.</i>
+Few statesmen were more sensitive than Peel, but, convinced
+of the justice of such a concession, he spoke that
+day amid the angry opposition of the majority of his
+usual supporters and the approving cheers of his ordinary
+opponents.</p>
+
+<p>Peel was not the man to falter, although his party was in
+revolt. He had gauged the forces which were arrayed
+in Ireland against the authority of Parliament; he stated
+in his final words on the subject that there was in that
+country a formidable confederacy, which was prepared
+to go any lengths against a hard interpretation of the supremacy
+of England. &lsquo;I do not believe that you can break it
+up by force; I believe you can do much by acting in a spirit
+of kindness, forbearance, and generosity.&rsquo; At once a great
+storm of opposition arose in Parliament, on the platform, and
+in the Press. The Carlton Club found itself brought into
+sudden and unexpected agreement with many a little Bethel
+up and down the country, for the champions of &lsquo;No Surrender&rsquo;
+in Pall Mall were of one mind with those of &lsquo;No
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[129]</a></span>
+Popery&rsquo; in Exeter Hall. Society for the moment, according
+to Harriet Martineau, seemed to be going mad, and she saw
+enough to convince her that it was not the extent of the
+grant that was deprecated so much as an advance in that
+direction at all. Public indignation ran so high that in some
+instances members of Parliament were called upon to resign
+their seats, whilst Dublin&mdash;so far at least as its sentiments
+were represented by the Protestant Operative Association&mdash;was
+for nothing less than the impeachment of the unhappy
+Prime Minister. Sectarian animosity, whipped into fury by
+rhetorical appeals to its prejudices, encouraged the paper
+trade by interminable petitions to Parliament; and three
+nights were spent in debate in the Lords and six in the
+Commons over the second reading of the bill.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">HOW PEEL TRIUMPHED</div>
+
+<p>Lord John Russell was assailed with threatening letters
+as soon as it was known that he intended to help Peel to
+outweather the storm of obloquy which he was called to
+encounter. Sir Robert&rsquo;s proposals were welcomed by him
+as a new and worthy departure from the old repressive
+policy. It was because he thought that such a measure
+would go far to conciliate the Catholics of Ireland, as well
+as to prove to them that any question which touched their
+interests and welfare was not a matter of unconcern to the
+statesmen and people of England, that he gave&mdash;with a
+loyalty only too rare in public life&mdash;his powerful support to
+a Minister who would otherwise have been driven to bay by
+his own followers. It was, in fact, owing to Lord John&rsquo;s
+action that Peel triumphed over the majority of his own
+party, and his speech in support of the Ministry, though
+not remarkable for eloquence, was admirable alike in temper
+and in tact, and was hailed at the moment as a presage of
+victory. &lsquo;Peel lives, moves, and has his being through
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[130]</a></span>
+Lord John Russell,&rsquo; was Lord Shaftesbury&rsquo;s comment at
+the moment. Looking back at the crisis from the leisure of
+retirement, Lord John Russell declared that the Maynooth
+Act was a work of wisdom and liberality, and one which
+ought always to be remembered to the honour of the statesman
+who proposed and carried it. The controversy over
+the Maynooth Grant revealed how great was the gulf
+between Peel and the majority of the Tories, and Greville,
+as usual, in his own incisive way hit off the situation. &lsquo;The
+truth is that the Government is Peel, that Peel is a Reformer
+and more of a Whig than a Tory, and that the mass of his
+followers are prejudiced, ignorant, obstinate, and selfish.&rsquo;
+Peel declared that he looked with indifference on a storm
+which he thought partly fanatical and partly religious in its
+origin, and he added that he was careless as to the consequences
+which might follow the passing of the Maynooth
+Bill, so far at least as they concerned his own position.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile another and far greater question was coming
+forward with unsuspected rapidity for solution. The summer
+of 1845 was cold and wet, and its dark skies and drenching
+showers were followed by a miserable harvest. With the
+approach of autumn the fields were flooded and the
+farmers in consequence in despair. Although England and
+Scotland suffered greatly, the disaster fell with still greater
+force on Ireland. As the anxious weeks wore on, alarm
+deepened into actual distress, for there arose a mighty
+famine in the land. The potato crop proved a disastrous
+failure, and with the approach of winter starvation joined
+its eloquence to that of Cobden and Bright in their demand
+for the repeal of the Corn Laws. In speaking afterwards of
+that terrible crisis, and of the services which Cobden and
+himself were enabled to render to the nation, John Bright
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[131]</a></span>
+used these memorable words: &lsquo;Do not suppose that I
+wish you to imagine that he and I were the only persons
+engaged in this great question. We were not even the first,
+though afterwards, perhaps, we became before the public
+the foremost, but there were others before us, and we were
+joined, not by scores, but by hundreds, and afterwards by
+thousands, and afterwards by countless multitudes, and
+afterwards famine itself, against which we had warred, joined
+us, and a great Minister was converted, and minorities became
+majorities, and finally the barrier was entirely thrown
+down.&rsquo;</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">COBDEN&rsquo;S PREDICTION</div>
+
+<p>Quite early in the history of the Anti-Corn-Law League,
+Cobden had predicted, in spite of the apathy and opposition
+which the derided Manchester school of politics then
+encountered, at a time when Peel and Russell alike turned
+a deaf ear to its appeals, that the repeal of the Corn Laws
+would be eventually carried in Parliament by a &lsquo;statesman
+of established reputation.&rsquo; Argument and agitation prepared
+the way for this great measure of practical relief, but the
+multitude were not far from the mark when they asserted
+that it was the rain that destroyed the Corn Laws.<a name="FNanchor_12_12" id="FNanchor_12_12"></a><a href="#Footnote_12_12" class="fnanchor">[12]</a> The
+imperative necessity of bringing food from abroad if the
+people were not to perish for lack of bread brought both
+Sir Robert Peel and Lord John Russell almost at the same
+moment to the conclusion that this great economic problem
+must at once be faced. Peel declared in 1847 that towards
+the end of 1845 he had reached the conclusion that the repeal
+of the Corn Laws was indispensable to the public welfare.
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[132]</a></span>
+If that was so, he seems to have kept his opinion to himself,
+for as late as November 29, in the memorandum which
+he sent to his colleagues, there is no hint of abolition. On
+the contrary, Sir Robert, who was always fond of setting
+forth three alternatives of action, wrote as follows: &lsquo;Time
+presses, and on some definite course we must decide. Shall
+we undertake without suspension to modify the existing
+Corn Law? Shall we resolve to maintain the existing Corn
+Law? Shall we advise the suspension of that law for a
+limited period? My opinion is for the last course, admitting
+as I do that it involves the necessity for the immediate
+consideration of the alterations to be made in the existing
+Corn Law; such alterations to take effect after the period of
+suspension. I should rather say it involves the question of
+the principle and degree of protection to agriculture.&rsquo;<a name="FNanchor_13_13" id="FNanchor_13_13"></a><a href="#Footnote_13_13" class="fnanchor">[13]</a> As
+to the justice of the demand for Free Trade, Peel, there can be
+no doubt, was already convinced; but his party was regarded
+as the stronghold of Protection, and he knew enough of the
+men who sat behind him to be fully alive to the fact that
+they still clung tenaciously to the fallacies which Adam
+Smith had exploded. &lsquo;We had ill luck,&rsquo; were Lord
+Aberdeen&rsquo;s words to the Queen; &lsquo;if it had not been for the
+famine in Ireland, which rendered immediate measures
+necessary, Sir Robert would have prepared the party gradually
+for the change.&rsquo;<a name="FNanchor_14_14" id="FNanchor_14_14"></a><a href="#Footnote_14_14" class="fnanchor">[14]</a></p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">THE &lsquo;EDINBURGH LETTER&rsquo;</div>
+
+<p>Cobden, it is only fair to state, made no secret of his
+conviction that the question of the repeal of the Corn
+Laws was safer in the hands of Sir Robert than of Lord
+John. Peel might be less versed in constitutional questions,
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[133]</a></span>
+but he was more in touch with the manufacturing classes,
+and more familiar with economic conditions. Sir Robert,
+however, was sore let and hindered by the weaklings
+of his own Cabinet, and the rats did not disguise their
+intention of quitting the ship. Lord John Russell, who was
+spending the autumn in Scotland, was the first &lsquo;responsible
+statesman&rsquo; to take decisive action, for whilst Peel, hampered
+by the vacillation and opposition of his colleagues, still
+hesitated, Russell took the world into his confidence in his
+historic &lsquo;Edinburgh Letter,&rsquo; dated November 22, 1845, to
+his constituents in London. It was a bold and uncompromising
+declaration of policy, for the logic of events had
+at length convinced Lord John that any further delay was
+dangerous. He complained that Her Majesty&rsquo;s Ministers
+had not only met, but separated, without affording the
+nation any promise of immediate relief. He pointed out
+that the existing duties on corn were so contrived that, the
+worse the quality of the wheat, the higher was the duty.
+&lsquo;When good wheat rises to seventy shillings a quarter, the
+average price of all wheat is fifty-seven or fifty-eight shillings,
+and the duty fourteen or fifteen shillings a quarter. Thus
+the corn barometer points to fair, while the ship is bending
+under a storm.&rsquo; He reviewed the course of recent legislation
+on the subject, and declared that he had for years
+endeavoured to obtain a compromise. He showed that
+Peel had opposed in 1839, 1840, and 1841, even qualified
+concession, and he added the stinging allusion to that statesman&rsquo;s
+attitude on other great questions of still earlier date.
+&lsquo;He met the proposition for diminished Protection in the
+same way in which he had met the offer of securities for
+Protestant interests in 1817 and 1825&mdash;in the same way in
+which he met the proposal to allow Manchester, Leeds, and
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[134]</a></span>
+Birmingham to send members to Parliament in 1830.&rsquo;
+Finally, Lord John announced his conviction that it was no
+longer worth while to contend for a fixed duty, and his
+vigorous attack on the Ministry ended with a call to arms.
+&lsquo;Let us unite to put an end to a system which has been
+proved to be the blight of commerce, the bane of agriculture,
+the source of bitter divisions among classes, the
+cause of penury, fever, mortality, and crime among the
+people. The Government appear to be waiting for some
+excuse to give up the present Corn Law. Let the people,
+by petition, by address, by remonstrance, afford them the
+excuse they seek.&rsquo;</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">THE &lsquo;POISONED CHALICE&rsquo;</div>
+
+<p>Sir Robert, when this manifesto appeared, had almost
+conquered the reluctance of his own Cabinet to definite
+action; but his position grew now untenable in consequence
+of the panic of Stanley and the Duke of Buccleuch.
+Lord John&rsquo;s speech was quickly followed by a Ministerial
+crisis, and Peel, beset by fightings without and fears
+within his Cabinet, had no alternative but resignation.
+He accordingly relinquished office on December 5, and
+three days later Lord John, much to his own surprise,
+was summoned to Windsor and entrusted with the task
+of forming a new Ministry. He was met by difficulties
+which, in spite of negotiations, proved insurmountable,
+for Howick, who had succeeded in the previous summer
+to his distinguished father&rsquo;s earldom, refused to serve
+with Palmerston. Lord Grey raised another point which
+might reasonably have been conceded, for he urged that
+Cobden, as the leader of the Anti-Corn-Law League,
+ought to have the offer of a seat in the Cabinet. Lord
+John was unable to bring about an amicable understanding,
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[135]</a></span>
+and therefore, as the year was closing, he was compelled
+to inform her Majesty of the fact, and to hand back
+what Disraeli theatrically described as the &lsquo;poisoned
+chalice&rsquo; to Sir Robert. &lsquo;It is all at an end,&rsquo; wrote Lord
+John to his wife. &lsquo;Power may come, some day or other, in
+a less odious shape.&rsquo;</p>
+
+<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_10_10" id="Footnote_10_10"></a><a href="#FNanchor_10_10"><span class="label">[10]</span></a> Justice has never yet been done to the founder of the Lancasterian
+system of education. Joseph Lancaster was a remarkable man
+who aroused the conscience of the nation, and even the dull intelligence
+of George III., to the imperative need of popular education.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_11_11" id="Footnote_11_11"></a><a href="#FNanchor_11_11"><span class="label">[11]</span></a> &lsquo;The Melbourne Government: its Acts and Persons,&rsquo; by the
+Right Hon. W. E. Gladstone, M.P. <i>The Nineteenth Century</i>, January
+1890, p. 50.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_12_12" id="Footnote_12_12"></a><a href="#FNanchor_12_12"><span class="label">[12]</span></a> &lsquo;The Corn Law of 1815 was a copy of the Corn Law of 1670&mdash;so
+little had economic science grown in England during all those years.
+The Corn Law of 1670 imposed a duty on the importation of foreign
+grain which amounted almost literally to a prohibition.&rsquo;&mdash;<i>Sir Robert
+Peel</i>, by Justin M<sup>c</sup>Carthy, M.P., chapter xii. p. 136.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_13_13" id="Footnote_13_13"></a><a href="#FNanchor_13_13"><span class="label">[13]</span></a> <i>The Croker Papers</i>, edited by Louis Jennings, vol. iii. p. 35.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_14_14" id="Footnote_14_14"></a><a href="#FNanchor_14_14"><span class="label">[14]</span></a> <i>Life of the Prince Consort</i>, by Sir Theodore Martin, vol. i. p.
+317.</p></div>
+</div>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[136]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII</h2>
+
+<p class="title">FACTION AND FAMINE<br /><br />
+
+1846-1847</p>
+
+<p class="desc">Peel and Free Trade&mdash;Disraeli and Lord George Bentinck lead the
+attack&mdash;Russell to the rescue&mdash;Fall of Peel&mdash;Lord John summoned
+to power&mdash;Lord John&rsquo;s position in the Commons and in the country&mdash;The
+Condition of Ireland question&mdash;Famine and its deadly
+work&mdash;The Russell Government and measures of relief&mdash;Crime and
+coercion&mdash;The Whigs and Education&mdash;Factory Bill&mdash;The case of
+Dr. Hampden.</p>
+
+
+<p class="noi"><span class="smcap">Lord Stanley&rsquo;s</span> place in the &lsquo;organised hypocrisy,&rsquo; as the
+Protectionists termed the last Ministry of Sir Robert Peel,
+was taken by Mr. Gladstone. Sir Robert Peel resumed
+office in the closing days of December, and all the members
+of his old Cabinet, on the principle of bowing to the inevitable,
+returned with him, except the Duke of Buccleuch
+and Lord Stanley, who resolutely declined to have part or lot
+in the new departure which the Premier now felt called upon
+to make. The Duke of Wellington, though hostile to Free
+Trade, determined to stand by Peel; but he did not disguise
+the fact that his only reason for remaining in office was for
+the sake of the Queen. He declared that he acted as the
+&lsquo;retained servant of the monarchy,&rsquo; for he did not wish her
+Majesty to be placed under the necessity of taking members
+of the Anti-Corn-Law League, or, as he put it, &lsquo;Cobden
+&amp; Co.,&rsquo; for her responsible advisers.
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[137]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">THE QUEEN&rsquo;S SPEECH</div>
+
+<p>The opening days of 1846 were full of political excitement,
+and were filled with all kinds of rumours. Wellington,
+on January 6, wrote: &lsquo;I don&rsquo;t despair of the Corn Laws,&rsquo;
+and confessed that he did not know what were the intentions
+of Sir Robert Peel concerning them.<a name="FNanchor_15_15" id="FNanchor_15_15"></a><a href="#Footnote_15_15" class="fnanchor">[15]</a> Peel kept his
+own counsel, though the conviction grew that he had
+persuaded himself that in boldness lay the chance as well
+as the duty of the hour. Peel, like Russell, was converted
+to Free Trade by the logic of events, and he
+determined at all hazards to avow the new faith that was in
+him. Parliament was opened by the Queen in person on
+January 22, and the Speech from the Throne laid stress on
+the privation and suffering in Ireland, and shadowed forth
+the repeal of prohibitive and the relaxation of protective
+duties. The debate on the Address was rendered memorable
+by Peel&rsquo;s explanations of the circumstances under which the
+recent crisis had arisen. He made a long speech, and the
+tone of it, according to Lord Malmesbury, was half threatening
+and half apologetic. It was a manly, straightforward
+statement of the case, and Sir Robert made it plain that he
+had accepted the views of the Manchester school on the
+Corn Laws, and was prepared to act without further hesitation
+on his convictions. One significant admission was
+added. He stated before he sat down that it was &lsquo;no easy
+task to insure the harmonious and united action of an
+ancient monarchy, a proud aristocracy, and a reformed
+House of Commons.&rsquo;</p>
+
+<p>New interests were, in fact, beginning to find a voice
+in Parliament, and that meant the beginning of the
+principle of readjustment which is yet in progress. A
+few days later the Prime Minister explained his financial
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[138]</a></span>
+plans for the year, and in the course of them he proposed
+the gradual repeal of the Corn Laws. Free trade
+in corn was, in fact, to take final effect after an interval
+of three years. Meanwhile the sliding scale was to be
+abandoned in favour of a fixed duty of ten shillings the
+quarter on corn, and other concessions for the relief not
+only of agriculture but of manufactures and commerce were
+announced. The principle of Free Trade was, in fact,
+applied not in one but in many directions, and from that
+hour its legislative triumph was assured. In the course of
+the protracted debate which followed, Disraeli, with all the
+virulence of a disappointed place-hunter, attacked Sir Robert
+Peel with bitter personalities and barbed sarcasm. On this
+occasion, throwing decency and good taste to the winds,
+and, to borrow a phrase of his own, &lsquo;intoxicated with the
+exuberance of his own verbosity,&rsquo; and with no lack of tawdry
+rhetoric and melodramatic emphasis, he did his best to
+cover with ridicule and to reduce to confusion one of the
+most chivalrous and lofty-minded statesmen of the Queen&rsquo;s
+reign.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">OUTCAST PROTECTIONISTS</div>
+
+<p>Disraeli&rsquo;s audacity in attack did much to revive the
+drooping courage of the Protectionist party, the leadership
+of which fell for the moment into the hands of Lord George
+Bentinck, a nobleman more renowned at Newmarket than at
+Westminster. Once saddled with authority, Lord George
+developed some capacity for politics; but his claims as a
+statesman were never serious, though Disraeli, in the political
+biography which he published shortly after his friend&rsquo;s
+sudden death, gives him credit for qualities of mind of which
+the nation at large saw little evidence. After long and
+tedious discussion, extending over some twenty nights, the
+Free Trade Bill was carried through the Commons by a
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[139]</a></span>
+majority of ninety-eight votes, and in the Lords it passed
+the second reading by forty-seven votes. Croker&mdash;true to
+the dismal suggestion of his name&mdash;promptly took up his
+parable against Sir Robert. He declared that the repeal of
+the Corn Laws meant a schism in the great landed interest
+and broad acres, in his view, were the only solid foundation
+on which the government of the nation could possibly be
+based. He asked, how was it possible to resist the attack
+on the Irish Church and the Irish Union after the surrender
+of the Corn Laws? He wanted to know how primogeniture,
+the Bishops, the House of Lords, and the Crown itself were
+to be maintained, now that the leader of the Conservative
+party had truckled to the League. Sir Robert Peel, he
+added, had imperilled these institutions of the country more
+than Cobbett or O&rsquo;Connell; he had broken up the old
+interests, divided the great families, and thrown personal
+hostility into the social life of half the counties of England&mdash;and
+all to propitiate Richard Cobden. Such was the
+bitter cry of the outcast Protectionist, and similar vapourings
+arose in cliques and clubs all over the land. The
+abolition of the Corn Laws was the last measure of Sir
+Robert Peel&rsquo;s political life, and he owed the victory, which
+was won amid the murmurs and threats of his own followers,
+to the support which his political antagonists gave him,
+under the leadership of Lord John Russell, who recognised
+both the wisdom and the expediency of Sir Robert&rsquo;s course.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile the dark winter of discontent which privation
+had unhappily brought about in Ireland had been
+marked by many crimes of violence, and at length the
+Government deemed it imperative to ask Parliament to
+grant them additional powers for the suppression of outrage.
+The measure met with the opposition alike of Lord John
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[140]</a></span>
+Russell and Daniel O&rsquo;Connell. The Government moved
+the second reading of the Irish Coercion Bill, and the Protectionists,
+who knew very well not only the views of Daniel
+O&rsquo;Connell, but of Smith O&rsquo;Brien, saw their opportunity and
+promptly took it. Lord George Bentinck had supported
+the Coercion Bill on its introduction in the spring, and had
+done so in the most unmistakable terms. He was not the
+man, however, to forego the mean luxury of revenge, and
+neither he nor Disraeli could forgive what they regarded as
+Sir Robert&rsquo;s great betrayal of the landed interest. He now
+had the audacity to assert that Peel had lost the confidence
+of every honest man both within and without the House of
+Commons, and in spite of his assurances of support he
+ranged himself for the moment with Russell and O&rsquo;Connell
+to crush the Administration. The division took place on
+June 25, and in a House of 571 members the Ministry was
+defeated by a majority of 73. The defeat of the Government
+was so crushing that Whigs and Protectionists alike, on
+the announcement of the figures, were too much taken aback
+to cheer. &lsquo;Anything,&rsquo; said Sir Robert, &lsquo;is preferable to maintaining
+ourselves in office without a full measure of the confidence
+of this House.&rsquo;</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">THE RUSSELL CABINET</div>
+
+<p>Lord John had triumphed with the help of the Irish,
+whom Peel had alienated; but the great Minister&rsquo;s downfall
+had in part been accomplished by the treachery of those
+who abandoned him with clamour and evil-speaking in the
+hour of need. Defeat was followed within a week by
+resignation, and on July 4 Peel, writing from the leisured
+seclusion of Drayton Manor, &lsquo;in the loveliest weather,&rsquo;
+was magnanimous enough to say, &lsquo;I have every disposition
+to forgive my enemies for having conferred on me the blessing
+of the loss of power.&rsquo; Lord John was summoned to
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[141]</a></span>
+Windsor, and kissed hands on July 6. He became Prime
+Minister when the condition of affairs was gloomy and
+menacing, and the following passage from his wife&rsquo;s
+journal, written on July 14, conjures up in two or three
+words a vivid picture of the difficulties of the hour: &lsquo;John
+has much to distress him in the state of the country. God
+grant him success in his labours to amend it! Famine,
+fever, trade failing, and discontent growing are evils which
+it requires all his resolution, sense of duty, and love for the
+public to face.&rsquo; Lord Palmerston was, of course, inevitable
+as Foreign Secretary in the new Administration; Sir Charles
+Wood became Chancellor of the Exchequer, and Sir George
+Grey, Home Secretary. Earl Grey&rsquo;s scruples were at length
+satisfied, and he became Secretary to the Colonies; whilst
+Lord Clarendon took office as President of the Board of
+Trade, and Lord Lansdowne became President of the
+Council. Among the lesser lights of the Ministry were Sir
+J. C. Hobhouse, Mr. Milner Gibson, Mr. Fox Maule, Lord
+Morpeth, and Mr. (afterwards Lord) Macaulay. Sir James
+Graham was offered the Governor-Generalship of India, but
+he had aspirations at Westminster, which, however, were
+never fulfilled, and declined the offer. The Tory party was
+demoralised and split up into cliques by suspicion and indignation.
+Stanley was in the House of Lords by this time,
+Peel was in disgrace, and Lord George Bentinck was already
+beginning to cut a somewhat ridiculous figure, whilst nobody
+as yet was quite prepared to take Disraeli seriously. &lsquo;We
+are left masters of the field,&rsquo; wrote Palmerston, with a touch
+of characteristic humour, &lsquo;not only on account of our own
+merits, which, though we say it ourselves, are great, but by
+virtue of the absence of any efficient competitors.&rsquo;</p>
+
+<p>The new Ministry began well. Lord John&rsquo;s address to
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[142]</a></span>
+his constituents in the City made an excellent impression,
+and was worthy of the man and the occasion. &lsquo;You may be
+assured that I shall not desert in office the principles to
+which I adhered when they were less favourably received.
+I cannot indeed claim the merit either of having carried measures
+of Free Trade as a Minister, or of having so prepared
+the public mind by any exertions of mine as to convert
+what would have been an impracticable attempt into a certain
+victory. To others belong those distinctions. But I have
+endeavoured to do my part in this great work according to
+my means and convictions, first by proposing a temperate
+relaxation of the Corn Laws, and afterwards, when that
+measure has been repeatedly rejected, by declaring in favour
+of total repeal, and using every influence I could exert to
+prevent a renewal of the struggle for an object not worth
+the cost of conflict. The Government of this country ought
+to behold with an impartial eye the various portions of the
+community engaged in agriculture, in manufactures, and in
+commerce. The feeling that any of them is treated with
+injustice provokes ill-will, disturbs legislation, and diverts
+attention from many useful and necessary reforms. Great
+social improvements are required: public education is manifestly
+imperfect; the treatment of criminals is a problem
+yet undecided; the sanitary condition of our towns and villages
+has been grossly neglected. Our recent discussions
+have laid bare the misery, the discontent, and outrages of
+Ireland; they are too clearly authenticated to be denied,
+too extensive to be treated by any but the most comprehensive
+means.&rsquo;</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">EVER A FIGHTER</div>
+
+<p>Lord John had been thirty-three years in the House of
+Commons when he became for the first time Prime Minister.
+The distinction of rank and of an historic name gave him in
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[143]</a></span>
+1813, when government by great families was still more than
+a phrase, a splendid start. The love of liberty which he
+inherited as a tradition grew strong within him, partly
+through his residence in Edinburgh under Dugald Stewart,
+partly through the generous and stimulating associations
+of Holland House, but still more, perhaps, because of the
+tyranny of which he was an eye-witness during his travels as
+a youth in Italy and Spain at a period when Europe lay under
+the heel of Napoleon. Lord John was ever a fighter, and the
+political conflicts of his early manhood against the triple alliance
+of injustice, bigotry, and selfish apathy in the presence of
+palpable social abuses lent ardour to his convictions, tenacity
+to his aims, and boldness to his attitude in public life. Although
+an old Parliamentary hand, he was in actual years only
+fifty-four when he came to supreme office in the service of
+the State, but he had already succeeded in placing great
+measures on the Statute Book, and he had also won recognition
+on both sides of the House as a leader of fearless
+courage, open mind, and great fertility of resource alike in
+attack and in defence. Peel, his most formidable rival on
+the floor of the Commons, hinted that Lord John Russell
+was small in small things, but, he added significantly that,
+when the issues grew great, he was great also. Everyone
+who looks at Lord John&rsquo;s career in its length and breadth
+must admit the justice of such a criticism. On one occasion
+he himself said, in speaking of the first Lord Halifax,
+that the favourite of Charles II. had &lsquo;too keen a perception of
+errors and faults to act well with others,&rsquo; and the remark
+might have been applied to himself. There were times
+when Lord John, by acting hastily on the impulse of the
+moment, landed his colleagues in serious and unlooked for
+difficulties, and sometimes it happened that in his anxiety to
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[144]</a></span>
+clear his own soul by taking an independent course, he compromised
+to a serious extent the position of others.</p>
+
+<p>Lord Melbourne&rsquo;s cynical remark, to the effect that nobody
+did anything very foolish except from some strong principle,
+carries with it a tribute to motive as well as a censure
+on action, and it is certain that the promptings to which Lord
+John yielded in the questionable phases of his public career
+were not due to the adroit and calculating temper of self-interest.
+His weaknesses were indeed, after all, trivial in comparison
+to his strength. He rose to the great occasion and
+was inspired by it. All that was formal and hesitating in
+manner and speech disappeared, and under the combined
+influence of the sense of responsibility and the excitement
+of the hour &lsquo;languid Johnny,&rsquo; to borrow Bulwer Lytton&rsquo;s
+phrase, &lsquo;soared to glorious John.&rsquo; Palmerston, like Melbourne,
+was all things to all men. His easy nonchalance,
+sunny temper, and perfect familiarity with the ways of the
+world and the weaknesses of average humanity, gave him
+an advantage which Lord John, with his nervous temperament,
+indifferent health, fastidious tastes, shy and rather
+distant bearing, and uncompromising convictions, never
+possessed. Russell&rsquo;s ethical fervour and practical energetic
+bent of mind divided him sharply from politicians who
+lived from hand to mouth, and were never consumed
+by a zeal for reform in one direction or another; and
+these qualities sometimes threw him into a position of
+singular isolation. The wiles and artifices by which less
+proud and less conscientious men win power, and the opportune
+compliments and unwatched concessions by which
+too often they retain it, lay amongst the things to which he
+refused to stoop.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">HIS PRACTICAL SAGACITY</div>
+
+<p>Men might think Lord John taciturn, angular, abrupt,
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[145]</a></span>
+tenacious, and dogmatic, but it was impossible not to
+recognise his honesty, public spirit, pluck in the presence
+of difficulty, and high interpretation of the claims of public
+duty which marked his strenuous and indomitable career.
+His qualifications for the post of Prime Minister were not
+open to challenge. He was deeply versed in constitutional
+problems, and had received a long and varied training
+in the handling of great affairs. He possessed to an
+enviable degree the art of lucid exposition, and could
+render intricate proposals luminous to the public mind.
+He was a shrewd Parliamentary tactician, as well as a statesman
+who had worthily gained the confidence of the nation.
+He was ready in debate, swift to see and to seize the
+opportunity of the hour. He was full of practical sagacity,
+and his personal character lent weight to his position in
+the country. In the more militant stages of his career,
+and especially when he was fighting the battles of Parliamentary
+reform and religious liberty, he felt the full brunt
+of that &lsquo;sullen resistance to innovation,&rsquo; as well as that
+&lsquo;unalterable perseverance in the wisdom of prejudice,&rsquo; which
+Burke declared was characteristic of the English race. The
+natural conservatism of growing years, it must be frankly
+admitted, led eventually in Lord John&rsquo;s case, as in that of
+the majority of mankind, to the slackening of interest in
+the new problems of a younger generation, but to the extreme
+verge of life he remained far too great a statesman
+and much too generous a man ever to lapse into the position
+of a mere <i>laudator temporis acti</i>. Lord John did not allow
+the few remaining weeks of a protracted and exhaustive
+session to elapse without a vigorous attempt to push the
+principle of Free Trade to its logical issues. He passed a
+measure which rendered the repeal of the Corn Laws total
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[146]</a></span>
+and immediate, and he carried, with the support of Peel
+and in spite of the opposition of Bentinck and Disraeli, the
+abolition of protection to sugar grown in the British
+Colonies.</p>
+
+<p>Ireland quickly proved itself to be a stone of stumbling
+and a rock of offence to the new Administration. Lord
+John&rsquo;s appointment of Lord Bessborough&mdash;his old colleague,
+Duncannon, in the Committee on Reform in 1830&mdash;as
+viceroy was popular, for he was a resident Irish landlord,
+and a man who was genuinely concerned for the welfare of
+the people. O&rsquo;Connell trusted Lord Bessborough, and that,
+in the disturbed condition of the country, counted for much.
+The task of the new viceroy was hard, even with such
+support, and though Bessborough laboured manfully and
+with admirable tact to better the social condition of the
+people and to exorcise the spirit of discord, the forces
+arrayed against him proved resistless when famine came to
+their aid. As the summer slipped past, crime and outrage
+increased, and the prospect for the approaching winter grew
+not merely gloomy but menacing. Peel had been turned out
+of office because of his Irish Arms Bill, and Bessborough
+was no sooner installed in Dublin than he made urgent
+representations to the Cabinet in Downing Street as to the
+necessity of adopting similar repressive measures, in view of
+the prevailing lawlessness and the contempt for life and property
+which in the disaffected districts were only too common.
+In August the crisis was already so acute that the Government,
+yielding to the fears of its Irish advisers, stultified itself by
+proposing the renewal of the Arms Bill until the following
+spring. The step was ill advised, and provoked much hostile
+criticism. Lord John did not relish the measure, but Lord
+Bessborough declared that Ireland could not be governed for
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[147]</a></span>
+the moment without it, and as he also talked of throwing
+up his appointment, and was supported in this view of the
+situation by Mr. Labouchere (afterwards Lord Taunton), who
+at that time was Chief Secretary, the Prime Minister gave
+way and introduced in the House of Commons proposals
+which were out of keeping with his own antecedents, and
+which he personally disliked. In speaking of Sir Robert
+Peel&rsquo;s Coercion Bill in his published &lsquo;Recollections,&rsquo; Lord
+John makes no secret of his own attitude towards the measure.
+&lsquo;I objected to the Bill on Irish grounds. I then thought,
+and I still think, that it is wrong to arrest men and put
+them in prison on the ground that they <i>may</i> be murderers
+and housebreakers. They may be, on the other hand,
+honest labourers going home from their work.&rsquo; On the
+contrary, he thought that every means ought to be promptly
+taken for discovering the perpetrators of crime and bringing
+them to justice, and he also believed in giving the authorities
+on the spot ample means of dealing with the reign of terror
+which agrarian outrages had established.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">THE IRONY OF THE SITUATION</div>
+
+<p>If O&rsquo;Connell had been at Lord John&rsquo;s side at that juncture,
+England might have sent a practical message of good-will to
+Ireland instead of falling back on the old policy of coercion.
+O&rsquo;Connell had learnt to trust Russell&mdash;as far, at least, as it was
+possible for a leader of the Irish people to trust a Whig statesman&mdash;and
+Russell, on the other hand, was beginning to
+understand not merely O&rsquo;Connell, but the forces which lay
+behind him, and which rendered him, quite apart from his own
+eloquence and gifts, powerful. Unfortunately, the Liberator
+was by this time broken in health, and the Young Ireland
+party were already in revolt against his authority, a circumstance
+which, in itself, filled the Premier with misgivings, and
+led him to give way, however reluctantly, to the demand of
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[148]</a></span>
+the viceroy for repressive measures. Lord John was, in fact,
+only too well aware that force was no remedy. He wished,
+as much as O&rsquo;Connell, to root up the causes which produced
+crime. Young Ireland, however, seemed determined to kick
+over the traces at the very time when the Liberator was inducing
+the Whigs to look at the question in a practical
+manner. Lord John knew, to borrow his own expression,
+that the &lsquo;armoury of penal legislation was full of the
+weapons of past battles, and yet the victory of order and
+peace had not been gained.&rsquo; The Liberal party set its face
+against coercion in any shape or form, and the Government
+withdrew a proposal which they ought never to have introduced.
+This course had scarcely been taken when a new
+and terrible complication of the social problem in Ireland
+arose.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">THE IRISH FAMINE</div>
+
+<p>Famine suddenly made its presence felt, and did so in
+a manner which threw the privation and scarcity of the
+previous winter altogether into the shade. The potato crop
+was a disastrous failure, and, as the summer waned, the
+distress of an impoverished and thriftless race grew acute.
+The calamity was as crushing as it was rapid. &lsquo;On July 27,&rsquo;
+are Father Mathew&rsquo;s words, &lsquo;I passed from Cork to Dublin,
+and this doomed plant bloomed in all the luxuriance of an
+abundant harvest. Returning on August 3 I beheld with
+sorrow one wide waste of putrefying vegetation.&rsquo; A million
+and a half of acres were at the moment under cultivation,
+and the blight only spared a quarter of them, whilst, to make
+matters worse, the oat crop, by an unhappy coincidence,
+proved to a startling extent insufficient. The financial loss
+in that disastrous harvest, in the reckoning of experts,
+amounted to between fifteen and sixteen millions sterling.
+Fever and dysentery made fatal inroads on the dwindling
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[149]</a></span>
+strength of the gaunt and famished peasantry, and in one
+district alone, out of a population of 62,000 inhabitants,
+no less than 5,000 persons died, directly or indirectly, of
+starvation in the course of three months. &lsquo;All our thoughts,&rsquo;
+wrote O&rsquo;Connell, &lsquo;are engrossed with two topics&mdash;endeavouring
+to keep the people from outbreaks, and endeavouring to
+get food for them.&rsquo; In many instances the landlords seemed
+robbed of the characteristics of ordinary humanity, for the
+ruthless process of eviction was carried on with a high hand,
+and old men and children were left unsheltered as well as
+unfed.</p>
+
+<p>Property had neglected its duties, but, as usual, did not
+neglect its rights, and in that terrible crisis it overrode the
+rights of humanity. Many of the landowners, however,
+manfully did their best to stay the plague, but anything
+which they could accomplish seemed a mockery amid the
+widespread distress. Readers of Sir Gavan Duffy&rsquo;s &lsquo;Four
+Years of Irish History&rsquo; will recall his vivid description of
+the manner in which some of the landowners, however, saw
+their cruel opportunity, and accordingly &lsquo;closed on the
+people with ejectments, turned them on the road, and plucked
+down their roof-trees,&rsquo; and also that still more painful
+passage which describes how women with dead children in
+their arms were seen begging for a coffin to bury them.
+Relief committees were, of course, started; the Friends, in
+particular, busied themselves in practical efforts to cope with
+the distress, and Mr. W. E. Forster, who went to Ireland to
+distribute relief, declared that his wonder was, as he passed
+from village to village, not that the people died, but that so
+many contrived to live.</p>
+
+<p>The Russell Government met the crisis with courage,
+though scarcely with adequate understanding. Ireland
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[150]</a></span>
+remembered with bitterness their Arms Bill and their repressive
+measures. Public feeling ran high over some of
+their proposals, for the people resented Lord John&rsquo;s modification
+of Sir Robert Peel&rsquo;s plan by which the cost of public
+works was to be defrayed by the State and district in which
+employment was given. Lord John determined that the
+cost should be met in the first instance by Government
+loans, which were to be repaid with an almost nominal
+interest by the people of the district. This was interpreted
+to mean that Ireland was to bear her own burdens, and in
+her impoverished state was to be saddled with the financial
+responsibilities inseparable from so pitiable a collapse of
+prosperity. Bread riots and agrarian disturbances grew
+common, and the Government met them with rather more than
+becoming sternness, instead of dealing promptly with the land-tenure
+system which lay at the root of so much of the misery.
+At the beginning of the session of 1847 it was stated that
+10,000,000<i>l.</i> would be required to meet the exigencies of the
+situation. Lord George Bentinck proposed a grant of
+16,000,000<i>l.</i> for the construction of Irish railways, but Lord
+John made the question one of personal confidence in himself,
+and threatened resignation if it passed. His chief
+objection to the proposal was based on the fact that seventy-five
+per cent. of the money spent in railway construction
+would not reach the labouring classes. Lord George Bentinck&rsquo;s
+motion was rejected by a sweeping majority, though
+at a subsequent stage in the session the Government consented
+to advance a substantial sum to three Irish railways&mdash;a
+concession which exposed them to the usual taunts of inconsistency.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">MEASURES OF RELIEF</div>
+
+<p>Measures were also introduced for promoting emigration
+to the colonies, and for the suspension of certain clauses of
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[151]</a></span>
+the Navigation Laws which hindered the importation of
+foreign corn. At one time during the distress there were
+no less than six hundred thousand men employed on public
+works in Ireland, and the Government found it no easy
+task to organise this vast army of labour, or to prevent
+abuses. Lord Bessborough urged that the people should
+be employed in the improvement of private estates, but
+Lord John met this proposal with disapproval, though he at
+length agreed that the drainage of private land should come
+within the scope of public works. It was further determined
+to lend money in aid of the improvement of private property,
+the operation of the Irish Poor Law was also extended, and
+in other directions energetic measures were taken for the
+relief of the prevailing destitution. Lord John was a keen
+observer both of men and of movements, and the characteristics
+of the peasantry, and more particularly the personal
+helplessness of the people, and the lack of concerted action
+among them, impressed him. &lsquo;There are some things,&rsquo; he
+declared, &lsquo;which the Crown cannot grant and which Parliament
+cannot enact&mdash;the spirit of self-reliance and the spirit
+of co-operation. I must say plainly that I should indeed
+despair of this task were it not that I think I see symptoms
+in the Irish people both of greater reliance on their own
+energies and exertions, and of greater intelligence to co-operate
+with each other. Happy will it be, indeed, if the
+Irish take for their maxim, &ldquo;Help yourselves and Heaven
+will help you,&rdquo; and then I think they will find there is some
+use in adversity.&rsquo;</p>
+
+<p>Lord John Russell&rsquo;s Irish policy has often been misunderstood,
+and not seldom misrepresented, but no one
+who looks all the facts calmly in the face, or takes into
+account the difficulties which the famine threw in his path,
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[152]</a></span>
+will be inclined to harsh criticism. Lady Russell&rsquo;s journal
+at this period reveals how great was her husband&rsquo;s anxiety
+in view of the evil tidings from Ireland, and one extract may
+be allowed to speak for itself. After stating that her husband
+has much to distress him in the state of the country, these
+words follow: &lsquo;God grant him success in his labours to
+amend it&mdash;famine, fever, trade failing, and discontent growing
+are evils which it requires all his resolution, sense of
+duty, and love for the public to face. I pray that he may,
+and believe that he will, one day be looked back to as the
+greatest benefactor of unhappy Ireland.&rsquo; When once the
+nature of the calamity became apparent, Lord John never
+relaxed his efforts to grapple with the emergency, and,
+though not a demonstrative man, there is proof enough that
+he felt acutely for the people, and laboured, not always perhaps
+wisely, but at least well, for the amelioration of their
+lot. He was assailed with a good deal of personal abuse,
+and was credited with vacillation and apathy, especially in
+Ireland, where his opponents, acting in the capacity of jurymen
+at inquests on the victims of the famine, sometimes
+went so far as to bring in a verdict of wilful murder against
+the Prime Minister. It is easy enough after the event to
+point out better methods than those devised at the imperious
+call of the moment by the Russell Administration, but there
+are few fair-minded people in the present day who would
+venture to assert that justice and mercy were not in the ascendent
+during a crisis which taxed to the utmost the resources
+of practical statesmanship.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">LORD CLARENDON IN IRELAND</div>
+
+<p>The new Parliament assembled in November, and a Committee
+of both Houses was appointed to take into consideration
+the depressed condition of trade, for symptoms of unmistakable
+distress were apparent in the great centres of
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[153]</a></span>
+industry. Ireland, moreover, still blocked the way, and Lord
+Clarendon, who had succeeded to the viceroyalty, alarmed
+at the condition of affairs, pressed for extraordinary powers.
+The famine by this time was only a memory, but it had left
+a large section of the peasantry in a sullen and defiant mood.
+As a consequence stormy restlessness and open revolt made
+themselves felt. Armed mobs, sometimes five hundred and
+even a thousand strong, wandered about in lawless fashion,
+pounced upon corn and made raids on cattle, and it seemed
+indeed at times as if life as well as property was imperilled.
+Lord Clarendon was determined to make the disaffected feel
+that the law could not be set aside with impunity. He
+declared that the majority of these disturbers of the peace
+were not in actual distress, and he made no secret of his
+opinion that their object was not merely intimidation but
+plunder. &lsquo;I feel,&rsquo; were his words as the autumn advanced,
+&lsquo;as if I was at the head of a provisional government in a
+half-conquered country.&rsquo;</p>
+
+<p>It is easy to assert that Lord Clarendon took a panic-stricken
+view of the situation, and attempts have again and
+again been made to mitigate, if not to explain away, the
+dark annals of Irish crime. The facts, however, speak for
+themselves, and they seemed at the moment to point to
+such a sinister condition of affairs that Lord John Russell
+felt he had no option but to adopt repressive measures.
+Sir George Grey stated in Parliament that the number
+of cases of fatal bloodshed during the six summer
+months of 1846 was sixty-eight, whilst in the corresponding
+period in 1847 it had increased to ninety-six. Shooting
+with intent to slay, which in the six months of 1846 had
+numbered fifty-five, now stood at 126. Robbery under
+arms had also grown with ominous rapidity, for in the
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[154]</a></span>
+contrasted half-years of 1846 and 1847 deeds of violence
+of this kind were 207 and 530 respectively, whilst outrage in
+another of its most cruel and despicable forms&mdash;the firing
+of dwelling-houses&mdash;revealed, under the same conditions of
+time, 116 acts of incendiarism in 1847, as against fifty-one
+in the previous year. The disaffected districts of Clare,
+Limerick, and Tipperary made the heaviest contribution to
+this dismal catalogue of crime; but far beyond their borders
+though with diminished force, the lawless spirit prevailed.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Spencer Walpole, in his standard and authoritative
+&lsquo;Life of Lord John Russell,&rsquo; has shown, by an appeal to his
+correspondence with Lord Clarendon, how reluctant the
+Prime Minister was to bring forward a new Arms Bill. He
+has also made it plain that it was only the logic of events
+which finally convinced the Prime Minister of the necessity
+in any shape for such a measure. Mr. Walpole has also vindicated,
+at considerable length, Lord John from the familiar
+charge of having adopted in power the proposals which led to
+the overthrow of the Peel Administration. He lays stress on
+the fact that the Arms Bill, which the Government carried
+at the close of 1847 by a sweeping majority, was, to a noteworthy
+extent, different from that which Sir Robert sought to
+impose on Ireland twelve months earlier, and which the
+Whigs met with strenuous and successful opposition. In
+Mr. Walpole&rsquo;s words, the new proposals &lsquo;did not contain
+any provision for compensating the victims of outrages at
+the expense of the ratepayers; they did not render persons
+congregated in public-houses or carrying arms liable
+to arrest; above all, they did not comprise the brutal clause
+which made persons out of doors at night liable to transportation.&rsquo;
+The condition of Ireland was, indeed, so
+menacing that the majority of the English people of all
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[155]</a></span>
+shades of political opinion were of one mind as to the
+necessity for stern measures. Sir Robert Peel, with no less
+candour than chivalry, declared that the best reparation
+which could be made to the last Government would be
+to assist the present Government in passing such a law.
+Perhaps still more significant were the admissions of Mr. John
+Bright. At the General Election the young orator had
+been returned to Parliament, not for a Sleepy Hollow like
+Durham, which had first sent him, but for the commanding
+constituency of Manchester, and almost at once he
+found himself in opposition to the views of a vast number
+of the inhabitants. He was requested to present a petition
+against the bill signed by more than 20,000 persons
+in Manchester. In doing so he took the opportunity of explaining
+in the House of Commons the reasons which made
+it impossible for him&mdash;friend of peace and goodwill as he
+assuredly was&mdash;to support its prayer. He declared that the
+unanimous statements of all the newspapers, the evidence
+of men of all parties connected with Ireland, as well as the
+facts which were placed before them with official authority,
+made it plain beyond a doubt that the ordinary law was
+utterly powerless, and, therefore, he felt that the case of the
+Government, so far as the necessity for such a bill was
+concerned, was both clear and perfect.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">JOHN BRIGHT AND IRISH AFFAIRS</div>
+
+<p>Mr. Bright drew attention to the fact that assassinations
+in Ireland were not looked upon as murders, but rather as
+executions; and that some of them at least were not due
+to sudden outbursts of passion, but were planned with
+deliberation and carried out in cold blood. He saw no
+reason to doubt that in certain districts public sentiment
+was &lsquo;depraved and thoroughly vitiated;&rsquo; and he added
+that, since the ordinary law had failed to meet the emergency
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[156]</a></span>
+the Government had a case for the demand they made
+for an extension of their present powers, and he thought
+that the bill before the House was the less to be opposed
+since, whilst it strengthened the hands of the Executive, it
+did not greatly exceed or infringe the ordinary law. Mr. Bright
+at the same time, it is only fair to add, made no secret of his
+own conviction that the Government had not grappled with
+sufficient courage with its difficulties, and he complained of
+the delay which had arisen over promised legislation of a
+remedial character.</p>
+
+<p>Lord John himself was persuaded, some time before
+Mr. Bright made this speech, that it was useless to attempt
+to meet the captious and selfish objections on the question of
+agrarian reform of the landlord class; and, as a matter of fact,
+he had already drawn up, without consulting anyone, the
+outline of a measure which he described to Lord Clarendon
+as a &lsquo;plan for giving some security and some provision to
+the miserable cottiers, who are now treated as brute beasts.&rsquo;
+Years before&mdash;to be exact, in the spring of 1844&mdash;he had declared
+in the House of Commons that, whilst the Government
+of England was, as it ought to be, a Government of opinion,
+the Government of Ireland was notoriously a Government
+of force. Gradually he was forced to the view that centuries
+of oppression and misunderstanding, of class hatred and
+opposite aims, had brought about a social condition which
+made it necessary that judicial authority should have a voice
+between landlord and tenant in every case of ejectment.
+Lord John&rsquo;s difficulties in dealing with Ireland were complicated
+by the distrust of three-fourths of the people of the
+good intentions of English statesmanship. Political agitators,
+great and small, of the Young Ireland school, did their best
+to deepen the suspicions of an impulsive and ignorant
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[157]</a></span>
+peasantry against the Whigs, and Lord John was personally
+assailed, until he became a sort of bogie-man to the lively
+and undisciplined imagination of a sensitive but resentful
+race.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">THE TREASON FELONY ACT</div>
+
+<p>Even educated Irishmen of a later generation have,
+with scarcely an exception, failed to do justice either to the
+dull weight of prejudice and opposition with which Lord
+John had to contend in his efforts to help their country, or
+to give him due credit for the constructive statesmanship
+which he brought to a complicated and disheartening task.<a name="FNanchor_16_16" id="FNanchor_16_16"></a><a href="#Footnote_16_16" class="fnanchor">[16]</a>
+Lord John Russell was, in fact, in some directions not only
+in advance of his party but of his times; and, though it has
+long been the fashion to cavil at his Irish policy, it ought not
+to be forgotten, in common fairness, that he not only passed
+the Encumbered Estates Act of 1848, but sought to introduce
+the principle of compensation to tenants for the improvements
+which they had made on their holdings. Vested
+interests proved, however, too powerful, and Ireland stood
+in her own light by persistent sedition. The revolutionary
+spirit was abroad in 1848 not only in France, but in other
+parts of Europe, and the Irish, under Mr. Smith O&rsquo;Brien,
+Mr. John Mitchel, and less responsible men, talked at random,
+with the result that treasonable conspiracy prevailed, and the
+country was brought to the verge of civil war. The Irish Government
+was forced by hostile and armed movements to proclaim
+certain districts in which rebellion was already rampant.
+The Treason Felony Act made it illegal, and punishable with
+penal servitude, to write or speak in a manner calculated to
+provoke rebellion against the Crown. This extreme
+stipula<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[158]</a></span>tion
+was made at the instance of Lord Campbell. Such an
+invasion of freedom of speech was not allowed to pass unchallenged,
+and Lord John, who winced under the necessity
+of repression, admitted the force of the objection, so far as
+to declare that this form of irksome restraint should not be
+protracted beyond the necessity of the hour. He was not
+the man to shirk personal danger, and therefore, in spite of
+insurrection and panic, and the threats of agitators who were
+seeking to compass the repeal of the Union by violent measures,
+he went himself to Dublin to consult with Lord
+Clarendon, and to gather on the spot his own impressions
+of the situation. He found the country once more overshadowed
+by the prospects of famine, and he came to the
+conclusion that the population was too numerous for the
+soil, and subsequently passed a measure for promoting aided
+emigration. He proposed also to assist from the public
+funds the Roman Catholic clergy, whose livelihood had
+grown precarious through the national distress; but, in
+deference to strong Protestant opposition, this method of amelioration
+had to be abandoned. The leaders of the Young
+Ireland party set the authorities at defiance, and John
+Mitchel, a leader who advocated an appeal to physical force,
+and Smith O&rsquo;Brien, who talked wildly about the establishment
+of an Irish Republic, were arrested, convicted, and
+transported. O&rsquo;Connell himself declared that Smith
+O&rsquo;Brien was an exceedingly weak man, proud and self-conceited
+and &lsquo;impenetrable to advice.&rsquo; &lsquo;You cannot be sure
+of him for half an hour.&rsquo; The force of the movement was
+broken by cliques and quarrels, until the spirit of disaffection
+was no longer formidable. In August, her Majesty displayed
+in a marked way her personal interest in her Irish
+subjects by a State visit to Dublin. The Queen was
+re<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[159]</a></span>ceived
+with enthusiasm, and her presence did much to weaken
+still further the already diminishing power of sedition.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">SCHOOLS AND SCHOOLMASTERS</div>
+
+<p>The question of education lay always close to the heart
+of Lord John Russell, who found time even amid the stress
+of 1847 to advance it. The Melbourne Administration had
+vested the management of Parliamentary grants in aid of
+education in a committee of the Privy Council. In spite of
+suspicion and hostility, which found expression both in Parliament
+and in ecclesiastical circles, the movement extended
+year by year and slowly pervaded with the first beginnings
+of culture the social life of the people. Lord John had
+taken an active part in establishing the authority of the Privy
+Council in education; he had watched the rapid growth of
+its influence, and had not forgotten to mark the defects which
+had come to light during the six years&rsquo; working of the system.
+He therefore proposed to remodel it, and took steps in
+doing so to better the position of the teacher, as well as to
+render primary education more efficient. Paid pupil teachers
+accordingly took the place of unpaid monitors, and the
+opportunity of gaining admittance after this practical apprenticeship
+to training colleges, where they might be equipped
+for the full discharge of the duties of their calling, was
+thrown open to them. As a further inducement, teachers
+who had gone through this collegiate training received a
+Government grant in addition to the usual salary. Grants
+were also for the first time given to schools which passed
+with success through the ordeal of official inspection.</p>
+
+<p>The passing of the Factory Bill was another effort in the
+practical redress of wrongs to which Lord John Russell lent
+his powerful aid. The measure, which will always be
+honourably associated with the names of Lord Shaftesbury
+and Mr. Fielden, was a victory for labour which was hailed
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[160]</a></span>
+with enthusiasm by artisans and operatives throughout the
+land. It came as a measure of practical relief, not merely
+to men, but to upwards of three hundred and sixty-three
+thousand women and children, employed in monotonous
+tasks in mill and manufactory. Another change which Lord
+John Russell was directly instrumental in bringing about
+was the creation of the Poor Law Commission into a Ministerial
+Department, responsible to Parliament, and able to
+explain its work and to defend its policy at Westminster,
+through the lips of the President of the Poor Law Board.
+Regulations were at the same time made for workhouse control,
+meetings of guardians, and the like. The great and
+ever-growing needs of Manchester were recognised in 1847
+by the creation of the Bishopric. Parliament was dissolved
+on July 23, and as the adoption of Free Trade had left
+the country for the moment without any great question
+directly before it, no marked political excitement followed
+the appeal to the people. The Conservative party was in
+truth demoralised by the downfall of Peel, and the new
+forces which were soon to shape its course had as yet
+scarcely revealed themselves, though Lord Stanley, Lord
+George Bentinck, and Mr. Disraeli were manifestly the
+coming men in Opposition. If the general election was distinguished
+by little enthusiasm either on one side or the
+other, it yet brought with it a personal triumph to Lord John,
+for he was returned for the City at the head of the poll.
+The Government itself not only renewed its strength, but
+increased it as a result of the contest throughout the country.
+At the same time the hostility of the opponents of Free Trade
+was seen in the return of two hundred and twenty-six Protectionists,
+in addition to one hundred and five Conservatives
+of the new school of Bentinck and Disraeli.
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[161]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">DIFFICULTIES OF A PLAIN ENGLISHMAN</div>
+
+<p>In other directions, meanwhile, difficulties had beset the
+Government. The proposed appointment of a Broad
+Churchman of advanced views, in the person of Dr. Hampden,
+Regius Professor at Oxford, to the vacant see of Hereford
+filled the High Church party with indignant dismay. Dr.
+Newman, with the courage and self-sacrifice which were
+characteristic of the man, had refused by this time to hold
+any longer an untenable position, and, in spite of his brilliant
+prospects in the English Church, had yielded to conscience
+and submitted to Rome. Dr. Pusey, however, remained,
+and under his skilful leadership the Oxford Movement grew
+strong, and threw its spell in particular over devout women,
+whose æsthetic instincts it satisfied, and whose aspirations after
+a semi-conventual life it met.<a name="FNanchor_17_17" id="FNanchor_17_17"></a><a href="#Footnote_17_17" class="fnanchor">[17]</a> Lord John had many of the
+characteristics of the plain Englishman. He understood
+zealous Protestants, and, as his rejected scheme for aiding the
+priests in Ireland itself shows, he was also able to apprehend
+the position of earnest Roman Catholics. He had, however,
+not so learnt his Catechism or his Prayer Book as to understand
+that the Reformation, if not a crime, was at least a
+blunder, and therefore, like other plain Englishmen, he was
+not prepared to admit the pretensions and assumptions of a
+new race of nondescript priests. Thirteen prelates took the
+unusual course of requesting the Prime Minister to reconsider
+his decision, but Lord John&rsquo;s reply was at once courteous
+and emphatic. &lsquo;I cannot sacrifice the reputation of Dr.
+Hampden, the rights of the Crown, and what I believe to be the
+true interests of the Church, to a feeling which I believe to
+have been founded on misapprehension and fomented by
+prejudice.&rsquo; Although Dr. Pusey did not hesitate to
+de<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[162]</a></span>clare
+that the affair was &lsquo;a matter of life and death,&rsquo;<a name="FNanchor_18_18" id="FNanchor_18_18"></a><a href="#Footnote_18_18" class="fnanchor">[18]</a>
+ecclesiastical protest availed nothing, and Dr. Hampden was
+in due time consecrated.</p>
+
+<p>Neither agrarian outrages in Ireland nor clerical agitation
+in England hindered, in the session of 1848, the passing of
+measures of social improvement. The Public Health Act,
+which was based on the representations of Sir Edwin Chadwick
+and Dr. Southwood Smith, grappled with the sanitary
+question in cities and towns, and thus improved in a variety
+of directions the social life of the people. It had hitherto
+been the fashion of Whigs and Tories alike to neglect practical
+measures of this kind, even though they were so closely
+linked to the health and welfare of the community.</p>
+
+<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_15_15" id="Footnote_15_15"></a><a href="#FNanchor_15_15"><span class="label">[15]</span></a> <i>The Croker Papers</i>, vol. iii. ch. xxiv. p. 53.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_16_16" id="Footnote_16_16"></a><a href="#FNanchor_16_16"><span class="label">[16]</span></a> Judge O&rsquo;Connor Morris, in his interesting retrospect, <i>Memories
+and Thoughts of a Life</i>, just published, whilst severely criticising the
+Whig attitude towards Ireland, admits that Russell&rsquo;s Irish policy was
+not only &lsquo;well-meant,&rsquo; but in the main successful.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_17_17" id="Footnote_17_17"></a><a href="#FNanchor_17_17"><span class="label">[17]</span></a> The first Anglican Sisterhood was founded by Dr. Pusey in London
+in the spring of 1845.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_18_18" id="Footnote_18_18"></a><a href="#FNanchor_18_18"><span class="label">[18]</span></a> <i>Life of E. B. Pusey, D.D.</i>, by H. P. Liddon, D.D., vol. iii. p. 160.</p></div>
+</div>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[163]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII</h2>
+
+<p class="title">IN ROUGH WATERS<br /><br />
+
+1848-1852</p>
+
+<p class="desc">The People&rsquo;s Charter&mdash;Feargus O&rsquo;Connor and the crowd&mdash;Lord
+Palmerston strikes from his own bat&mdash;Lord John&rsquo;s view of the
+political situation&mdash;Death of Peel&mdash;Palmerston and the Court&mdash;&lsquo;No
+Popery&rsquo;&mdash;The Durham Letter&mdash;The invasion scare&mdash;Lord John&rsquo;s
+remark about Palmerston&mdash;Fall of the Russell Administration.</p>
+
+
+<p class="noi">England in 1848 was not destined to escape an outbreak of
+the revolutionary spirit, though the Chartist movement, in spite
+of the panic which it awakened, was never really formidable.
+The overthrow and flight of Louis Philippe, the proclamation
+in March of the French Republic on the basis of universal
+suffrage and national workshops, and the revolutionary
+movements and insurrections in Austria and Italy, filled the
+artisans and operatives of this country with wild dreams,
+and led them to rally their scattered and hitherto dispirited
+forces. Within six years of the passing of the Reform Bill,
+in fact, in the autumn after the Queen&rsquo;s accession, the
+working classes had come to the conclusion that their
+interests had been largely overlooked, and that the expectations
+they had cherished in the struggle of 1831-32 had
+been falsified by the apathy and even the reaction which
+followed the victory. Not in one, but in all the great civil
+and religious struggles of the century, they had borne the
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[164]</a></span>
+brunt of the battle; and yet they had been thrust aside when
+it came to the dividing of the spoil.</p>
+
+<p>The middle classes were in a different position: their
+aspirations were satisfied, and they were quite prepared, for
+the moment at least, to rest and be thankful. The sleek
+complacency of the shopkeeper, moreover, and his hostility
+to further agitation, threw into somewhat dramatic relief the
+restless and sullen attitude of less fortunate conscripts of
+toil. Food was dear, wages were low, work was slack, and
+in the great centres of industry the mills were running half-time,
+and so keen was the struggle for existence that the
+operatives were at the mercy of their taskmasters, and too
+often found it cruel. Small wonder if social discontent
+was widespread, especially when it is remembered that the
+people were not only hopeless and ill-fed, but housed under
+conditions which set at defiance even the most elementary
+laws of health. More than to any other man in the ranks
+of higher statesmanship the people looked to Lord Durham,
+the idol of the pitmen of the North, for the redress of their
+wrongs, and no statesman of that period possessed more
+courage or more real acquaintance with the actual needs of
+the people. Lord Durham, though a man of splendid
+ability, swift vision, and generous sympathy, had, unhappily,
+the knack of making enemies, and the fiery impetuosity
+of his spirit brought him more than once into conflict with
+leaders whose temperament was cold and whose caution
+was great. The rebellion in Canada withdrew Lord Durham
+from the arena of English politics at the beginning of 1838.
+Then it was that the people recognised to the full the
+temper of the statesmen that were left, and the fact that, if
+deliverance was to come from political and social thraldom,
+they must look to themselves and organise their strength.
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[165]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The representatives of the working classes in 1838 formulated
+their demand for radical political reform in the
+famous six points of the People&rsquo;s Charter. This declaration
+claimed manhood suffrage; the division of the country into
+equal electoral districts; vote by ballot; annual Parliaments;
+the abolition of property qualification for a seat in the House
+of Commons; and payment of members of Parliament for
+their services. The People&rsquo;s Charter took the working
+classes by storm: it fired their imagination, inspired their
+hopes, and drew them in every manufacturing town and
+district into organised association.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">A SORRY CHAMPION</div>
+
+<p>The leader of the movement was Feargus O&rsquo;Connor, an
+Irish barrister and journalist, who had entered Parliament
+in 1832 as a follower of O&rsquo;Connell and as member for Cork.
+He quarrelled, however, with the Irish leader, a circumstance
+which was fatal to success as an agitator in his own country.
+Restless and reckless, he henceforth carried his energy and
+devoted his eloquence to the Chartist movement in England,
+and in 1847 the popular vote carried him once more to the
+House of Commons as member for Nottingham. He
+copied the tactics of O&rsquo;Connell, but had neither the judgment
+nor the strength of the Irish dictator. He seems,
+indeed, to have been rather a poor creature of the vainglorious,
+bombastic type. A year or two later he became
+hopelessly insane, and in the vaporing heroics and parade
+of gasconade which marked him as the champion of the
+Chartists in the spring of 1848 it is charitable now to
+discover the first seeds of his disorder. However that may
+be, he was a nine-days&rsquo; wonder, for from All Fools&rsquo; Day to
+the morning of April 10 society in London was in a state
+of abject panic. The troubles in Ireland, the insurrections
+and rumours of insurrection on the Continent, the revolution
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[166]</a></span>
+in France, the menacing discontent in the provinces, and
+the threatening attitude of the working men in the metropolis,
+were enough to cause alarm among the privileged classes,
+and conscience made cowards, not certainly of them all, but
+of the majority.</p>
+
+<p>Literature enough and to spare, explanatory, declamatory
+and the like, has grown around a movement which
+ran like an unfed river, until it lost itself in the sand. Three
+men of genius took up their parable about what one of
+them called the &lsquo;Condition of England Question,&rsquo; and in
+the pages of Carlyle&rsquo;s &lsquo;Chartism&rsquo; and &lsquo;Past and Present,&rsquo;
+Disraeli&rsquo;s &lsquo;Sybil,&rsquo; and last, but not least, in Kingsley&rsquo;s
+&lsquo;Alton Locke,&rsquo; the reader of to-day is in possession of
+sidelights, vivid, picturesque, and dramatic, on English
+society in the years when the Chartists were coming to their
+power, and in the year when they lost it. Lord John
+was at first in favour of allowing the Chartists to demonstrate
+to their hearts&rsquo; content. He therefore proposed to
+permit them to cross Westminster Bridge, so that they
+might deliver their petition at the doors of Parliament. He
+thought that the police might then prevent the re-forming
+of the procession, and scatter the crowd in the direction of
+Charing Cross. Lord John had done too much for the
+people to be afraid of them, and he refused to accept the
+alarmist view of the situation. But the consternation was
+so widespread, and the panic so general, that the Government
+felt compelled on April 6 to declare the proposed
+meeting criminal and illegal, to call upon all peaceably
+disposed citizens not to attend, and to take extraordinary
+precautions. It was, however, announced that the right of
+assembly would be respected; but, on the advice of Wellington,
+only three of the leaders were to be allowed to cross the
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[167]</a></span>
+bridge. The Bank, the Tower, and the neighbourhood of
+Kennington Common meanwhile were protected by troops
+of cavalry and infantry, whilst the approaches to the Houses
+of Parliament and the Government offices were held by
+artillery.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">LONDON IN TERROR</div>
+
+<p>The morning of the fateful 10th dawned brightly, but no
+one dared forecast how the evening would close, and for a
+few hours of suspense there was a reign of terror. Many
+houses were barricaded, and in the West End the streets
+were deserted except by the valiant special constables, who
+stood at every corner in defence of law and order. The
+shopkeepers, who were not prepared to take joyfully the
+spoiling of their goods, formed the great mass of this citizen
+army&mdash;one hundred and fifty thousand strong. There were,
+nevertheless, recruits from all classes, and in the excitement
+and peril of the hour odd men rubbed shoulders. Lord
+Shaftesbury, for instance, was on duty in Mount Street,
+Grosvenor Square, with a sallow young foreigner for companion,
+who was afterwards to create a more serious disturbance
+on his own account, and to spring to power as
+Napoleon III. Thomas Carlyle preferred to play the
+part of the untrammelled man in the street, and sallied
+forth in search of food for reflection. He wanted to see the
+&lsquo;revolution&rsquo; for himself, and strode towards Hyde Park,
+determined, he tells us, to walk himself into a glow of heat
+in spite of the &lsquo;venomous cold wind&rsquo; which called forth his
+anathemas. The Chelsea moralist found London, westward
+at least, safe and quiet, in spite of &lsquo;empty rumours and a
+hundred and fifty thousand oaths of special constables.&rsquo;
+He noticed as he passed Apsley House that even the Duke
+had taken the affair seriously, in his private as well as his
+public capacity, for all the iron blinds were down. The Green
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[168]</a></span>
+Park was closed. Mounted Guardsmen stood ready on
+Constitution Hill. The fashionable carriage had vanished
+from Piccadilly. Business everywhere was at a standstill, for
+London knew not what that day might bring forth. Presently
+the rain began to fall, and then came down in drenching
+showers. In spite of their patriotic fervour, the special constables
+grew both damp and depressed. Suddenly a rumour
+ran along the streets that the great demonstration at Kennington
+Common had ended in smoke, and by noon the crowd was
+streaming over Westminster Bridge and along Whitehall,
+bearing the tidings that the march to the House of Commons
+had been abandoned. Feargus O&rsquo;Connor had, in fact, taken
+fright, and presently the petition rattled ingloriously to
+Westminster in the safe but modest keeping of a hackney
+cab. The shower swept the angry and noisy rabble homewards,
+or into neighbouring public-houses, and ridicule&mdash;as
+the evening filled the town with complacent special constables
+and their admiring wives and sweethearts&mdash;did even
+more than the rain to quench the Chartist agitation. It had
+been boldly announced that one hundred and fifty thousand
+people would meet at Kennington. Less than a third of
+that number assembled, and a considerable part of the crowd
+had evidently been attracted by curiosity. Afterwards, when
+the monster petition with its signatures was examined, it was
+found to fall short of the boasted &lsquo;five million&rsquo; names by upwards
+of three millions. Many of those which did appear
+were palpably fictitious; indeed the rude wit of the London
+apprentice was responsible for scores of silly signatures.
+Lord John&rsquo;s comment on the affair was characteristic.
+After stating that no great numbers followed the cab which
+contained the petition, and that there was no mob at the
+door of the House of Commons, he adds: &lsquo;London escaped
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[169]</a></span>
+the fate of Paris, Berlin, and Vienna. For my own part,
+I saw in these proceedings a fresh proof that the people of
+England were satisfied with the Government under which
+they had the happiness to live, did not wish to be instructed
+by their neighbours in the principles of freedom, and did
+not envy them either the liberty they had enjoyed under
+Robespierre, or the order which had been established among
+them by Napoleon the Great.&rsquo;</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">PALMERSTON&rsquo;S OPPORTUNITY</div>
+
+<p>Lord John&rsquo;s allusion to Paris, Berlin, and Vienna
+suggests foreign politics, and also the growing lack of
+harmony between Lord Palmerston on the one hand and
+the Court and Cabinet on the other. Although he long
+held the highest office under the Crown, Lord Palmerston&rsquo;s
+chief claim to distinction was won as Foreign Minister. He
+began his official career as a Tory in the Portland Administration
+of 1807, and two years later&mdash;at the age of five-and-twenty&mdash;was
+appointed Secretary at War in the Perceval
+Government. He held this post for the long term of
+eighteen years, and when Canning succeeded to power
+still retained it, with a seat in the Cabinet. Palmerston
+was a liberal Tory of the school of Canning, and, when
+Lord Grey became Premier in 1830, was a man of sufficient
+mark to be entrusted with the seals of the Foreign
+Office, though, until his retirement in 1834, Grey exercised
+a controlling voice in the foreign policy of the nation. It
+was not until Grey was succeeded by Melbourne that
+Palmerston began to display both his strength and his
+weakness in independent action.</p>
+
+<p>He saw his opportunity and took it. He knew his
+own mind and disliked interference, and this made him
+more and more inclined to be heedless of the aid, and
+almost of the approval, of his colleagues. Under a
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[170]</a></span>
+provokingly pleasant manner lurked, increasingly, the temper
+of an autocrat. Melbourne sat lightly to most things, and
+not least to questions of foreign policy. He was easily
+bored, and believed in <i>laissez-faire</i> to an extent which has
+never been matched by any other Prime Minister in the
+Queen&rsquo;s reign. The consequence was that for seven critical
+years Palmerston did what was right in his own eyes, until he
+came to regard himself not merely as the custodian of
+English interests abroad, but almost as the one man in the
+Cabinet who was entitled to speak with authority concerning
+them. If the responsibility of the first Afghan war must
+rest chiefly on his shoulders, it is only fair to remember
+that he took the risk of a war with France in order to drive
+Ibrahim Pacha out of Syria. From first to last, his tenure
+at the Foreign Office covered a period of nearly twenty years.
+Though he made serious mistakes, he also made despots
+in every part of the world afraid of him; whilst struggling
+nationalities felt that the great English Minister was not
+oblivious of the claims of justice, or deaf to the appeal
+for mercy. Early in the Russell Administration Lord
+Palmerston&rsquo;s high-handed treatment of other members of
+the Cabinet provoked angry comment, and Sir Robert Peel
+did not conceal his opinion that Lord John gave his impetuous
+colleague too much of his own way. The truth
+was, the Premier&rsquo;s hands, and heart also, were in 1846
+and 1847 full of the Irish famine, and Lord Palmerston
+took advantage of the fact. Moreover, Lord John Russell
+was, broadly speaking, in substantial agreement with his
+Foreign Minister, though he cordially disliked his habit
+of taking swift and almost independent action.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">CLIMBING DOWN</div>
+
+<p>At the beginning of 1848 Palmerston seemed determined
+to pick a quarrel with France, and in February
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[171]</a></span>
+drew up a threatening despatch on the difficulty which
+had arisen between our Ambassador (Lord Normanby)
+and Louis Philippe, which brought matters to a crisis.
+Louis Philippe had acted a dishonourable part over the
+Spanish marriages, and Palmerston was prepared to go
+out of his way to humiliate France. At the last moment,
+the affair came to Lord John&rsquo;s knowledge through Lord
+Clarendon, with the result that the communication was
+countermanded. Lord Palmerston appears to have taken
+the rebuff, humiliating as it was, with characteristic nonchalance,
+and it produced little more than a momentary
+effect. The ignominious flight of Louis Philippe quickly
+followed, and the revolution in France was the signal in
+Vienna for a revolt of the students and artisans, which
+drove Metternich to find refuge in England and the
+Emperor Ferdinand to seek asylum in the Tyrol. Austrians,
+Hungarians, and Slavs only needed an opportunity, such
+as the &lsquo;year of revolutions&rsquo; afforded, to display their hostility
+to one another, and the racial jealousy brought Austria and
+Hungary to open war. In Milan, in Naples, and Berlin
+the revolutionary spirit displayed itself, and in these centres,
+as well as in Switzerland, changes in the direction of liberty
+took place.</p>
+
+<p>Lord John Russell, in an important document, which
+Mr. Walpole has printed, and which bears date May 1, 1848,
+has explained his own view of the political situation in
+Europe at that moment. After a lucid and impressive
+survey of the changes that had taken place in the map of
+Europe since the Congress of Vienna, Lord John lays down
+the principle that it is neither becoming nor expedient for
+England to proclaim that the Treaties of 1815 were invalid.
+On the contrary, England ought rather to promote, in the
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[172]</a></span>
+interests of peace and order, the maintenance of the territorial
+divisions then made. At the same time, England, amid
+the storm, ought not to persist in clinging to a wreck if a safe
+spar is within her reach. He recognised that Austria could
+hardly restore her sway in Italy, and was not in a position
+to confront the cost of a protracted war, in which France
+was certain to take sides against her. He, therefore, thought
+it advisable that English diplomacy should be brought to
+bear at Vienna, so as to &lsquo;produce a frank abandonment
+of Lombardy and Venice on the part of Austria.&rsquo; He
+declared that it was not to the advantage of England to
+meddle with the internal affairs of Spain; but he thought
+there was a favourable chance of coming to an understanding
+with Germany, where the Schleswig-Holstein
+question already threatened disturbance. &lsquo;It is our
+interest,&rsquo; are the final words of this significant State paper,
+&lsquo;to use our influence as speedily and as generally as possible
+to settle the pending questions and to fix the boundaries of
+States. Otherwise, if war once becomes general, it will
+spread over Germany, reach Belgium, and finally sweep
+England into its vortex. Should our efforts for peace
+succeed, Europe may begin a new career with more or less
+of hope and of concord; should they fail, we must keep
+our sword in the scabbard as long as we can, but we cannot
+hope to be neutral in a great European war. England
+cannot be indifferent to the supremacy of France over
+Germany and Italy, or to the advance of Russian armies
+to Constantinople; still less to the incorporation of Belgium
+with a new French Empire.&rsquo;</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">OUR POLICY ABROAD</div>
+
+<p>As usual, Lord Palmerston had his own ideas and the
+courage of them. Within three weeks of the Russell Memorandum
+to the Cabinet he accordingly stood out in his true
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[173]</a></span>
+colours as a frank opportunist. The guiding rule of his
+foreign policy, he stated, was to promote and advance,
+as far as lay in his power, the interests of the country as
+opportunity served and as necessity arose. &lsquo;We have no
+everlasting union with this or that country&mdash;no identification
+of policy with another. We have no natural enemies&mdash;no
+perpetual friends. When we find a Power pursuing
+that course of policy which we wish also to promote, for
+the time that Power becomes our ally; and when we find a
+country whose interests are at variance with our own, we
+are involved for a time with the Government of that country.
+We find no fault with other nations for pursuing their interests;
+and they ought not to find fault with us, if, in pursuing
+our interests, our course may be different from theirs.&rsquo;</p>
+
+<p>Lord Palmerston held that the real policy of this
+country was to be the champion of justice and right,
+though professing no sympathy with the notion that England
+ought to become, to borrow his own expression, the Quixote
+of the world. &lsquo;I hold that England is a Power sufficiently
+strong to steer her own course, and not to tie herself as an
+unnecessary appendage to the policy of any other Government.&rsquo;
+He declared that, if he might be allowed to gather
+into one sentence the principle which he thought ought to
+guide an English statesman, he would adopt the expression
+of Canning, and say that with every British Minister the
+interests of England ought to be the shibboleth of his policy.
+Unfortunately, Lord Palmerston, in spite of such statements,
+was too much inclined to throw the moral weight of England
+into this or that scale on his own responsibility, and, as it
+often seemed to dispassionate observers, on the mere caprice
+of the hour. He took up the position that the interests of
+England were safe in his hands, and magnified his office,
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[174]</a></span>
+sometimes to the annoyance of the Court and often to the
+chagrin of the Cabinet. No matter what storm raged,
+Palmerston always contrived to come to the surface again
+like a cork. He never lost his self-possession, and a profound
+sense of his own infallibility helped him, under
+difficulties and rebuffs which would have knocked the spirit
+out of other men, to adopt the attitude of the patriotic statesman
+struggling with adversity. When the session of 1849
+closed he was in an extremely difficult position, in consequence
+of the growing dislike in high quarters to his policy,
+and the coolness which had sprung up between himself
+and the majority of his colleagues; yet we find him writing
+a jaunty note to his brother in the strain of a man who had
+not only deserved success but won it. &lsquo;After the trumpetings
+of attacks that were to demolish first one and then
+another of the Government&mdash;first me, then Grey, then
+Charles Wood&mdash;we have come triumphantly out of the debates
+and divisions, and end the session stronger than we
+began it.&rsquo;<a name="FNanchor_19_19" id="FNanchor_19_19"></a><a href="#Footnote_19_19" class="fnanchor">[19]</a></p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">STRAINED RELATIONS</div>
+
+<p>Lord Palmerston&rsquo;s passion for personal ascendency was
+not to be repressed, and in the electric condition of Europe
+it proved perilous as well as embarrassing to the Russell
+Administration. Without the knowledge of the Queen or his
+colleagues, Lord Palmerston, for instance, sent a letter to Sir
+H. Bulwer advising an extension of the basis of the Spanish
+Government, an act of interference which caused so much
+irritation at Madrid that the Spanish Government requested
+the British Ambassador to leave the country. Happily, the
+breach with Madrid was repaired after a few months&rsquo; anxiety
+on the part of Palmerston&rsquo;s colleagues. The Queen&rsquo;s
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[175]</a></span>
+sense of the indiscretion was apparent in the request to
+Lord Palmerston to submit in future all his despatches to the
+Prime Minister. Other occasions soon arose which increased
+distrust at Windsor, and further strained friendly relations
+between the Prime Minister and the Foreign Secretary. The
+latter&rsquo;s removal to some less responsible post was contemplated,
+for her Majesty appeared to disapprove of everything
+Lord Palmerston did. Without detailing the various circumstances
+which awakened the Queen&rsquo;s displeasure, it is sufficient
+to draw attention to one event&mdash;known in the annals
+of diplomacy as the &lsquo;Don Pacifico&rsquo; affair&mdash;which threatened
+the overthrow of the Ministry.</p>
+
+<p>Two British subjects demanded in vain compensation
+from the Greek Government for damage to their property.
+Lord Palmerston came to their defence, and sent private
+instructions to the Admiral of the British fleet at the
+Dardanelles to seize Greek vessels by way of reprisal, which
+was promptly done. The tidings fell like a thunderbolt upon
+Downing Street. France and Russia made angry protests,
+and war was predicted. At length an offer of mediation
+from Paris was accepted, and the matter was arranged in
+London. Lord Palmerston, however, omitted to inform the
+English Minister at Athens of the settlement, and, whilst
+everyone in England rejoiced that the storm had blown
+over, the Admiral was laying an embargo on other ships,
+and at last forced the Greek Government to grant compensation.
+France, indignant at such cavalier treatment, recalled
+M. Drouyn de Lhuys from London, and again the war-cloud
+lowered. Lord Palmerston had the audacity to state in
+the House of Commons that the French Minister had
+returned to Paris in order &lsquo;presumably to be the medium of
+communication between the two Governments as to these
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[176]</a></span>
+matters.&rsquo; The truth came out on the morrow, and Lord
+John, in the discreet absence of his colleague, was forced to
+explain as best he might the position of affairs. Although
+he screened Lord Palmerston as far as he was able, he
+determined to make a change at the Foreign Office.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">PEEL AND PALMERSTON</div>
+
+<p>In June 1850, Lord Stanley challenged the foreign policy
+of Lord Palmerston in the House of Lords, and carried, by
+a majority of thirty-seven, a resolution of censure. Mr.
+Roebuck, in the Commons, met the hostile vote by a resolution
+of confidence, and, after four nights&rsquo; debate, secured a
+majority of forty-six. Lord Palmerston made an able
+defence of his conduct of affairs, and Lord John Russell, who
+differed from him not so much in the matter as in the
+manner of his decisions, not merely refused to leave his
+colleague in the lurch, but came vigorously to his support.
+The debate was rendered memorable on other grounds.
+Sir Robert Peel, in the course of it, delivered his last speech
+in Parliament. The division, which gave Palmerston a fresh
+tenure of power, was taken at four o&rsquo;clock on the morning of
+Saturday, June 29. Peel left the House to snatch a few
+hours&rsquo; sleep before going at noon to a meeting which was to
+settle the disputed question as to the site of the Great Exhibition.
+He kept his appointment; but later in the day he was
+thrown from his horse on Constitution Hill, and received
+injuries which proved fatal on the night of July 2. His
+death was a national calamity, for at sixty-two he was still
+in the fulness of his strength. There will always be a
+diversity of judgment concerning his career; there is but
+one opinion about his character. Few statesmen have gone
+to their grave amid more remarkable expressions of regret.
+Old and young colleagues, from the Duke of Wellington to
+Mr. Gladstone, betrayed by their emotion no less than by
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[177]</a></span>
+their words, their grief over the loss of a leader who followed
+his conscience even at the expense of the collapse of his
+power. Lord John Russell, the most distinguished, without
+doubt, of Sir Robert&rsquo;s opponents on the floor of the House,
+paid a generous tribute to his rival&rsquo;s memory. He declared
+that posterity would regard Sir Robert Peel as one of the
+greatest and most patriotic of statesman. He laid stress on
+that &lsquo;long and large experience of public affairs, that profound
+knowledge, that oratorical power, that copious yet exact
+memory, with which the House was wont to be enlightened,
+interested, and guided.&rsquo; When the offer of a public funeral
+was declined, in deference to Sir Robert&rsquo;s known wishes,
+Lord John proposed and carried a resolution for the erection
+of a statue in Westminster Abbey. He also marked his
+sense of the loss which the nation had sustained, in the
+disappearance of an illustrious man, by giving his noble-minded
+and broken-hearted widow the refusal of a peerage.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile, Lord Palmerston, on the strength of the
+vote of confidence in the Commons, was somewhat of a
+popular hero. People who believe that England can do no
+wrong, at least abroad, believed in him. His audacity
+delighted the man in the club. His pluck took the platform
+and much of the press by storm. The multitude
+relished his peremptory despatches, and were delighted when
+he either showed fight or encouraged it in others. In
+course of time &lsquo;Pam&rsquo; became the typical fine old English
+gentleman of genial temper but domineering instincts.
+Prince Albert disliked him; he was too little of a courtier,
+too much of an off-handed man of affairs. Windsor, of
+course, received early tidings of the impression which was
+made at foreign Courts by the most independent and
+and cavalier Foreign Minister of the century. Occasionally
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[178]</a></span>
+he needlessly offended the susceptibilities of exalted personages
+abroad as well as at home. At length the Queen,
+determined no longer to be put in a false position, drew up
+a sharply-worded memorandum, in which explicit directions
+were given for the transaction of business between the Crown
+and the Foreign Office. &lsquo;The Queen requires, first, that Lord
+Palmerston will distinctly state what he proposes in a given
+case, in order that the Queen may know as distinctly to what
+she is giving her royal sanction; secondly, having once given
+her sanction to a measure, that it be not arbitrarily altered
+or modified by the Minister. Such an act she must consider
+as failing in sincerity towards the Crown, and justly to be
+visited by the exercise of her constitutional right of dismissing
+that Minister. She expects to be kept informed of
+what passes between him and the Foreign Ministers before
+important decisions are taken, based upon that intercourse;
+to receive the foreign despatches in good time; and to have
+the drafts for her approval sent to her in sufficient time to
+make herself acquainted with their contents before they
+must be sent off.&rsquo;</p>
+
+<p>No responsible adviser of the Crown during the reign
+had received such emphatic censure, and in August 1850
+people were talking as if Palmerston was bound to resign.
+He certainly would have done so if he had merely consulted
+his own feelings; but he declared that to resign just then
+would be to play into the hands of the political adversaries
+whom he had just defeated, and to throw over his supporters
+at the moment when they had fought a successful battle on
+his behalf. Lord Palmerston, therefore, accepted the Queen&rsquo;s
+instructions with unwonted meekness. He assured her
+Majesty that he would not fail to attend to the directions which
+the memorandum contained, and for a while harmony was
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[179]</a></span>
+restored. In the autumn of 1851 Louis Kossuth arrived in
+England, and met with an enthusiastic reception, of the kind
+which was afterwards accorded in London to another popular
+hero, in the person of Garibaldi. Lord Palmerston received
+Kossuth at the Foreign Office, and, contrary to the wishes
+of the Queen and Prime Minister, deputations were admitted,
+and addresses were presented, thanking Palmerston for his
+services in the cause of humanity, whilst in the same breath
+allusions to the Emperors of Austria and Russia as &lsquo;odious
+and detestable assassins&rsquo; were made. Almost before the
+annoyance created by this fresh act of indiscretion had subsided,
+Lord Palmerston was guilty of a still more serious
+offence.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">THE <i>COUP D&rsquo;ÉTAT</i></div>
+
+<p>Louis Napoleon had been elected President of the
+French Republic by five and a half million votes. He was
+thought to be ambitious rather than able, and he had pledged
+himself to sustain the existing Constitution. He worked for
+his own hand, however, and accordingly conciliated first the
+clergy, then the peasants, and finally the army, by fair promises,
+popular acts, and a bold policy. On December 2,
+1851, when his term of office was expiring, Napoleon suddenly
+overthrew the Assembly, which had refused a month or two
+previously to revise the Constitution in order to make the
+President eligible for re-election, and next morning all
+Europe was startled with tidings of the <i>Coup d&rsquo;État</i>. Both
+the English Court and Cabinet felt that absolute neutrality
+must be observed during the tumult which followed in Paris,
+and instructions to that effect were accordingly transmitted
+to Lord Normanby. But when that diplomatist made
+known this official communication, he was met with the
+retort that Lord Palmerston, in a conversation with the
+French Ambassador in London, had already declared that
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[180]</a></span>
+the <i>Coup d&rsquo;État</i> was an act of self-defence, and in fact was
+the best thing under the circumstances for France. Lord
+Palmerston, in a subsequent despatch to Lord Normanby,
+which was not submitted either to the Queen or the Prime
+Minister, reiterated his opinion.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">&lsquo;THERE WAS A PALMERSTON!&rsquo;</div>
+
+<p>Under these circumstances, Lord John Russell had no
+alternative except to dismiss Lord Palmerston. He did so,
+as he explained when Parliament met in February, on the
+ground that the Foreign Secretary had practically put himself,
+for the moment, in the place of the Crown. He had
+given the moral approbation of England to the acts of the
+President of the Republic of France, though he knew, when
+he was doing so, that he was acting in direct opposition to
+the wishes of the sovereign and the policy of the Government.
+Lord John stated in the House of Commons that
+he took upon himself the sole and entire responsibility of
+advising her Majesty to require the resignation of Lord
+Palmerston. He added that, though the Foreign Secretary
+had neglected what was due to the Crown and his colleagues,
+he felt sure that he had not intended any personal
+disrespect. Greville declared that, in all his experience of
+scenes in Parliament, he could recall no such triumph as Lord
+Russell achieved on this occasion, nor had he ever witnessed a
+discomfiture more complete than that of Palmerston. Lord
+Dalling, another eye-witness of the episode, has described,
+from the point of view of a sympathiser with Palmerston,
+the manner in which he seemed completely taken by surprise
+by the &lsquo;tremendous assault&rsquo; which Lord John, by a
+damaging appeal to facts, made against him. In his view,
+Russell&rsquo;s speech was one of the most powerful to which he
+had ever listened, and its effect was overwhelming. Disraeli,
+meeting Lord Dalling by chance next day on the staircase
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[181]</a></span>
+of the Russian Embassy, exclaimed as he passed, with significant
+emphasis, &lsquo;There <i>was</i> a Palmerston!&rsquo; The common
+opinion at the clubs found expression in a phrase which
+passed from lip to lip, &lsquo;Palmerston is smashed;&rsquo; but, though
+driven for the moment to bay, the dismissed Minister was
+himself of another mind.</p>
+
+<p>Lord Palmerston was offered the Irish Viceroyalty, but
+he declined to take such an appointment. He accepted
+his dismissal with a characteristic affectation of indifference,
+and in the course of a laboured defence of his action in the
+House of Commons, excused his communication to the
+French Ambassador on the plea that it was only the expression
+of an opinion on passing events, common to that &lsquo;easy
+and familiar personal intercourse, which tends so usefully to the
+maintenance of friendly relations with foreign Governments.&rsquo;
+Lady Russell wrote down at the time her own impressions
+of this crisis in her husband&rsquo;s Cabinet, and the following
+passage throws a valuable sidelight on a memorable incident
+in the Queen&rsquo;s reign: &lsquo;The breach between John
+and Lord Palmerston was a calamity to the country, to the
+Whig party, and to themselves; and, although it had for
+some months been a threatening danger on the horizon, I
+cannot but feel that there was accident in its actual occurrence.
+Had we been in London or at Pembroke Lodge,
+and not at Woburn Abbey, at the time, they would have met,
+and talked over the subject of their difference; words spoken
+might have been equally strong, but would have been less
+cutting than words written, and conciliatory expressions on
+John&rsquo;s part would have led the way to promises on Lord
+Palmerston&rsquo;s.... They two kept up the character of England,
+as the sturdy guardians of her rights against other nations,
+and the champions of freedom and independence abroad.
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[182]</a></span>
+They did so both before and after the breach of 1851, which
+was, happily, closed in the following year, when they were
+once more colleagues in office. On matters of home policy
+Lord Palmerston remained the Tory he had been in his
+earlier days, and this was the cause of many a trial to John.&rsquo;</p>
+
+<p>The Russell Administration, as the Premier himself
+frankly recognised, was seriously weakened by the dismissal
+of Lord Palmerston; and its position was not improved when
+Lord Clarendon, on somewhat paltry grounds, refused the
+Foreign Office. Lord John&rsquo;s sagacity was shown by the prompt
+offer of the vacant appointment to Lord Granville, who, at
+the age of thirty-six, entered the Cabinet, and began a career
+which was destined to prove a controlling force in the
+foreign policy of England in the Victorian era.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">ROME AND OXFORD</div>
+
+<p>Meanwhile fresh difficulties had arisen. In the autumn
+of 1850&mdash;a year which had already been rendered memorable
+in ecclesiastical circles by the Gorham case&mdash;Pius
+IX. issued a Bull by which England became a province
+of the Roman Catholic Church. Dr. Wiseman was created
+Cardinal Archbishop of Westminster, and England was
+divided into twelve sees with territorial titles. The assumption
+by Pius IX. of spiritual authority over England was a
+blunder; indeed, no better proof in recent times of the lack
+of infallibility at Rome could well be discovered. One
+swallow, proverbially, does not make a spring; and when
+Newman took refuge in flight, other leaders of the Oxford
+Movement refused to accept his logic and to follow his example.
+Englishmen have always resented anything in the
+shape of foreign dictation, and deep in the national heart
+there yet survives a rooted hostility to the claims of the
+Vatican. Napoleon&rsquo;s <i>Coup d&rsquo;État</i>, which followed quickly
+on the heels of this dramatic act of Papal aggression,
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[183]</a></span>
+scarcely took the nation more completely by surprise. No
+Vatican decree could well have proved more unpopular,
+and even Canon Liddon is obliged to admit that the bishops,
+with one solitary exception, &lsquo;threw the weight of their authority
+on the side of popular and short-sighted passion.&rsquo;<a name="FNanchor_20_20" id="FNanchor_20_20"></a><a href="#Footnote_20_20" class="fnanchor">[20]</a></p>
+
+<p>Pius IX. knew nothing of the English character, but
+Cardinal Wiseman, at least, could not plead ignorance of the
+real issues at stake; and therefore his grandiloquent and,
+under all the circumstances, ridiculous pastoral letter, which
+he dated &lsquo;From out of the Flaminian Gate at Rome,&rsquo; was
+justly regarded as an insult to the religious convictions of
+the vast majority of the English people. Anglicans and
+Nonconformists alike resented such an authoritative deliverance,
+and presently the old &lsquo;No Popery&rsquo; cry rang like a
+clarion through the land. Dr. Newman, with the zeal of a
+pervert, preached a sermon on the revival of the Catholic
+Church, and in the course of it he stated that the &lsquo;people of
+England, who for so many years have been separated from
+the See of Rome, are about, of their own will, to be added
+to the Holy Church.&rsquo; The words were, doubtless, spoken
+in good faith, for the great leader of the Oxford Movement
+naturally expected that those who had espoused his views, like
+honest men, would follow his example. Dr. Pusey, however,
+was a more astute ecclesiastical statesman than Cardinal Wiseman.
+He was in favour of a &lsquo;very moderate&rsquo; declaration
+against Rome, for the resources of compromise were evidently
+in his eyes not exhausted. The truth was, Pusey and Keble,
+by a course of action which to this day remains a standing
+riddle to the Papacy on the one hand, and to Protestantism
+on the other, threw dust in the eyes of Pius IX., and were
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[184]</a></span>
+the real authors of Papal aggression. Lord John Russell
+saw this quite clearly, and in proof of such an assertion it is
+only necessary to appeal to his famous Durham Letter. He
+had watched the drift of ecclesiastical opinion, and had seen
+with concern that the tide was running swiftly in the direction
+of Rome.</p>
+
+<p>England had renounced the Papal supremacy for the
+space of 300 years, and had grown strong in the liberty
+which had followed the downfall of such thraldom. Oxford
+had taught Rome to tempt England; the leaders of the
+so-called Anglican revival were responsible for the flourish
+of trumpets at the Vatican. Lord John&rsquo;s ecclesiastical
+appointments called forth sharp criticism. He was a Protestant
+of the old uncompromising type, with leanings
+towards advanced thought in Biblical criticism. He knew,
+moreover, what Puritanism had done for the English
+nation in the seventeenth century, and made no secret
+of his conviction that it was the Nonconformists, more
+than any other class, who had rendered civil and religious
+liberty possible. He moreover knew that in his own time
+they, more than any other part of the community, had
+carried the Reform Bill, brought about the abolition of
+slavery, and established Free Trade. He had been brought
+into contact with their leaders, and was beginning to perceive,
+with the nation at large, how paltry and inadequate
+were the claims of a rigid Churchmanship, since the true
+apostolical succession is a matter of altitude of spiritual
+devotion, and borrows none of its rights from the pretensions
+of clerical caste.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">THE DURHAM LETTER</div>
+
+<p>The Durham Letter was written from Downing Street,
+on November 4, 1850. It gained its name because it was
+addressed to the Premier&rsquo;s old friend Dr. Maltby, Bishop of
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[185]</a></span>
+Durham, and appeared in the newspapers on the day on
+which it was dated. Lord John declared that he had not
+only promoted to the utmost of his power the claims of
+Roman Catholics to all civil rights, but had deemed it not
+merely just, but desirable, that that Church should impart
+religious instruction to the &lsquo;numerous Irish immigrants in
+London and elsewhere, who, without such help, would have
+been left in heathen ignorance.&rsquo; He believed that this
+might have been accomplished without any such innovation
+as that which the Papacy now contemplated. He laid stress
+on the assumption of power made in all the documents on
+the subject which had come from Rome, and he protested
+against such pretensions as inconsistent with the Queen&rsquo;s
+supremacy, with the rights of the bishops and clergy, and with
+the spiritual independence of the nation. He confessed
+that his alarm was not equal to his indignation, since Englishmen
+would never again allow any foreign prince or potentate
+to impose a yoke on their minds and consciences. He
+hinted at legislative action on the subject, and then proceeded
+to take up his parable against the Tractarians in the
+following unmistakeable terms: &lsquo;There is a danger, however,
+which alarms me much more than the aggression of a foreign
+sovereign. Clergymen of our Church who have subscribed the
+Thirty-nine Articles and have acknowledged in explicit terms
+the Queen&rsquo;s supremacy, have been the most forward in leading
+their flocks, step by step, to the verge of the precipice.
+The honour paid to saints, the claim of infallibility for the
+Church, the superstitious use of the sign of the Cross, the
+muttering of the Liturgy so as to disguise the language in
+which it was written, the recommendation of auricular confession,
+and the administration of penance and absolution&mdash;all
+these things are pointed out by clergymen as worthy of
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[186]</a></span>
+adoption, and are now openly reprehended by the Bishop of
+London in his Charge to the clergy of his diocese. What,
+then, is the danger to be apprehended from a foreign prince of
+no power, compared to the danger within the gates from the
+unworthy sons of the Church of England herself? I have
+but little hope that the propounders and framers of these
+innovations will desist from their insidious course; but I
+rely with confidence on the people of England, and I will
+not bate a jot of heart or life so long as the glorious principles
+and the immortal martyrs of the Reformation shall be
+held in reverence by the great mass of a nation, which
+look with contempt on the mummeries of superstition, and
+with scorn at the laborious endeavours which are now being
+made to confine the intellect and enslave the soul.&rsquo;</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">&lsquo;NO POPERY&rsquo;</div>
+
+<p>Lord John&rsquo;s manifesto was as fuel to the flames. All over
+the kingdom preparations were in progress at the moment
+for a national carnival&mdash;now fallen largely into disrepute.
+Guy Fawkes was hastily dethroned, and the Pope and
+Cardinal Wiseman were paraded in effigy through the
+streets of London, Exeter, and other cities, and burnt at
+nightfall amid the jeers of the crowd. Petitions began to
+pour in against Papal aggression, and the literature of the
+subject, in controversial tract, pamphlet, and volume, grew
+suddenly not less bewildering than formidable. The arrival
+in London of Father Gavazzi, an ex-priest of commanding
+presence and impassioned oratory, helped to
+arouse still further the Protestant spirit of the nation. The
+Press, the pulpit, the platform, formed a triple alliance
+against the Vatican, and the indignant rejection of the
+Pope&rsquo;s claims may be said to have been carried by acclamation.
+Clamour ran riot through the land, and spent its
+force in noisy demonstrations. The Catholics met the
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[187]</a></span>
+tumult, on the whole, with praiseworthy moderation, and
+presently signs of the inevitable reaction began to appear.
+Lord John&rsquo;s colleagues were not of one mind as to the
+wisdom of the Durham Letter, for if there is one taunt
+before which an ordinary Englishman quails, it is the accusation
+of religious bigotry.</p>
+
+<p>The Durham Letter was an instance in which Lord John&rsquo;s
+zeal outran his discretion.<a name="FNanchor_21_21" id="FNanchor_21_21"></a><a href="#Footnote_21_21" class="fnanchor">[21]</a> Lord Shaftesbury, who was in
+the thick of the tumult, and has left a vivid description
+of it in his journal,<a name="FNanchor_22_22" id="FNanchor_22_22"></a><a href="#Footnote_22_22" class="fnanchor">[22]</a> declared that Cardinal Wiseman&rsquo;s
+manifesto, in spite of its audacity, was likely to prove
+&lsquo;more hurtful to the shooter than to the target.&rsquo; Looking
+back at the crisis, after an interval of more than forty years,
+the same criticism seems to apply with added force to the
+Durham Letter. Lord John overshot the mark, and his
+accusations wounded those whom he did not intend to
+attack, and in the recoil of public opinion his own reputation
+suffered. He resented, with pardonable warmth,
+the attitude of the Vatican, and was jealous of any
+infringement, from that or any other quarter, of the
+Queen&rsquo;s supremacy in her own realms. The most damaging
+sentences in the Durham Letter were not directed
+against the Catholics, either in Rome, England, or Ireland,
+but against the Tractarian clergymen&mdash;men whom he
+regarded as &lsquo;unworthy sons of the Church of England.&rsquo;
+The Catholics, incensed at the denial of the Pope&rsquo;s supremacy,
+were, however, in no mood to make distinctions,
+and they have interpreted Lord John&rsquo;s strictures on Dr.
+Pusey and his followers as an attack on their own
+reli<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[188]</a></span>gious
+faith. The consequence was that the manifesto was
+regarded, especially in Ireland, not merely as a protest
+against the politics of the Vatican, but as a sweeping censure
+on the creed of Rome. Lord John&rsquo;s character and past
+services might have shielded him from such a construction
+being placed upon his words, for he had proved, on more
+than one historic occasion, his devotion to the cause of religious
+liberty. Disraeli, writing to his sister in November,
+said: &lsquo;I think John Russell is in a scrape. I understand
+that his party are furious with him. The Irish are frantic.
+If he goes on with the Protestant movement he will be thrown
+over by the Papists; if he shuffles with the Protestants, their
+blood is too high to be silent now, and they will come to us.
+I think Johnny is checkmated.&rsquo;<a name="FNanchor_23_23" id="FNanchor_23_23"></a><a href="#Footnote_23_23" class="fnanchor">[23]</a></p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">UNDER WHICH FLAG?</div>
+
+<p>For the moment, however, passion and prejudice everywhere
+ran riot, and on both sides of the controversy
+common sense and common fairness were forgotten. A
+representative Irish politician of a later generation has not
+failed to observe the irony of the position. &lsquo;It was a
+curious incident in political history,&rsquo; declares Mr. Justin
+McCarthy, &lsquo;that Lord John Russell, who had more than
+any Englishman then living been identified with the principles
+of religious liberty, who had sat at the feet of Fox, and
+had for his closest friend the Catholic poet Thomas Moore,
+came to be regarded by Roman Catholics as the bitterest
+enemy of their creed and their rights of worship.&rsquo;<a name="FNanchor_24_24" id="FNanchor_24_24"></a><a href="#Footnote_24_24" class="fnanchor">[24]</a> It is
+easy to cavil at Lord John Russell&rsquo;s interpretation of the
+Oxford Movement, and to assert that the accusations of the
+Durham Letter were due to bigotry and panic. He believed,
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[189]</a></span>
+in common with thousands of other distressed Churchmen,
+that the Tractarians were foes within the gates of the Establishment.
+He regarded them, moreover, as ministers of religion
+who were hostile to the work of the Reformation, and
+therefore he deemed that they were in a false position in the
+Anglican Church. Their priestly claims and sacerdotal rites,
+their obvious sympathies and avowed convictions, separated
+them sharply from ordinary clergymen, and were difficult to
+reconcile with adherence to the principles of Protestantism.
+Like many other men at the time, and still more of to-day,
+he was at a loss to discover how ecclesiastics of such a stamp
+could remain in the ministry of the Church of England,
+when they seemed to ordinary eyes to be in league with
+Rome. The prelates, almost to a man, were hotly opposed
+to the Tractarians when Lord John wrote the Durham
+Letter. They shared his convictions and applauded his
+action. Since then many things have happened. The
+Oxford Movement has triumphed, and has done so largely
+by the self-sacrificing devotion of its adherents. It has
+summoned to its aid art and music, learning and eloquence;
+it has appealed to the æsthetic and emotional elements in
+human nature; it has led captive the imagination of many
+by its dramatic revival of mediæval ideas and methods; and
+it has stilled by its assumption of authority the restlessness
+of souls, too weary to argue, too troubled to rebel. The
+bishops of to-day have grown either quite friendly towards the
+Oxford Movement, or else discreetly tolerant. Yet, when
+all this is admitted, it does nothing towards proving that
+Lord John Russell was a mistaken alarmist. The Durham
+Letter and its impassioned protest have been justified by the
+logic of events. It is easy for men to be charitable who
+have slipped their convictions.</p>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[190]</a></span></p>
+<p>Possibly it was not judicious on Lord John&rsquo;s part to be
+so zealously affected in the matter. That is, perhaps, open
+to dispute, but the question remains: Was he mistaken in
+principle? He saw clergymen of the English Church, Protestant
+at least in name, &lsquo;leading their flocks step by step to
+the very verge of the precipice,&rsquo; and he took up his parable
+against them, and pointed out the danger to the hitherto
+accepted faith and practice of the English Church. One of
+the most distinguished prelates of the Anglican Church in
+the Queen&rsquo;s reign has not hesitated to assert that the tenets
+against which Lord John Russell protested in the Durham
+Letter were, in his judgment, of a kind which are &lsquo;destructive
+of all reasonable faith, and reduce worship to a mere
+belief in spells and priestcraft.&rsquo; Cardinal Vaughan, it is
+needless to say, does not sympathise with such a view. He,
+however, has opinions on the subject which are worthy of
+the attention of those who think that Lord John was a mere
+alarmist. His Eminence delivered a suggestive address at
+Preston on September 10, 1894, on the &lsquo;Re-Union of
+Christendom.&rsquo; He thinks&mdash;and it is idle to deny that he has
+good ground for thinking&mdash;that, in spite of bishops, lawyers,
+and legislature, Delphic judgments at Lambeth, and spasmodic
+protests up and down the country, a change in doctrine
+and ritual is in progress in the Anglican Church which
+can only be described as a revolution. He asserts that the
+&lsquo;Real Presence, the sacrifice of the Mass, offered for the
+living and the dead, no infrequent reservation of the Sacrament,
+regular auricular confession, Extreme Unction, Purgatory,
+prayers for the dead, devotions to Our Lady, to her
+Immaculate Conception, the use of her Rosary, and the invocation
+of saints, are doctrines taught and accepted, with a
+growing desire and relish for them, in the Church of England.
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[191]</a></span>&rsquo;</p>
+
+<p>Cardinal Vaughan also declares that the present churches
+of the Establishment are &lsquo;often distinguishable only with
+extreme difficulty from those belonging to the Church of
+Rome.&rsquo; Such statements are either true or false. If false,
+they are open to contradiction; if true, they justify in
+substance the position taken up in the Durham Letter.
+Towards the close of his life, Lord John told Mr. Lecky
+that he did not regret his action, and to the last he maintained
+that he was right in the protest which he made
+in the Durham Letter. Yet he acknowledged, as he
+looked back upon the affair, that he might have softened
+certain expressions in it with advantage. Parliament met
+on February 4, 1851, and the Queen&rsquo;s Speech contained
+the following passage: &lsquo;The recent assumption of certain
+ecclesiastical titles conferred by a foreign Power has excited
+strong feelings in this country; and large bodies of
+my subjects have presented addresses to me expressing
+attachment to the Throne, and praying that such assumptions
+should be resisted. I have assured them of my resolution
+to maintain the rights of my crown and the independence
+of the nation against all encroachments, from whatsoever
+quarter they may proceed.&rsquo;</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">THE GIST OF THE WHOLE MATTER</div>
+
+<p>Three days later, Lord John introduced the Ecclesiastical
+Titles Bill. The measure prohibited the assumption of territorial
+titles by Roman Catholic bishops; but there is truth in
+the assertion that no enactment of the kind could prevent other
+persons from giving the dignitaries of the Catholic Church such
+titles, and, as a matter of fact, the attempt to deprive them of
+the distinction led to its ostentatious adoption. The proposal
+to render null and void gifts or religious endowments acquired
+by the new prelates was abandoned in the course of the
+acrimonious debates which followed. Other difficulties
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[192]</a></span>
+arose, and Ireland was declared to be exempt from the
+operation of the measure. The object of the bill, declared
+Lord John Russell, was merely to assert the supremacy of
+the Crown. Nothing was further from his thought than to
+play the part of a religious persecutor. He merely wished to
+draw a sharp and unmistakeable line of demarcation between
+the spiritual jurisdiction of the Pope over the adherents of
+the Roman Catholic Church in the Queen&rsquo;s realms, and
+such an act of Papal aggression as was involved in the claim
+of Pius IX. to grant ecclesiastical titles borrowed from places
+in the United Kingdom.</p>
+
+<p>The bill satisfied neither the friends nor the foes of
+Roman Catholicism. It was persistently regarded by the
+one as an attack on religious liberty, and by the other as
+quite inadequate as a bulwark of Protestantism. Nevertheless
+it became law, but not before the summer of 1851,
+when the agitation had spent its force. It was regarded
+almost as a dead letter from the first, and, though it remained
+on the Statute-book for twenty years, its repeal was a foregone
+conclusion. When it was revoked in 1871 the temper
+of the nation had changed, and no one was inclined to make
+even a passing protest. John Leech, in a cartoon in <i>Punch</i>,
+caught the droll aspect of the situation with even more
+than his customary skill. Lord John relished the joke,
+even though he recognised that it was not likely to prove
+of service to him at the next General Election. In conversation
+with a friend he said: &lsquo;Do you remember a
+cartoon in <i>Punch</i> where I was represented as a little boy
+writing &ldquo;No Popery&rdquo; on a wall and running away?&rsquo;
+The answer was a smile of assent. &lsquo;Well,&rsquo; he added,
+&lsquo;that was very severe, and did my Government a great deal
+of harm, but I was so convinced that it was not maliciously
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[193]</a></span>
+meant that I sent for John Leech, and asked him what I
+could do for him. He said that he should like a nomination
+for his son to the Charterhouse, and I gave it to him. That
+is how I used my patronage.&rsquo;</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">A MINISTERIAL CRISIS</div>
+
+<p>Meanwhile, when the Ecclesiastical Titles Bill was still
+under discussion, a Ministerial crisis had arisen. Finance
+was never the strong point of the first Russell Administration,
+and Sir Charles Wood&rsquo;s Budget gave widespread dissatisfaction.
+Mr. Locke King heightened the embarrassment
+of the moment by bringing forward a motion for
+placing the county and borough franchise on an equal basis;
+and before the discussion of the Budget could be renewed
+this motion was carried against the Government, though in
+a small House, by a majority of almost two to one. Lord
+John Russell met the hostile vote by immediate resignation;
+and Lord Stanley&mdash;who four months later became Earl of
+Derby&mdash;was summoned to Windsor and attempted to form
+a Ministry. His efforts were, however, unsuccessful, for
+Peel had left the Tory party not merely disorganised but
+full of warring elements. Lord John, therefore, returned to
+office in March, and Locke King&rsquo;s measure was promptly
+thrown out by a majority of more than two hundred. The
+London season of that year was rendered memorable by the
+opening of the Great Exhibition, amid universal plaudits and
+dreams of long-continued peace amongst the nations. As
+the year closed Lord Palmerston&rsquo;s ill-advised action over
+the <i>Coup d&rsquo;État</i> in France brought about, as we have already
+seen, his dismissal, a circumstance which still further
+weakened the Russell Cabinet.</p>
+
+<p>The year 1852 opened darkly for Lord John. Difficulties,
+small and great, seemed thickening around him. He had
+been called to power at a singularly trying moment, and
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[194]</a></span>
+no one who looks dispassionately at the policy which he
+pursued between the years 1846 and 1852 can fail to
+recognise that he had at least tried to do his duty. There
+is a touch of pathos in the harassed statesman&rsquo;s reply
+to a letter of congratulation which reached him on the
+threshold of the new year from a near relative, and it is
+worthy of quotation, since it reveals the attitude of the man
+on far greater questions than those with which he was beset
+at the moment: &lsquo;I cannot say that the new year is a
+happy one to me. Political troubles are too thick for
+my weak sight to penetrate them, but we all rest in the
+mercy of God, who will dispose of us as He thinks best.&rsquo;<a name="FNanchor_25_25" id="FNanchor_25_25"></a><a href="#Footnote_25_25" class="fnanchor">[25]</a>
+When Parliament met in February, Lord Palmerston&rsquo;s
+opportunity came. On the heels of the panic about Papal
+aggression came widespread alarm as to the policy which
+Napoleon III. might pursue towards this country. The
+fear of invasion grew strong in the land, and patriotic
+fervour restlessly clamoured for prompt legislative action.
+Forty years ago, in every town and village of England there
+were people who could speak from personal knowledge concerning
+the reign of terror which the first Napoleon, by his
+conquering march over Europe and his threatened descent
+on the English shores, had established, and, as a consequence,
+though with diminished force, the old consternation
+suddenly revived.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">PALMERSTON&rsquo;S &lsquo;TIT-FOR-TAT&rsquo;</div>
+
+<p>Lord John Russell had no more real fear of Napoleon
+than he had of the Pope, but he rose to the occasion and
+brought before Parliament a measure for the reorganisation
+of the local Militia. He believed that such a force, with
+national enthusiasm at its back, was sufficient to repel
+invasion&mdash;a contingency which, in common with other
+re<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[195]</a></span>sponsible
+statesmen, he did not regard as more than remote.
+Lord Palmerston, however, posing as the candid friend
+of the nation, and the exceptionally well-informed ex-Foreign
+Minister, professed to see rocks ahead, and there
+were&mdash;at all events for the Russell Administration. In England,
+any appeal to the Jingo instincts of the populace is
+certain to meet with a more or less hysterical welcome, and
+Palmerston more than once took advantage of the fact. He
+expressed his dissatisfaction with Lord John&rsquo;s Militia Bill,
+and by a majority of eleven carried an amendment to it.
+Lord John met the hostile demonstration by resignation,
+and, though Palmerston professed to be surprised at such a
+result, his real opinion leaps to light in the historic sentence
+which he wrote to his brother on February 24: &lsquo;I have had
+my tit-for-tat with John Russell, and I turned him out on
+Friday last.&rsquo; One hitherto unpublished reminiscence of
+that crisis deserves to be recorded, especially as it throws
+into passing relief Lord John&rsquo;s generosity of temper: &lsquo;I
+remember,&rsquo; states his brother-in-law and at one time private
+secretary, the Hon. George Elliot, &lsquo;being indignant with
+Lord Palmerston, after he had been dismissed by Lord John,
+bringing forward a verbal amendment on the Militia Bill in
+1852&mdash;a mere pretext by which the Government was overthrown.
+But Lord John would not at all enter into my
+feelings, and said, &ldquo;It&rsquo;s all fair. I dealt him a blow, and he
+has given me one in return.&rdquo;&rsquo;</p>
+
+<p>Lord John&rsquo;s interest in the question of Parliamentary
+Reform was life-long. It was one of the subjects on which
+his views were in complete divergence with those of Lord
+Palmerston. Just before the &lsquo;tit-for-tat&rsquo; amendment, the
+Premier brought forward a new scheme on the subject which
+he had reluctantly waived in 1849 in deference to the wishes
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[196]</a></span>
+of the majority of his colleagues, who then regarded such a
+proposal as premature. At the beginning of 1852 Lord
+John had overcome such obstacles, and he accordingly
+introduced his new Reform Bill, as if anxious to wipe out
+before his retirement from office the reproach which the
+sobriquet of &lsquo;Finality Jack&rsquo; had unjustly cast upon him.
+He proposed to extend the suffrage by reducing the county
+qualification to 20<i>l.</i>, and the borough to 5<i>l.</i>, and by granting
+the franchise to persons paying forty shillings yearly in direct
+taxation. He also proposed to abolish the property qualification
+of English and Irish members of Parliament, and to
+extend the boundaries of boroughs having less than 500
+electors. Lord Palmerston&rsquo;s hostile action of course compelled
+the abandonment of this measure, and it is worthy of
+passing remark that, on the night before his defeat, Lord
+John made a chivalrous and splendid defence of Lord
+Clarendon, in answer to an attack, not merely on the policy,
+but on the personal character of the Viceroy of Ireland.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">A CONFLICT OF OPINION</div>
+
+<p>Sudden as the fall of the Russell Administration was, it
+can hardly be described as unexpected, and many causes,
+most of which have already been indicated in these pages,
+contributed to bring it about. Albany Fonblanque, one of
+the shrewdest contemporary observers of men and movements,
+gathered the political gossip of the moment together
+in a paragraph which sets forth in graphic fashion the tumult
+of opinion in the spring of 1852. &lsquo;Lord John Russell has
+fallen, and all are agreed that he is greatly to blame for
+falling; but hardly any two men agree about the immediate
+cause of his fall. &ldquo;It was the Durham Letter,&rdquo; says one.
+&ldquo;Not a jot,&rdquo; replies another; &ldquo;the Durham Letter was quite
+right, and would have strengthened him prodigiously if it
+had been followed up by a vigorous anti-Papal measure: it
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[197]</a></span>
+was the paltry bill that destroyed him.&rdquo; &ldquo;The Ecclesiastical
+Titles Bill,&rdquo; interposes a third, &ldquo;did just enough in doing
+next to nothing: no, it was the house tax in the Budget that
+did the mischief.&rdquo; &ldquo;The house tax might have been got
+over,&rdquo; puts in another, &ldquo;but the proposal of the income tax,
+with all its injustices unmitigated, doomed Lord John.&rdquo;
+&ldquo;Not a whit,&rdquo; rejoins a Radical reformer, &ldquo;the income tax
+is popular, especially with people who don&rsquo;t pay it; Lord
+John&rsquo;s opposition to Locke King&rsquo;s motion sealed his fate.&rdquo;
+&ldquo;Locke King&rsquo;s division was a flea-bite,&rdquo; cries a staunch Protestant,
+&ldquo;the Pope has done it all.&rdquo;&rsquo;</p>
+
+<p>Stress has been laid in these pages on the attempts of
+the Russell Administration to deal with an acute and terrible
+phase of the eternal Irish problem, as well as to set forth in
+outline the difficulties which it encountered in regard to its
+foreign policy through the cavalier attitude and bid for personal
+ascendency of Lord Palmerston. The five or six years
+during which Lord John Russell was at the head of affairs
+were marked by a succession of panics which heightened immeasurably
+the difficulties of his position. One was purely
+commercial, but it threw gloom over the country, brought
+stagnation to trade, and political discontent followed in its
+train, which in turn reacted on the prospects of the Government.
+The Irish famine and the rebellion which followed
+in its wake taxed the resources of the Cabinet to the utmost,
+and the efforts which were made by the Ministry to grapple
+with the evil have scarcely received even yet due recognition.
+The Chartist movement, the agitation over the Papal claims
+and the fear of invasion, are landmarks in the turbulent
+and menacing annals of the time.</p>
+
+<p>The repeal of the Navigation Act bore witness to Lord
+John&rsquo;s zealous determination to extend the principles of Free
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[198]</a></span>
+Trade, and the Jewish Disabilities Bill&mdash;which was rejected
+by the House of Lords&mdash;is itself a sufficient answer to those
+who, because of his resistance, not to the spiritual claims, but
+to the political arrogance of the Vatican, have ventured to
+charge him with a lack of religious toleration. He himself
+once declared that as a statesman he had received as much
+favour as he had deserved; he added that, where his
+measures had miscarried, he did not attribute the failure
+to animosity or misrepresentation, but rather to errors
+which he had himself committed from mistaken judgment
+or an erroneous interpretation of facts. No one who looks
+at Lord John Russell&rsquo;s career with simple justice, to say
+nothing of generosity, can doubt the truth of his words. &lsquo;I
+believe, I may say, that my ends have been honest. I have
+looked to the happiness of my country as the object to which
+my efforts ought to be directed.&rsquo;</p>
+
+<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_19_19" id="Footnote_19_19"></a><a href="#FNanchor_19_19"><span class="label">[19]</span></a> <i>Life of Lord Palmerston</i>, by the Hon. Evelyn Ashley, vol. ii.
+p. 95.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_20_20" id="Footnote_20_20"></a><a href="#FNanchor_20_20"><span class="label">[20]</span></a> <i>Life of E. B. Pusey, D.D.</i>, by H. P. Liddon, D.D., vol. iii. p. 292.
+Longmans &amp; Co.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_21_21" id="Footnote_21_21"></a><a href="#FNanchor_21_21"><span class="label">[21]</span></a> Cobden described it as &lsquo;a Guy Fawkes outcry,&rsquo; and predicted the
+fall of the Ministry.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_22_22" id="Footnote_22_22"></a><a href="#FNanchor_22_22"><span class="label">[22]</span></a> See <i>Life and Work of the Seventh Earl of Shaftesbury</i>, by Edwin
+Hodder, pp. 429-435.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_23_23" id="Footnote_23_23"></a><a href="#FNanchor_23_23"><span class="label">[23]</span></a> <i>Lord Beaconsfield&rsquo;s Correspondence with his Sister</i> (1832-1852),
+p. 249. London: John Murray.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_24_24" id="Footnote_24_24"></a><a href="#FNanchor_24_24"><span class="label">[24]</span></a> <i>History of Our Own Times</i>, by Justin McCarthy, M.P. vol. ii.
+pp. 85, 86.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_25_25" id="Footnote_25_25"></a><a href="#FNanchor_25_25"><span class="label">[25]</span></a> <i>Life of Lord John Russell</i>, by Spencer Walpole, vol. ii p. 143.</p></div>
+</div>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[199]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX</h2>
+
+<p class="title">COALITION BUT NOT UNION<br /><br />
+
+1852-1853</p>
+
+<p class="desc">The Aberdeen Ministry&mdash;Warring elements&mdash;Mr. Gladstone&rsquo;s position&mdash;Lord
+John at the Foreign Office and Leader of the House&mdash;Lady
+Russell&rsquo;s criticism of Lord Macaulay&rsquo;s statement&mdash;A small cloud in
+the East&mdash;Lord Shaftesbury has his doubts</p>
+
+
+<p class="noi"><span class="smcap">There</span> is no need to linger over the history of the next few
+months, for in a political sense they were barren and unfruitful.
+The first Derby Administration possessed no elements
+of strength, and quickly proved a mere stop-gap
+Cabinet. Its tenure of power was not only brief but inglorious.
+The new Ministers took office in February, and they
+left it in December. Lord Palmerston may be said to have
+given them their chance, and Mr. Gladstone gave them their
+<i>coup de grâce</i>. The Derby Administration was summoned
+into existence because Lord Palmerston carried his amendment
+on the Militia Bill, and it refused to lag superfluous on
+the stage after the crushing defeat which followed Mr.
+Gladstone&rsquo;s brilliant attack on the Budget of Mr. Disraeli.
+The chief legislative achievement of this short-lived Government
+was an extension of the Bribery Act, which Lord John
+Russell had introduced in 1841. A measure was now passed
+providing for a searching investigation of corrupt practices
+by commissioners appointed by the Crown. The affairs of
+New Zealand were also placed on a sound political basis.
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[200]</a></span>
+A General Election occurred in the summer, but before the
+new Parliament met in the autumn the nation was called to
+mourn the death of the Duke of Wellington. The old
+soldier had won the crowning victory of Waterloo four years
+before the Queen&rsquo;s birth, and yet he survived long enough
+to grace with his presence the opening ceremony of the
+Great Exhibition&mdash;that magnificent triumph of the arts of
+peace which was held in London in the summer of 1851.
+The remarkable personal ascendency which the Duke of
+Wellington achieved because of his splendid record as a
+soldier, though backed by high personal character, was not
+thrown on the side of either liberty or progress when the
+hero transferred his services from the camp to the cabinet.
+As a soldier, Wellington shone without a rival, but as a
+statesman he was an obstinate reactionary. Perhaps his
+solitary claim to political regard is that he, more than any
+other man, wrung from the weak hands of George IV. a
+reluctant consent to Catholic Emancipation&mdash;a concession
+which could no longer be refused with safety, and one which
+had been delayed for the lifetime of a generation through
+rigid adherence in high places to antiquated prejudices and
+unreasoning alarm.</p>
+
+<p>The strength of parties in the new Parliament proved to
+be nearly evenly balanced. Indeed, the Liberals were only
+in a majority of sixteen, if the small but compact phalanx of
+forty Peelites be left for the moment out of the reckoning.
+The Conservatives had, in truth, gained ground in the
+country through the reverses of one kind and another which
+had overtaken their opponents. Lord Palmerston, always
+fond, to borrow his own phrase, of striking from his own
+bat, declared in airy fashion that Lord John had given him
+with dismissal independence, and, though Lord Derby
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[201]</a></span>
+offered him a seat in his Cabinet, he was too shrewd and
+far-seeing a statesman to accept it. The Liberal party was
+divided about Lord Palmerston, and that fact led to vacillation
+at the polling booths. Ardent Protestants were disappointed
+that the Durham Letter had been followed by what
+they regarded as weak and insufficient legislative action,
+whilst some of the phrases of that outspoken manifesto still
+rankled in the minds of ardent High Churchmen. The old
+Conservative party had been smashed by Peel&rsquo;s adoption of
+Free Trade, and the new Conservative party which was
+struggling into existence still looked askance at the pretensions
+of Mr. Disraeli, who, thanks to his own ability and to
+the persistent advocacy of his claims in earlier years by his
+now departed friend, Lord George Bentinck, was fairly seated
+in the saddle, and inclined to use both whip and spurs.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">DISRAELI&rsquo;S POSITION</div>
+
+<p>In the autobiography recently published of the late Sir
+William Gregory<a name="FNanchor_26_26" id="FNanchor_26_26"></a><a href="#Footnote_26_26" class="fnanchor">[26]</a> a vivid description will be found of the
+way in which the aristocracy and the squires &lsquo;kicked at the
+supremacy of one whom they looked at as a mountebank;&rsquo;
+and on the same page will be found the remarkable assertion
+that it was nothing but Mr. Disraeli&rsquo;s claim to lead the
+Conservative party which prevented Mr. Gladstone from
+joining it in 1852.<a name="FNanchor_27_27" id="FNanchor_27_27"></a><a href="#Footnote_27_27" class="fnanchor">[27]</a> Disraeli&rsquo;s borrowed heroics in his
+pompous oration in the House of Commons on the occasion
+of the death of Wellington, and his errors in tactics
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[202]</a></span>
+and taste as leader of the House, heightened the prevailing
+impression that, even if the result of the General
+Election had been different, the Derby Administration was
+doomed to failure. All through the autumn the quidnuncs
+at the clubs were busy predicting the probable course of
+events, and more or less absurd rumours ran round the town
+concerning the statesmen who were likely to succeed to
+power in the event of Derby&rsquo;s resignation. The choice in
+reality lay between Russell, Palmerston, and Aberdeen, for
+Lansdowne was out of health, and therefore out of the
+question.</p>
+
+<p>As in a mirror Lady Russell&rsquo;s journal reflects what she
+calls the alarm in the Whig camp at the rumour of the
+intended resignation of the Derby Cabinet if Disraeli&rsquo;s
+financial proposals were defeated, and the hurried consultations
+which followed between Lord Lansdowne, Lord Aberdeen,
+and Lord John, Sir James Graham, Mr. Cobden, and
+Mr. Bright. Two days before the division which overthrew
+the Government on December 17, Lord John was at Woburn,
+and his brother, the Duke of Bedford, asked him what
+course he thought the Queen should adopt in case the
+Ministry was beaten. He replied that her Majesty, under
+such circumstances, ought to send for Lord Lansdowne and
+Lord Aberdeen. This was the course which the Queen
+adopted, but Lord Lansdowne, old and ill, felt powerless to
+respond to the summons. Meanwhile, Lord John, who
+certainly possessed the strongest claims&mdash;a circumstance
+which was recognised at the time by Mr. Gladstone&mdash;had
+determined from a sense of public duty not to press them,
+for he recognised that neither Palmerston nor the Peelites,
+who, for the moment, in the nice balance of parties, commanded
+the situation, would serve under him. He had led
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[203]</a></span>
+the Liberal forces for a long term of years, both in power and
+in opposition, and neither his devotion nor his ability was
+open to question, in spite of the offence which he had given,
+on the one hand to a powerful colleague, and on the other
+to powerful interests.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">LORD ABERDEEN</div>
+
+<p>Lord Aberdeen was regarded by the followers of Peel as
+their leader. He was a favourite at Court, and a statesman
+of established reputation of the doctrinaire type, but he
+was not a man who ever excited, or probably was capable
+of exciting, popular enthusiasm. On the day after Disraeli&rsquo;s
+defeat Lord Aberdeen met Lord John by chance
+in the Park, and the latter, waiving personal ambition, told
+him that, though he could say nothing decisive for the
+moment, he thought he should accept office under him.
+On the morrow Lord Aberdeen was summoned to Osborne,
+and accepted the task of forming an Administration. Next
+day her Majesty wrote to Lord John announcing the fact,
+and the letter ended with the following passage: &lsquo;The
+Queen thinks the moment to have arrived when a popular,
+efficient, and durable Government could be formed by the
+sincere and united efforts of all professing Conservative and
+Liberal opinions. The Queen, knowing that this can only
+be effected by the patriotic sacrifice of personal interests
+and feelings to the public, trusts that Lord John Russell
+will, as far as he is able, give his valuable and powerful
+assistance to the realisation of this object.&rsquo; This communication
+found Lord John halting between two opinions.
+Palmerston had declined to serve under him, and he might,
+with even greater propriety, in his turn have refused to serve
+under Aberdeen. His own health, which was never strong,
+had suffered through the long strain of office in years which
+had been marked by famine and rebellion. He had just
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[204]</a></span>
+begun to revel, to quote his own words, in &lsquo;all the delights
+of freedom from red boxes, with the privilege of fresh air
+and mountain prospects.&rsquo;</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">&lsquo;SHOEBLACK&rsquo; TO ABERDEEN</div>
+
+<p>He had already found the recreation of a busy man, and
+was engrossed in the preparation of the &lsquo;Memoirs and
+Journal&rsquo; of his friend, Thomas Moore. The poet had died
+in February of that year, and Lord John, with characteristic
+goodwill, had undertaken to edit his voluminous papers
+in order to help a widow without wounding her pride.
+In fact, on many grounds he might reasonably have stood
+aside, and he certainly would have done so if personal motives
+had counted most with him, or if he had been the self-seeker
+which some of his detractors have imagined. Here
+Lord Macaulay comes to our help with a vivid account of
+what he terms an eventful day&mdash;one of the dark days before
+Christmas&mdash;on which the possibility of a Coalition Government
+under Aberdeen was still doubtful. Macaulay states
+that he went to Lansdowne House, on December 20, on a
+hasty summons to find its master and Lord John in consultation
+over the Queen&rsquo;s letter. He was asked his opinion of
+the document and duly gave it. &lsquo;Then Lord John said that
+of course he should try to help Lord Aberdeen: but how?
+There were two ways. He might take the lead of the Commons
+with the Foreign Office, or he might refuse office, and
+give his support from the back benches. I adjured him not
+to think of this last course, and I argued it with him during a
+quarter of an hour with, I thought, a great flow of thoughts
+and words. I was encouraged by Lord Lansdowne, who
+nodded, smiled, and rubbed his hands at everything I
+said. I reminded him that the Duke of Wellington had
+taken the Foreign Office after having been at the Treasury,
+and I quoted his own pretty speech to the Duke. &ldquo;You
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[205]</a></span>
+said, Lord John, that we could not all win battles of
+Waterloo, but that we might all imitate the old man&rsquo;s
+patriotism, sense of duty, and indifference to selfish
+interests; and vanities when the public welfare was concerned;
+and now is the time for you to make a sacrifice.
+Your past services and your name give us a right to expect
+it.&rdquo; He went away, evidently much impressed by what
+had been said, and promising to consult others. When
+he was gone, Lord Lansdowne told me that I had come just
+as opportunely as Blücher did at Waterloo.&rsquo;<a name="FNanchor_28_28" id="FNanchor_28_28"></a><a href="#Footnote_28_28" class="fnanchor">[28]</a> It is only
+right to state that Lady Russell demurs to some parts of
+this account of her husband&rsquo;s attitude at the crisis. Nothing
+could be further from the truth than that Lord John&rsquo;s vacillation
+was due to personal motives, or that his hesitation
+arose from his reluctance to take any office short of the
+Premiership. Lady Russell adds &lsquo;this never for one
+moment weighed with him, so that he did not require Lord
+Macaulay or Lord Lansdowne to argue him out of the
+objection.&rsquo; Lord John&rsquo;s difficulty was based upon the
+&lsquo;improbability of agreement in a Cabinet so composed, and
+therefore the probable evil to the country.&rsquo; Letters written by
+Lady Russell at the moment to a relative, of too private a
+character to quote, give additional weight to this statement.
+One homely remark made at the time may, however, be
+cited. Lady Russell declared that her husband would not
+mind being &lsquo;shoeblack to Lord Aberdeen&rsquo; if it would serve
+the country.</p>
+
+<p>The Aberdeen Ministry came into existence just as
+the year 1852 was ending. It was, in truth, a strange bit
+of mosaic work, fashioned with curious art, as the result
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[206]</a></span>
+of negotiations between the Whigs and the Peelites which
+had extended over a period of nearly six months. It
+represented the triumph of expediency, but it awakened
+little enthusiasm in spite of the much-vaunted ability and
+experience of its members. Derby and Disraeli were left
+out on the one side and Cobden and Bright on the other,
+a circumstance, however, which did not prevent men comparing
+the Coalition Government to the short-lived but
+famous Ministry of all the Talents. The nation rubbed its
+eyes and wondered whether good or evil was in store when
+it saw Peel&rsquo;s lieutenants rowing in the same boat with
+Russell. The vanished leader, however, was responsible for
+such a strange turn of the wheel, for everyone recognised
+that Sir Robert had &lsquo;steered his fleet into the enemy&rsquo;s port.&rsquo;
+His followers came to power through the dilemma of the
+moment and the temporary eclipse of politicians of more
+resolute convictions. The Whigs were divided, and with
+Ireland they were discredited, whilst the Radicals were still
+clamouring at the doors of Downing Street with small chance
+of admission, in spite of their growing power in the country.
+The little clique of Peelites played their cards adroitly, and
+though they were, to a large extent, a party without followers,
+they were masters of the situation, and Russell and Palmerston,
+in consequence, were the only men of commanding
+personality, outside their own ranks, who were admitted to
+the chief seats in the new Cabinet. Russell became
+Foreign Secretary, whilst Palmerston took control of the
+Home Office.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">ONE OF LIFE&rsquo;S LITTLE IRONIES</div>
+
+<p>So great was the rush for place that Lord Derby with a
+smile informed the Queen that, as so many former Ministers
+expected a seat, he thought that less than thirty-two could
+hardly be the number of the new Cabinet. Tories of the
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[207]</a></span>
+old school looked on with amazement, and Radicals of
+the new with suspicion. All things seemed possible in the
+excitement of parties. &lsquo;Tom Baring said to me last night,&rsquo;
+Greville remarks, &lsquo;&ldquo;Can&rsquo;t you make room for Disraeli in this
+Coalition Government?&rdquo; I said: &ldquo;Why, will you give him
+to us?&rdquo; &ldquo;Oh yes,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;you shall have him with
+pleasure.&rdquo;&rsquo; Great expectations were, however, ruthlessly
+nipped in the bud, and the Cabinet, instead of being unwieldy,
+was uncommonly small, for it consisted only of thirteen
+members&mdash;an unlucky start, if old wives&rsquo; fables are
+to be believed. Five of Sir Robert Peel&rsquo;s colleagues&mdash;the
+Premier, the Duke of Newcastle, Sir James Graham, Mr.
+Sidney Herbert, and Mr. Gladstone&mdash;represented the moderately
+progressive views of their old leader. Russell and
+Palmerston represented the Whigs, but, thanks to one of
+life&rsquo;s little ironies, the statesman who passed the Reform
+Bill was installed for the moment at the Foreign Office, and
+the Minister who was a Liberal abroad and a Conservative
+at home was intrusted with the internal affairs of the nation.
+The truth was, Lord Palmerston was impossible at the
+Foreign Office if Lord Aberdeen was at the Treasury, for
+the two men were diametrically opposed in regard to the
+policy which England ought to adopt in her relations with
+Europe in general, and Russia in particular. In fact, if
+Lord John Russell was for the moment out of the
+reckoning as Premier, Lord Palmerston ought unquestionably
+to have had the reversion of power. Unfortunately,
+though growingly popular in the country, he had rendered
+himself unwelcome at Court, where Lord Aberdeen, on the
+contrary, had long been a trusted adviser.</p>
+
+<p>Even if it be granted that neither Russell nor Palmerston
+was admissible as leader, it was a palpable blunder to exclude
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[208]</a></span>
+from Cabinet rank men of clean-cut convictions like Cobden
+and Bright. They had a large following in the country,
+and had won their spurs in the Anti-Corn-Law struggle.
+They represented the aspirations of the most active section
+of the Liberal Party, and they also possessed the spell which
+eloquence and sincerity never fail to throw over the imagination
+of the people. They were not judged worthy,
+however, and Milner Gibson, in spite of his services as a
+member of the Russell Cabinet, was also debarred from
+office; whilst Mr. Charles Villiers, whose social claims
+could not be entirely overlooked, found his not inconsiderable
+services to the people rewarded by subordinate rank.
+The view which was taken at Court of the Aberdeen Ministry
+is recorded in the &lsquo;Life of the Prince Consort.&rsquo; The Queen
+regarded the Cabinet as &lsquo;the realisation of the country&rsquo;s and
+our own most ardent wishes;&rsquo;<a name="FNanchor_29_29" id="FNanchor_29_29"></a><a href="#Footnote_29_29" class="fnanchor">[29]</a> and in her Majesty&rsquo;s view the
+words &lsquo;brilliant&rsquo; and &lsquo;strong&rsquo; described the new Government.
+Brilliant it might be, but strong it assuredly was not,
+for it was pervaded by the spirit of mutual distrust, and circumstances
+conspired to accentuate the wide divergence
+of opinion which lurked beneath the surface harmony.
+However such a union of warring forces might be agreeable
+to the Queen, the belief that it realised the &lsquo;most
+ardent wishes&rsquo; of the nation was not widely held outside the
+Court, for &lsquo;England,&rsquo; to borrow Disraeli&rsquo;s familiar but significant
+phrase, &lsquo;does not love Coalitions.&rsquo; In the Aberdeen
+Cabinet, party interests were banded together in office;
+but the vivifying influences of unity of conviction and
+common sentiment were absent from its deliberations.
+After all, as Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton drily remarked when
+the inevitable crisis arose, there is &lsquo;one indisputable element
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[209]</a></span>
+of a Coalition Government, and that is that its members
+should coalesce.&rsquo; As a matter of fact, they not only drifted
+into war but drifted apart. &lsquo;It is a powerful team and will
+require good driving,&rsquo; was the comment of a shrewd political
+observer. &lsquo;There are some odd tempers and queer ways
+among them.&rsquo;</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">ABERDEEN AS DRIVER</div>
+
+<p>Lord Aberdeen had many virtues, but he was not a
+good driver, and when the horses grew restive and kicked
+over the traces, he lacked nerve, hesitated, and was lost.
+Trained for political life at the side of Pitt,<a name="FNanchor_30_30" id="FNanchor_30_30"></a><a href="#Footnote_30_30" class="fnanchor">[30]</a> after a distinguished
+career in diplomacy, which made him known in all
+the Courts of Europe, he entered the Cabinet of the Duke of
+Wellington in 1828, and afterwards held the post of Secretary
+for the Colonies in the first Peel Administration of 1834,
+and that of Secretary for Foreign Affairs during Sir Robert&rsquo;s
+final spell of power in the years 1841-46. He never sat in
+the House of Commons, but, though a Tory peer, he voted
+for Catholic Emancipation. He swiftly fell into line, however,
+with his party, and recorded his vote against the
+Reform Bill. He never, perhaps, quite understood the
+temper of a popular assembly, for he was a shy, reserved
+man, sparing in speech and punctilious in manner. Close
+association with Wellington and Peel had, of course, done
+much to shape his outlook on affairs, and much acquaintance
+with the etiquette of foreign Courts had insensibly led
+him to cultivate the habit of formal reserve. Born in the
+same year as Palmerston, the Premier possessed neither
+the openness to new ideas nor the vivacity of his masterful
+colleague; in fact, Lord Aberdeen at sixty-eight, unlike Lord
+Palmerston, was an old man in temperament, as well as
+conservative, in the sense of one not given to change. Yet,
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[210]</a></span>
+it is only fair to add that, if Aberdeen&rsquo;s views of foreign
+policy were of a somewhat stereotyped kind, he was, at all
+events at this period in their careers, more progressive on
+home policy than Palmerston, who was too much inclined
+not to move for the social welfare of the people before he
+was compelled.</p>
+
+<p>The new Ministry ran well until it was hindered by complications
+in the East. In the middle of February, a few
+days after the meeting of Parliament, Lord John retired from
+the Foreign Office, and led the House through the session
+with great ability, but without taking office. It is important
+to remember that he had only accepted the Foreign Office
+under strong pressure, and as a temporary expedient. It was,
+however, understood that he was at liberty at any moment to
+relinquish the Foreign Office in favour of Lord Clarendon, if
+he found the duties too onerous to discharge in conjunction
+with the task of leadership in the Commons. The session
+of 1853 was rendered memorable by the display of Mr.
+Gladstone&rsquo;s skill in finance; and the first Budget of the
+new Chancellor of the Exchequer was in every sense in
+splendid contrast with the miserable fiasco of the previous
+year, when Mr. Disraeli was responsible for proposals
+which, as Sir George Cornewall Lewis said, were of a kind
+that flesh and blood could not stand. The trade of
+the country had revived, and, with tranquility, some degree
+of prosperity had returned, even to Ireland. Lord John
+Russell, true to his policy of religious equality, brought
+forward the Jewish Disabilities Bill, but the House of Lords,
+with equal consistency, threw out the measure. The Law
+of Transportation was altered, and a new India Bill was
+passed, which threw open the Civil Service to competition.
+Many financial reforms were introduced, a new proposal was
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[211]</a></span>
+made for a wider extent of elementary education, and much
+legislative activity in a variety of directions was displayed.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">THE COALITION GOVERNMENT</div>
+
+<p>Lord Aberdeen had taken office under pressure and
+from a sense of duty. It had few attractions for him, and
+he looked forward with quiet satisfaction to release from its
+cares. Lord Stanmore&rsquo;s authority can be cited for the
+statement that in the summer of 1853 his father deemed
+that the time had come when he might retire in Lord John
+Russell&rsquo;s favour, in accordance with an arrangement which
+had been made in general terms when the Cabinet was
+formed. There were members of the Coalition Government
+who were opposed to this step; but Lord Aberdeen anticipated
+no serious difficulty in carrying out the proposal.
+Suddenly the aspect of affairs grew not merely critical but
+menacing, and the Prime Minister found himself confronted
+by complications abroad, from which he felt it would be
+despicable to retreat by the easy method of personal resignation.
+There is not the slightest occasion, nor, indeed, is
+this the place, to recount the vicissitudes of the Aberdeen
+Administration in its baffled struggles against the alternative
+of war. The achievements of the Coalition Government,
+no less than its failures, with much of its secret history, have
+already been told with praiseworthy candour and intimate
+knowledge by Lord Stanmore, who as a young man acted as
+private secretary to his father, Lord Aberdeen, through the
+stress and storm of those fateful years. It is therefore
+only necessary in these pages to state the broad outlines of
+the story, and to indicate Lord John Russell&rsquo;s position in
+the least popular Cabinet of the Queen&rsquo;s reign.</p>
+
+<p>Lord Shaftesbury jotted down in his journal, when the
+new Ministry came into office, these words, and they sum
+up pretty accurately the situation, and the common verdict
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[212]</a></span>
+upon it: &lsquo;Aberdeen Prime Minister, Lord John Russell
+Minister for Foreign Affairs. Is it possible that this arrangement
+should prosper? Can the Liberal policy of Lord
+John square with the restrictive policy of Lord Aberdeen?
+I wish them joy and a safe deliverance.&rsquo;</p>
+
+<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_26_26" id="Footnote_26_26"></a><a href="#FNanchor_26_26"><span class="label">[26]</span></a> <i>Sir William Gregory, K.C.M.G.: an Autobiography</i>, edited by
+Lady Gregory, pp. 92, 93.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_27_27" id="Footnote_27_27"></a><a href="#FNanchor_27_27"><span class="label">[27]</span></a> Mr. Gladstone&rsquo;s comment on this statement is that it is interesting
+as coming from an acute contemporary observer. At the same time it
+expresses an opinion and presents no facts. Mr. Gladstone adds that
+he is not aware that the question of re-union with the Conservative
+party was ever presented to him in such a way as to embrace the relations
+to Mr. Disraeli.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_28_28" id="Footnote_28_28"></a><a href="#FNanchor_28_28"><span class="label">[28]</span></a> <i>Life and Letters of Lord Macaulay</i>, by the Right Hon. Sir George
+Otto Trevelyan, M.P., vol. ii. p. 340.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_29_29" id="Footnote_29_29"></a><a href="#FNanchor_29_29"><span class="label">[29]</span></a> Sir Theodore Martin&rsquo;s <i>Life of the Prince Consort</i>, vol. ii. p. 483.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_30_30" id="Footnote_30_30"></a><a href="#FNanchor_30_30"><span class="label">[30]</span></a> Pitt became guardian to the young Lord Haddo in 1792.</p></div>
+</div>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[213]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X</h2>
+
+<p class="title">DOWNING STREET AND CONSTANTINOPLE<br /><br />
+
+1853</p>
+
+<p class="desc">Causes of the Crimean War&mdash;Nicholas seizes his opportunity&mdash;The Secret
+Memorandum&mdash;Napoleon and the susceptibilities of the Vatican&mdash;Lord
+Stratford de Redcliffe and the Porte&mdash;Prince Menschikoff shows
+his hand&mdash;Lord Aberdeen hopes against hope&mdash;Lord Palmerston&rsquo;s
+opinion of the crisis&mdash;The Vienna Note&mdash;Lord John grows restive&mdash;Sinope
+arouses England&mdash;The deadlock in the Cabinet.</p>
+
+
+<p class="noi"><span class="smcap">Many</span> causes conspired to bring about the war in the
+Crimea, though the pretext for the quarrel&mdash;a dispute
+between the monks of the Latin and Greek Churches concerning
+the custody of the Holy Places in Palestine&mdash;presents
+no element of difficulty. It is, however, no easy matter to
+gather up in a few pages the reasons which led to the war.
+Amongst the most prominent of them were the ambitious
+projects of the despotic Emperor Nicholas. The military
+revolt in his own capital at the period of his accession, and
+the Polish insurrections of 1830 and 1850, had rendered him
+harsh and imperious, and disinclined to concessions on any
+adequate scale to the restless but spasmodic demands for
+political reform in Russia. Gloomy and reserved though the
+Autocrat of All the Russias was, he recognised that it would
+be a mistake to rely for the pacification of his vast empire on
+the policy of masterly inactivity. His war with Persia, his
+invasion of Turkey, and the army which he sent to help
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[214]</a></span>
+Austria to settle her quarrel with Hungary, not only appealed
+to the pride of Russia, but provided so many outlets
+for the energy and ambition of her ruler. It was in the East
+that Nicholas saw his opportunity, and his policy was a
+revival, under the changed conditions of the times, of that
+of Peter the Great and Catherine II.</p>
+
+<p>Nicholas had long secretly chafed at the exclusion of
+his war-ships&mdash;by the provisions of the treaty of 1841&mdash;from
+access through the Black Sea to the Mediterranean,
+and he dreamed dreams of Constantinople, and saw
+visions of India. Linked to many lawless instincts, there
+was in the Emperor&rsquo;s personal character much of the
+intolerance of the fanatic. Religion and pride alike
+made the fact rankle in his breast that so many of the
+Sultan&rsquo;s subjects were Sclavs, and professed the Russian
+form of Christianity. He was, moreover, astute enough
+to see that a war which could be construed by the simple
+and devout peasantry as an attempt to uplift the standard
+of the Cross in the dominions of the Crescent would
+appeal at once to the clergy and populace of Holy
+Russia. Nicholas had persuaded himself that, with Lord
+Aberdeen at the head of affairs, and Palmerston in a place
+of safety at the Home Office, England was scarcely in a
+condition to give practical effect to her traditional jealousy
+of Russia. In the weakness of her divided counsels he
+saw his opportunity. It had become a fixed idea with the
+Emperor that Turkey was in a moribund condition; and
+neither Orloff nor Nesselrode had been able to disabuse his
+mind of the notion.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">NICHOLAS AND THE &lsquo;SICK MAN&rsquo;</div>
+
+<p>Everyone is aware that in January 1853 the Emperor
+told the English Ambassador, Sir Hamilton Seymour, that
+Turkey was the &lsquo;sick man&rsquo; of Europe, and ever since
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[215]</a></span>
+then the phrase has passed current and become historic.
+It was often on the lips of Nicholas, for he talked freely,
+and sometimes showed so little discretion that Nesselrode
+once declared, with fine irony, that the White Czar could
+not claim to be a diplomatist. The phrase cannot have
+startled Lord Aberdeen. It must have sounded, indeed,
+like the echo of words which the Emperor had uttered
+in London in the summer of 1844. Nicholas, on the
+occasion of his visit to England in that year, spoke freely
+about the Eastern Question, not merely to the Duke of
+Wellington, whose military prowess he greatly admired, but
+also to Sir Robert Peel and Lord Aberdeen, who was then
+Minister for Foreign Affairs. He told the latter in so
+many words that Turkey was a dying man, and did his
+best to impress the three English statesmen with the necessity
+for preparation in view of the approaching crisis. He stated
+that he foresaw that the time was coming when he would
+have to put his armies in movement, and added that
+Austria would be compelled to do the same. He protested
+that he made no claim to an inch of Turkish soil, but was
+prepared to dispute the right of anyone else to an inch of it&mdash;a
+palpable allusion to the French support of Mehemet
+Ali. It was too soon to stipulate what should be done
+when the &lsquo;sick man&rsquo;s&rsquo; last hour had run its course. All he
+wanted, he maintained, was the basis of an understanding.</p>
+
+<p>In Nicholas&rsquo;s opinion England ought to make common
+cause with Russia and Austria, and he did not disguise his
+jealousy of France. It was clear that he dreaded the growth
+of close union between England and France, and for Louis
+Philippe then, as for Louis Napoleon afterwards, his feeling
+was one of coldness if not of actual disdain. The Emperor
+Nicholas won golden opinions amongst all classes during his
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[216]</a></span>
+short stay in England. Sir Theodore Martin&rsquo;s &lsquo;Life of the
+Prince Consort,&rsquo; and especially the letter which is published
+in its pages from the Queen to King Leopold, showed the
+marked impression which was made at Windsor by his handsome
+presence, his apparently unstudied confidences, the
+simplicity and charm of his manners, and the adroitness of
+his well-turned compliments. Whenever the Autocrat of All
+the Russias appeared in public, at a military review, or the
+Opera, or at Ascot, he received an ovation, and Baron
+Stockmar, with dry cynicism, has not failed to record the
+lavish gifts of &lsquo;endless snuff-boxes and large presents&rsquo; which
+made his departure memorable to the Court officials. Out
+of this visit grew, though the world knew nothing of it then,
+the Secret Memorandum, drawn up by Peel, Wellington, and
+Aberdeen, and signed by them as well as by the Emperor himself.
+This document, though it actually committed England
+to nothing more serious than the recognition in black and
+white of the desperate straits of the Porte, and the fact that
+England and Russia were alike concerned in maintaining
+the <i>status quo</i> in Turkey, dwelt significantly on the fact that,
+in the event of a crisis in Turkey, Russia and England were
+to come to an understanding with each other as to what
+concerted action they should take. The agreement already
+existing between Russia and Austria was significantly
+emphasised in the document, and stress was laid on the fact
+that if England joined the compact, France would have no
+alternative but to accept the decision.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">A FRIEND AT COURT</div>
+
+<p>There can be no question that Nicholas attached an
+exaggerated importance to this memorandum. It expressed
+his opinion rather than the determination of the Peel Administration;
+but a half-barbaric despot not unnaturally
+imagined that when the responsible advisers of the Crown
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[217]</a></span>
+entered into a secret agreement with him, no matter how
+vague its terms might appear when subjected to critical
+analysis, England and himself were practically of one mind.
+When the Coalition Government was formed, two of the
+three statesmen, whom the Emperor Nicholas regarded as
+his friends at Court, were dead, but the third, in the person
+of Lord Aberdeen, had succeeded, by an unexpected turn of
+the wheel, to the chief place in the new Ministry. Long before
+the Imperial visit to London the Emperor had honoured
+Lord Aberdeen with his friendship, and, now that the Foreign
+Minister of 1844 was the Prime Minister of 1853, the opportune
+moment for energetic action seemed to have arrived.
+Nicholas, accordingly, now hinted that if the &lsquo;sick man&rsquo;
+died England should seize Egypt and Crete, and that the
+European provinces of Turkey should be formed into independent
+states under Russian protection. He met, however,
+with no response, for the English Cabinet by this time saw
+that the impending collapse of Turkey, on which Nicholas
+laid such emphatic stress, was by no means a foregone conclusion.
+Napoleon and Palmerston had, moreover, drawn
+France and England into friendly alliance. There was no
+shadow of doubt that the Christian subjects of Turkey were
+grossly oppressed, and it is only fair to believe that Nicholas,
+as the head of the Greek Church, was honestly anxious to
+rid them of such thraldom. At the same time no one
+imagined that he was exactly the ruler to expend blood and
+treasure, in the risks of war, in the <i>rôle</i> of a Defender of the
+Faith.</p>
+
+<p>Count Vitzthum doubts whether the Emperor really
+contemplated the taking of Constantinople, but it is plain that
+he meant to crush the Turkish Empire, and England, knowing
+that the man had masterful instincts and ambitious schemes
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[218]</a></span>&mdash;that
+suggest, at all events, a passing comparison with
+Napoleon Bonaparte&mdash;took alarm at his restlessness, and the
+menace to India, which it seemed to suggest. &lsquo;If we do not
+stop the Russians on the Danube,&rsquo; said Lord John Russell,
+&lsquo;we shall have to stop them on the Indus.&rsquo; It is now a
+matter of common knowledge that, when the Crimean War
+began, Nicholas had General Duhamel&rsquo;s scheme before him
+for an invasion of India through Asia. Such an advance, it
+was foreseen, would cripple England&rsquo;s resources in Europe
+by compelling her to despatch an army of defence to the
+East. It certainly looks, therefore, as if Russia, when hostilities
+in the Crimea actually began, was preparing herself for a
+sudden descent on Constantinople. Napoleon III., eager to
+conciliate the religious susceptibilities of his own subjects, as
+well as to gratify the Vatican, wished the Sultan to make the
+Latin monks the supreme custodians of the Holy Places.
+Complications, the issue of which it was impossible to forecast,
+appeared inevitable, and for the moment there seemed
+only one man who could grapple with the situation at
+Constantinople. Lord Palmerston altogether, and Lord
+John Russell in part, sympathised with the clamour which
+arose in the Press for the return of the Great Elchi to the
+Porte.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">LORD STRATFORD DE REDCLIFFE</div>
+
+<p>In the entire annals of British diplomacy there is
+scarcely a more picturesque or virile figure than that of Lord
+Stratford de Redcliffe. Capacity for public affairs ran in
+the blood of the Cannings, as the three statues which to-day
+stand side by side in Westminster Abbey proudly attest.
+Those marble memorials represent George Canning, the
+great Foreign Minister, who in the famous, if grandiloquent,
+phrase &lsquo;called the New World into existence to redress the
+balance of the Old;&rsquo; his son Charles, Earl Canning, first
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[219]</a></span>
+Viceroy of India; and his cousin, Stratford Canning, Viscount
+Stratford de Redcliffe, who for a long term of years sought
+to quicken into newness of social and political life the broken
+and demoralised forces of the Ottoman Empire, and who
+practically dictated from Constantinople the policy of
+England in the East. He was born in 1786 and died in
+1880. He entered the public service as a <i>précis</i>-writer at
+the Foreign Office, and rose swiftly in the profession of diplomacy.
+His acquaintance with Eastern affairs began in 1808,
+when he was appointed First Secretary to Sir Robert Adair,
+whom he succeeded two years later at Constantinople as
+Minister Plenipotentiary. The Treaty of Bucharest, which
+in 1812 brought the war, then in progress between Russia and
+Turkey, to an end, was the first of a brilliant series of diplomatic
+triumphs, which established his reputation in all the
+Councils of Europe, and made him, in Lord Tennyson&rsquo;s words,
+&lsquo;The voice of England in the East.&rsquo; After services in
+Switzerland, in Washington, and at the Congress of Vienna,
+Canning, in 1825, returned to Constantinople with the rank
+of Ambassador.</p>
+
+<p>He witnessed the overthrow of the Janissaries by
+Sultan Mahmoud II., and had his own experience of
+Turkish atrocities in the massacre which followed. He
+took a prominent part in the creation of the modern kingdom
+of Greece, and resigned his appointment in 1828, because
+of a conflict of opinion with Lord Aberdeen in the early
+stages of that movement. Afterwards, he was gazetted
+Ambassador to St. Petersburg; but the Emperor Nicholas,
+who by this time recognised the masterful qualities of the
+man, refused to receive him&mdash;a conspicuous slight, which
+Lord Stratford, who was as proud and irascible as the Czar,
+never forgave. Between the years 1842 and 1858 he again
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[220]</a></span>
+filled his old position as Ambassador to Constantinople, and
+during those years he won a unique ascendency&mdash;unmatched
+in the history of diplomacy&mdash;over men and movements in
+Turkey. He brought about many reforms, and made it his
+special concern to watch over the interests of the Christian
+subjects at the Porte, who styled him the &lsquo;Padishah of the
+Shah,&rsquo; and that title&mdash;Sultan of the Sultan&mdash;exactly hit off
+the authority which he wielded, not always wisely, but always
+with good intent. It was an unfortunate circumstance that
+Lord Stratford, after his resignation in 1852, should have been
+summoned back for a further spell of six years&rsquo; tenure of
+power exactly at the moment when Nicholas, prompted by
+the knowledge of the absence from Constantinople of the
+man who had held him in check, and of the accession to
+power in Downing Street of a statesman of mild temper and
+friendly disposition to Russia, was beginning once more to
+push his claims in the East. Lord Stratford had many
+virtues, but he had also a violent and uncertain temper. He
+was a man of inflexible integrity, iron will, undeniable moral
+courage, and commanding force of character. Yet, for a great
+Ambassador, he was at times strangely undiplomatic, whilst
+the keenness of his political judgment and forecasts sometimes
+suffered eclipse through the strength of his personal
+antipathies.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">FAREWELL TO THE FOREIGN OFFICE</div>
+
+<p>Meanwhile, Lord John Russell, who had expressly stipulated
+when the Cabinet was formed that he was only to hold
+the seals of the Foreign Office for a few weeks, convinced
+already that the position was untenable to a man of his
+views, insisted on being relieved of the office. The divergent
+views in the Cabinet on the Eastern Question were
+making themselves felt, and Lord Aberdeen&rsquo;s eminently
+charitable interpretation of the Russian demands was
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[221]</a></span>
+little to the minds of men of the stamp of Palmerston
+and Russell, neither of whom was inclined to pin his faith
+so completely to the Czar&rsquo;s assurances. When Parliament
+met in February, Lord John quitted the Foreign Office
+and led the House of Commons without portfolio. His
+quick recognition of Mr. Gladstone&rsquo;s great qualities as a
+responsible statesman was not the least pleasing incident of
+the moment. In April, Lord Aberdeen once more made
+no secret of his determination to retire at the end of the
+session, and this intimation no doubt had its influence with
+the more restive of his colleagues.</p>
+
+<p>When Parliament rose, Lord John Russell&rsquo;s position in
+the country was admitted on all hands to be one of
+renewed strength, for, set free from an irksome position,
+he had thrown himself during the session with ardour
+into the congenial work of leader of the House of
+Commons. The resolution of the Cabinet to send Lord
+Stratford to Constantinople has already been stated. He
+received his instructions on February 25; in fact, he
+seems to have dictated them, for Lord Clarendon, who had
+just succeeded to the Foreign Office, made no secret of the
+circumstance that they were largely borrowed from the
+Ambassador&rsquo;s own notes. He was told that he was to
+proceed first to Paris, and then to Vienna, in order that he
+might know the minds of France and Austria on the issues
+at stake. Napoleon III. was to be assured that England
+relied on his cordial co-operation in maintaining the integrity
+and independence of the Turkish Empire. The young
+Emperor of Austria was to be informed that her Majesty&rsquo;s
+Government gladly recognised the fact that his attitude
+towards the Porte had not been changed by recent events,
+and that the policy of Austria in the East was not likely to
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[222]</a></span>
+be altered. Lord Stratford was to warn the Sultan and his
+advisers that the crisis was one which required the utmost
+prudence on their part if peace was to be preserved.</p>
+
+<p>The Sultan and his Ministers were practically to be told by
+Lord Stratford that they were the authors of their own misfortunes,
+and that, if they were to be extricated from them, they
+must place the &lsquo;utmost confidence in the sincerity and soundness
+of the advice&rsquo; that he was commissioned to give them.
+He was further to lay stress on palpable abuses, and to urge
+the necessity of administrative reforms. &lsquo;It remains,&rsquo; added
+Lord Clarendon, &lsquo;only for me to say that in the event, which
+her Majesty&rsquo;s Government earnestly hope may not arise, of
+imminent danger to the existence of the Turkish Government,
+your Excellency will in such case despatch a messenger
+to Malta requesting the Admiral to hold himself in readiness;
+but you will not direct him to approach the Dardanelles
+without positive instructions from her Majesty&rsquo;s Government.&rsquo;
+The etiquette of Courts has to be respected, especially by
+Ambassadors charged with a difficult mission, but Lord
+Stratford&rsquo;s diplomatic visits to Paris and Vienna were unduly
+prolonged, and occupied more time than was desirable at
+such a crisis. He arrived at Constantinople on April 5,
+and was received, to his surprise, with a remarkable personal
+ovation. In Kinglake&rsquo;s phrase, his return was regarded
+as that &lsquo;of a king whose realm had been suffered to fall
+into danger.&rsquo;</p>
+
+<p>The Czar&rsquo;s envoy, Prince Menschikoff, had already been
+on the scene for five weeks. If Russia meant peace, the choice
+of such a representative was unfortunate. Menschikoff was
+a brusque soldier, rough and impolitic of speech, and by no
+means inclined to conform to accepted methods of procedure.
+He refused to place himself in communication with the
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[223]</a></span>
+Foreign Minister of the Porte; and this was interpreted at
+Stamboul as an insult to the Sultan. The Grand Vizier,
+rushing to the conclusion that his master was in imminent
+danger, induced Colonel Rose, the British Chargé d&rsquo;Affaires,
+to order the Mediterranean Fleet, then at Malta, to proceed
+to Vourla. The Admiral, however, refused to lend
+himself to the panic, and sent back word that he waited
+instructions from London, a course which was afterwards
+approved by the Cabinet. The commotion at Stamboul was
+not lost upon Napoleon, though he knew that the English
+Cabinet was not anxious to precipitate matters. Eager to
+display his newly acquired power, he promptly sent instructions
+to the French Fleet to proceed to Salamis. Meanwhile
+Prince Menschikoff, who had adopted a more conciliatory
+attitude on the question of the Holy Places, with the result that
+negotiations were proceeding satisfactorily, assumed shortly
+before the arrival of Lord Stratford a more defiant manner,
+and startled the Porte by the sudden announcement of new
+demands. He claimed that a formal treaty should be drawn
+up, recognising in the most ample, not to say abject, terms,
+the right of Russia to establish a Protectorate over the
+Christian subjects of the Porte. This meant, as Lord
+Clarendon pointed out at the time, that fourteen millions of
+people would henceforth regard the Czar as their defender,
+whilst their allegiance to the Sultan would become little more
+than nominal, and the position of the Turkish ruler would
+inevitably dwindle from independence to vassalage.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">TAKING THE BULL BY THE HORNS</div>
+
+<p>Lord Stratford at once took the bull by the horns. Acting
+on his advice, the Porte refused even to entertain such
+proposals until the question of the Holy Places was settled.
+Within a month, through Lord Stratford&rsquo;s firmness, Russia
+and Turkey came to terms over the original point in dispute;
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[224]</a></span>
+but on the following day Menschikoff placed an ultimatum
+before the Porte, demanding that, within five days, his master&rsquo;s
+claim for the acknowledgment of the Russian Protectorate
+over the Sultan&rsquo;s Greek subjects should be accepted. The
+Sultan&rsquo;s Ministers, who interpreted the dramatic return of
+Lord Stratford to mean that they had England at their back,
+declined to accede, and their refusal was immediately followed
+by the departure of Prince Menschikoff. Repulsed in diplomacy,
+the Czar, on July 2, marched forty thousand troops
+across the frontier river, the Pruth, and occupied Moldavia
+and Wallachia. The Imperial manifesto stated that it was
+not the Czar&rsquo;s intention to commence war, but only to obtain
+such security as would ensure the restoration of the rights of
+Russia. This was, of course, high ground to take, and a
+conference of the Great Powers was hastily summoned, with
+the result that the French view of the situation was embodied
+by the assembled diplomatists in the Vienna Note, which
+was despatched simultaneously to Russia and Turkey. Lord
+John Russell, even before the arrival of Lord Stratford at
+Constantinople, had come to the conclusion that the Emperor
+of Russia was determined to pick a quarrel with Turkey; but
+Lord Aberdeen and his Peelite following were of another
+mind, and even Lord Clarendon seems for the moment to
+have been hoodwinked by the Czar&rsquo;s protestations.</p>
+
+<p>A month or two later the Foreign Minister saw matters
+in a different light, for he used in the House of Lords, in the
+summer of 1853, an expression which has become historic:
+&lsquo;We are drifting into war.&rsquo; The quarrel at this stage&mdash;for
+the susceptibilities of France and of Rome had been appeased
+by the settlement of the question of the Holy Places&mdash;lay
+between Russia and Turkey, and England might have
+compelled the peace of Europe if she had known her own
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[225]</a></span>
+mind, and made both parties recognise in unmistakeable
+terms what was her policy. Lord John Russell had a policy, but
+no power to enforce it, whilst Lord Aberdeen had no policy
+which ordinary mortals could fathom, and had the power to
+keep the Cabinet&mdash;though scarcely Lord Stratford de Redcliffe&mdash;from
+taking any decided course. The Emperor Nicholas,
+relying on the Protocol which Lord Aberdeen had signed&mdash;under
+circumstances which, however, bore no resemblance
+to existing conditions&mdash;imagined that, with such a statesman
+at the head of affairs, England would not take up arms
+against Russia. Lord Aberdeen, to add to the complication,
+seemed unable to credit the hostile intentions of the
+Czar, even after the failure of the negotiations which followed
+the despatch of the Vienna Note. Yet as far back
+as June 19, Lord John Russell, in a memorandum to his
+colleagues, made a clear statement of the position of affairs.
+He held that, if Russia persisted in her demands and invaded
+Turkey, the interests of England in the East would compel
+us to aid the Sultan in defending his capital and his throne.
+On the other hand, if the Czar by a sudden movement
+seized Constantinople, we must be prepared to make war on
+Russia herself. In that case, he added, we ought to seek the
+alliance of France and Austria. France would willingly
+join; and England and France together might, if it were
+worth while, obtain the moral weight, if not the material
+support, of Austria in their favour.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">CAUTION HAS ITS PERFECT WORK</div>
+
+<p>Lord Aberdeen responded with characteristic caution. He
+refused to entertain warlike forecasts, and wished for liberty to
+meet the emergency when it actually arose. Lord Palmerston,
+a week or two later, made an ineffectual attempt to persuade
+the Cabinet to send the Fleet to the Bosphorus without further
+delay. &lsquo;I think our position,&rsquo; were his words on July 7,
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[226]</a></span>
+&lsquo;waiting timidly and submissively at the back door, whilst
+Russia is violently threatening and arrogantly forcing her
+way into the house, is unwise, with a view to a peaceful
+settlement.&rsquo; Lord Aberdeen believed in the &lsquo;moderation&rsquo;
+of a despot who took no pains to disguise his sovereign
+contempt for &lsquo;les chiens Turcs.&rsquo; Lord Palmerston, on the
+other hand, made no secret of his opinion that it was the
+invariable policy of Russia to push forward her encroachment
+&lsquo;as fast and as far as the apathy or want of firmness&rsquo;
+of other Governments would allow. He held that her plan
+was to &lsquo;stop and retire when she was met with decided
+resistance,&rsquo; and then to wait until the next favourable opportunity
+arose to steal once more a march on Europe. There
+was, in short, a radical divergence in the Cabinet. When
+the compromise suggested in the Vienna Note was rejected,
+the chances of a European war were sensibly quickened,
+and all the more so because Lord Stratford, with his notorious
+personal grudge against the Czar, was more than any
+other man master of the situation. What that situation had
+become in the early autumn of 1853 is pithily expressed in
+a letter of Sir George Cornewall Lewis&rsquo;s to Sir Edmund
+Head: &lsquo;Everything is in a perplexed state at Constantinople.
+Russia is ashamed to recede, but afraid to strike. The
+Turks have collected a large army, and have blown up their
+fanaticism, and, reckoning on the support of England and
+France, are half inclined to try the chances of war. I think
+that both parties are in the wrong&mdash;Russia in making unjust
+demands, Turkey in resisting a reasonable settlement.
+War is quite on the cards, but I still persist in thinking it
+will be averted, unless some accidental spark fires the train.&rsquo;<a name="FNanchor_31_31" id="FNanchor_31_31"></a><a href="#Footnote_31_31" class="fnanchor">[31]</a></p>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[227]</a></span></p>
+<div class="sidenote">THE VIENNA NOTE</div>
+
+<p>The Vienna Note was badly worded, and it failed as a
+scheme of compromise between the Porte and Russia.
+When it was sent in a draft form to St. Petersburg the
+Czar accepted it, doubtless because he saw that its statements
+were vague in a sense which might be interpreted to
+his advantage. At Constantinople the document swiftly
+evoked protest, and the Divan refused to sanction it without
+alteration. England, France, and Austria recognised
+the force of the amendments of Turkey, and united in urging
+Russia to adopt them. The Emperor Nicholas, however,
+was too proud a man to submit to dictation, especially from
+the Sultan, with Lord Stratford at his elbow, and declined
+to accede to the altered proposals. Lord John deemed
+that Turkey had a just cause of complaint, not in the mere
+fact of the rejection of her alterations to the Vienna Note,
+but because they were rejected after they had been submitted
+to the Czar. He told Lord Aberdeen that he hoped
+that Turkey would reject the new proposals, but he added
+that that would not wipe away the shame of their having
+been made. In a speech at Greenock, on September 19,
+Lord John said: &lsquo;While we endeavour to maintain peace, I
+certainly should be the last to forget that if peace cannot be
+maintained with honour, it is no longer peace. It becomes
+then but a truce&mdash;a precarious truce, to be denounced by
+others whenever they may think fit&mdash;whenever they may
+think that an opportunity has occurred to enforce by arms
+their unjust demands either upon us or upon our allies.&rsquo;</p>
+
+<p>England and France refused to press the original Vienna
+Note on Turkey; but as Austria and Prussia thought that
+their reasons for abandoning negotiations were scarcely of
+sufficient force, they in turn declined to adopt the same
+policy. The concert of Europe was, in fact, broken by the
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[228]</a></span>
+failure of the Vienna Note, and the chances of peace grew
+suddenly remote. There is a saying that a man likes to
+believe what he wishes to be the fact, and its truth was illustrated
+at this juncture by both parties to the quarrel. The
+Czar persuaded himself that Austria and Prussia would give
+him their aid, and that England, under Aberdeen, was hardly
+likely to proceed to the extremity of war. The Sultan, on
+the other hand, emboldened by the movements of the French
+and English fleets, and still more by the presence and counsels
+of Lord Stratford, who was, to all intents and purposes, the
+master spirit at Constantinople, trusted&mdash;and with good
+reason as the issue proved&mdash;on the military support of England
+and France. It was plain enough that Turkey would
+go to the wall in a struggle with Russia, unless other nations
+which dreaded the possession of Constantinople by the Czar
+came, in their own interests, to her help. With the rejection
+by Russia of the Turkish amendments to the Vienna Note,
+and the difference of opinion which at once arose between
+the four mediating Powers as to the policy which it was best
+under the altered circumstances to pursue, a complete deadlock
+resulted.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">HOSTILITIES ON THE DANUBE</div>
+
+<p>Lord John&rsquo;s view of the situation was expressed in a
+memorandum which he placed before the Cabinet, and in
+which he came to these conclusions: &lsquo;That if Russia will
+not make peace on fair terms, we must appear in the field
+as the auxiliaries of Turkey; that if we are to act in conjunction
+with France as principals in the war, we must act
+not for the Sultan, but for the general interests of the population
+of European Turkey. How, and in what way, requires
+much further consideration, and concert possibly with
+Austria, certainly with France.&rsquo; He desired not merely to
+resist Russian aggression, but also to make it plain to the
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[229]</a></span>
+Porte that we would in no case support it against its Christian
+subjects. The Cabinet was not prepared to adopt such a
+policy, and Lord John made no secret of his opinion that
+Lord Aberdeen&rsquo;s anxiety for peace and generous attitude
+toward the Czar were, in reality, provoking war. He believed
+that the Prime Minister&rsquo;s vacillation was disastrous
+in its influence, and that he ought, therefore, to retire and
+make way for a leader with a definite policy. The Danube,
+for the moment, was the great barrier to war, and both Russia
+and Turkey were afraid to cross it. Lord John believed
+that energetic measures in Downing Street at this juncture
+would have forestalled, and indeed prevented, activity of a
+less peaceful kind on the Danube. Meanwhile, despatches,
+projects, and proposals passed rapidly between the Great
+Powers, for never, as was remarked at the time by a
+prominent statesman, did any subject produce so much
+writing. Turkey&mdash;perhaps still more than Russia&mdash;was
+eager for war. Tumults in favour of it had broken out at
+Constantinople; and, what was more to the purpose, the
+finances and internal government of the country were in a
+state of confusion. Therefore, when the concert of the four
+Powers had been shattered, the Turks saw a better chance
+of drawing both England and France into their quarrel. At
+length, on October 10, the Porte sent an ultimatum to the
+commander of the Russian troops which had invaded Moldavia
+and Wallachia, demanding that they should fall back
+beyond the Pruth within fifteen days. On October 22 the
+war-ships of England and France passed the Dardanelles in
+order to protect and defend Turkish territory from any
+Russian attack. The Czar met what was virtually a declaration
+of war by asserting that he would neither retire nor act
+on the aggressive. Ten days after the expiration of the
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[230]</a></span>
+stipulated time, Omar Pacha, the Ottoman commander in
+Bulgaria, having crossed the Danube, attacked and vanquished
+the Russians on November 4 at Oltenitza. The
+Czar at once accepted the challenge, and declared that he
+considered his pledge not to act on the offensive was no
+longer binding. The Russian fleet left Sebastopol, and,
+sailing into the harbour of Sinope, on the southern coast of
+the Black Sea, destroyed, on November 30, the Turkish
+squadron anchored in that port, and slew four thousand
+men.</p>
+
+<p>A significant light is thrown on the crisis in Sir Theodore
+Martin&rsquo;s &lsquo;Life of the Prince Consort,&rsquo;<a name="FNanchor_32_32" id="FNanchor_32_32"></a><a href="#Footnote_32_32" class="fnanchor">[32]</a> where it is stated
+that the Czar addressed an autograph letter to the Queen,
+&lsquo;full of surprise that there should be any misunderstanding
+between her Majesty&rsquo;s Government and his own as to the
+affairs of Turkey, and appealing to her Majesty&rsquo;s &ldquo;good
+faith&rdquo; and &ldquo;wisdom&rdquo; to decide between them.&rsquo; This letter,
+it is added, was at once submitted to Lord Clarendon for
+his and Lord Aberdeen&rsquo;s opinion. The Queen replied that
+Russia&rsquo;s interpretation of her treaty obligations in the particular
+instance in question was, in her Majesty&rsquo;s judgment
+and in the judgment of those best qualified to advise her,
+&lsquo;not susceptible of the extended meaning&rsquo; put upon it. The
+Queen intimated in explicit terms that the demand which the
+Czar had made was one which the Sultan could hardly concede
+if he valued his own independence. The letter ended
+with an admission that the Czar&rsquo;s intentions towards Turkey
+were &lsquo;friendly and disinterested.&rsquo; Sir Theodore Martin states
+that this letter, dated November 14, was submitted to Lord
+Aberdeen and Lord Clarendon, and was by them &lsquo;thought
+excellent.&rsquo; Scarcely more than a fortnight elapsed when
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[231]</a></span>
+Russia&rsquo;s &lsquo;friendly and disinterested&rsquo; feelings were displayed
+in her cruel onslaught at Sinope, and the statesmen who had
+prompted her Majesty&rsquo;s reply received a rude awakening. It
+became plain in the light of accomplished events that the
+wisdom which is profitable to direct had deserted her
+Majesty&rsquo;s chief advisers.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">MAKING HASTE SLOWLY</div>
+
+<p>Lord Aberdeen always made haste slowly, and when other
+statesmen had abandoned hope he continued to lay stress on
+the resources of diplomacy. He admitted that he had long
+regarded the possibility of war between England and Russia
+with the &lsquo;utmost incredulity;&rsquo; but even before Sinope his
+confidence in a peaceful solution of the difficulty was beginning
+to waver. He distrusted Lord Stratford, and yet he refused
+to recall him; he talked about the &lsquo;indignity&rsquo; which
+Omar Pacha had inflicted on the Czar by his summons to
+evacuate the Principalities, although nothing could justify the
+presence of the Russian troops in Moldavia and Wallachia,
+and they had held their ground there for the space of three
+months. Even Lord Clarendon admitted that the Turks had
+displayed no lack of patience under the far greater insult of
+invasion. The &lsquo;indignity&rsquo; of notice to quit was, in fact, inevitable
+if the Sultan was to preserve a vestige of self-respect.
+Lord Aberdeen was calmly drafting fresh plans of pacification,
+requiring the Porte to abstain from hostilities &lsquo;during the
+progress of the negotiations undertaken on its behalf&rsquo;<a name="FNanchor_33_33" id="FNanchor_33_33"></a><a href="#Footnote_33_33" class="fnanchor">[33]</a> a
+fortnight after Turkey had actually sent her ultimatum to
+Russia; and the battle of Oltenitza was an affair of history
+before the despatch reached Constantinople. Lord Stanmore
+is inclined to blame Lord John Russell for giving
+the Turks a loophole of escape by inserting in the document
+the qualifying words &lsquo;for a reasonable time;&rsquo; but his
+argu<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[232]</a></span>ment
+falls to the ground when it is remembered that this
+despatch was written on October 24, whilst the Turkish
+ultimatum had been sent to Russia on October 10. Sinope
+was a bitter surprise to Lord Aberdeen, and the &lsquo;furious
+passion&rsquo; which Lord Stanmore declares it aroused in England
+went far to discredit the Coalition Ministry.</p>
+
+<p>Unfortunately, all through the crisis Lord Aberdeen
+appears to have attached unmerited weight to the advice of
+the weak members of his own Cabinet&mdash;men who, to borrow
+a phrase of Lord Palmerston&rsquo;s, were &lsquo;inconvenient entities in
+council,&rsquo; though hardly conspicuous either in their powers of
+debate or in their influence in the country. Politicians of the
+stamp of the Duke of Newcastle, Mr. Sidney Herbert, and
+Sir James Graham played a great part in Downing Street,
+whilst for the moment men of superior ability like Palmerston
+and Russell found their advice unheeded. More than any
+other man, Sir James Graham, now almost a forgotten statesman,
+was Lord Aberdeen&rsquo;s trusted colleague, and the wisdom
+of his advice was by no means always conspicuous; for
+rashness and timidity were oddly blended in his nature.
+&lsquo;The defeat of the Turks at Sinope upon our element, the
+sea,&rsquo; wrote the Prince Consort to Baron Stockmar, &lsquo;has
+made the people furious; it is ascribed to Aberdeen having
+been bought over by Russia.&rsquo;<a name="FNanchor_34_34" id="FNanchor_34_34"></a><a href="#Footnote_34_34" class="fnanchor">[34]</a> The rumour which the
+Prince mentions about Lord Aberdeen was, of course,
+absurd, and everyone who knew the lofty personal character
+of the Prime Minister laughed it at once to scorn. Nevertheless,
+the fact that the Prince Consort should have thought
+such a statement worth chronicling is in itself significant; and
+though no man of brains in the country held such a view, at
+least two-thirds of the educated opinion of the nation
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[233]</a></span>
+regarded the Prime Minister with increasing disfavour, as a
+man who had dragged England, through humiliating negotiations,
+to the verge of war.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">ENGLAND RESENTS SINOPE</div>
+
+<p>The destruction of the Turkish squadron at Sinope under
+the shadow of our fleet touched the pride of England to
+the quick. The nation lost all patience&mdash;as the contemptuous
+cartoons of &lsquo;Punch&rsquo; show&mdash;with the endless
+parleyings of Aberdeen, and a loud and passionate cry for
+war filled the country. Lord Stanmore thinks that too much
+was made in the excitement of the &lsquo;massacre&rsquo; of the Turkish
+sailors, and perhaps he is right. However that may be, the
+fact remains that the Russians at Sinope continued to storm
+with shot and shell the Turkish ships when those on board
+were no longer able to act on the defensive&mdash;a naval
+engagement which cannot be described as distinguished for
+valour. Perhaps the indignation might not have been so
+deep and widespread if the English people had not recognised
+that the Coalition Government had strained concession
+to the breaking point in the vain attempt to propitiate
+the Czar. All through the early autumn Lord
+Palmerston was aware that those in the Cabinet who were
+jealous of Russia had to reckon with &lsquo;private and verbal
+communications, given in all honesty, but tinctured by the
+personal bias of the Prime Minister,&rsquo; to Baron Brunnow,
+which were doing &lsquo;irreparable mischief&rsquo; at St. Petersburg.<a name="FNanchor_35_35" id="FNanchor_35_35"></a><a href="#Footnote_35_35" class="fnanchor">[35]</a>
+The nation did not relish Lord Aberdeen&rsquo;s personal friendship
+with the Czar, and now that Russia was beginning to
+show herself in her true colours, prejudice against a Prime
+Minister who had sought to explain away difficulties was
+natural, however unreasonable. The English people, moreover,
+had not forgotten that Russia ruthlessly crippled Poland
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[234]</a></span>
+in 1831, and lent her aid to the subjugation of Hungary in
+1849. If the Sultan was the Lord of Misrule to English
+imagination in 1853, the Czar was the embodiment of despotism,
+and even less amenable to the modern ideas of
+liberty and toleration. The Manchester School, on the
+other hand, had provoked a reaction. The Great Exhibition
+had set a large section of the community dreaming, not of
+the millennium, but of Waterloo. Russia was looked upon
+as a standing menace to England&rsquo;s widening heritage in the
+East, and neither the logic of Cobden nor the rhetoric of
+Bright was of the least avail in stemming the torrent of
+national indignation.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">THE CONCLUSION OF THE WHOLE MATTER</div>
+
+<p>When the Vienna Note became a dead letter Lord
+Aberdeen ought either to have adopted a clean-cut policy,
+which neither Russia nor Turkey could mistake, or else
+have carried out his twice-repeated purpose of resignation.
+Everyone admits that from the outset his position was one
+of great difficulty, but he increased it greatly by his practical
+refusal to grasp the nettle. He was not ambitious of
+power, but, on the contrary, longed for his quiet retreat
+at Haddo. He was on the verge of seventy and was
+essentially a man of few, but scholarly tastes. There can be
+no doubt that considerable pressure was put upon him both
+by the Court and the majority of his colleagues in the
+Cabinet, and this, with the changed aspect of affairs, and the
+mistaken sense of duty with regard to them, determined his
+course. His decision &lsquo;not to run away from the Eastern
+complication,&rsquo; as Prince Albert worded it, placed both
+himself and Lord John Russell in somewhat of a false
+position. If Lord Aberdeen had followed his own inclination
+there is every likelihood that he would have carried
+out his arrangement to retire in favour of Lord John. His
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[235]</a></span>
+colleagues were not in the dark in regard to this arrangement
+when they joined the Ministry, and if not prepared
+to fall in with the proposal, they ought to have stated
+their objections at the time. There is some conflict of
+opinion as to the terms of the arrangement; but even if we
+take it to be what Lord Aberdeen&rsquo;s own friends represent it&mdash;not
+an absolute but a conditional pledge to retire&mdash;Lord
+Aberdeen was surely bound to ascertain at the outset
+whether the condition was one that could possibly be
+fulfilled. If the objection of his colleagues to retain office
+under Lord John as Prime Minister was insurmountable,
+then the qualified engagement to retire&mdash;if the Government
+would not be broken up by the process&mdash;was worthless, and
+Lord John was being drawn into the Cabinet by assurances
+given by the Prime Minister alone, but which he was powerless
+to fulfil without the co-operation of his colleagues. Lord
+Aberdeen was therefore determined to remain at his post,
+because Lord John was unpopular with the Cabinet, and
+Palmerston with the Court, and because he knew that the
+accession to power of either of them would mean the
+adoption of a spirited foreign policy.</p>
+
+<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_31_31" id="Footnote_31_31"></a><a href="#FNanchor_31_31"><span class="label">[31]</span></a> <i>Letters of Sir George Cornewall Lewis, Bart.</i>, edited by his
+brother, Canon Frankland Lewis, p. 270.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_32_32" id="Footnote_32_32"></a><a href="#FNanchor_32_32"><span class="label">[32]</span></a> Sir Theodore Martin&rsquo;s <i>Life of the Prince Consort</i>, ii. 530, 531.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_33_33" id="Footnote_33_33"></a><a href="#FNanchor_33_33"><span class="label">[33]</span></a> Lord Stanmore&rsquo;s <i>Earl of Aberdeen</i>, p. 234.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_34_34" id="Footnote_34_34"></a><a href="#FNanchor_34_34"><span class="label">[34]</span></a> Sir Theodore Martin&rsquo;s <i>Life of the Prince Consort</i>, ii. 534.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_35_35" id="Footnote_35_35"></a><a href="#FNanchor_35_35"><span class="label">[35]</span></a> <i>Life of Lord Palmerston</i>, by the Hon. Evelyn Ashley, ii. 282.</p></div>
+</div>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[236]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI</h2>
+
+<p class="title">WAR HINDERS REFORM<br /><br />
+
+1854-1855</p>
+
+<p class="desc">A Scheme of Reform&mdash;Palmerston&rsquo;s attitude&mdash;Lord John sore let and
+hindered&mdash;Lord Stratford&rsquo;s diplomatic triumph&mdash;The Duke of Newcastle
+and the War Office&mdash;The dash for Sebastopol&mdash;Procrastination
+and its deadly work&mdash;The Alma&mdash;Inkerman&mdash;The Duke&rsquo;s
+blunder&mdash;Famine and frost in the trenches.</p>
+
+
+<p class="noi"><span class="smcap">All</span> through the autumn of 1854 Lord John Russell was busy
+with a scheme of Parliamentary reform. The Government
+stood pledged to bring forward the measure, though a section
+of the Cabinet, and, notably Lord Palmerston, were opposed
+to such a course. As leader of the House, Lord John had
+announced that the question would be introduced to Parliament
+in the spring, and the Cabinet, therefore, took the
+subject into consideration when it resumed its meetings
+in November. A special committee was appointed, and
+Lord John placed his proposals before it. Every borough
+with less than three hundred electors was to be disfranchised,
+and towns with less than five hundred electors were to lose
+one of their representatives. Seventy seats, he argued,
+would be gained by this plan, and he suggested that they
+should be divided between the largest counties and the great
+towns. He proposed greatly diminishing the qualifications
+alike in counties and boroughs. He laid stress on the
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[237]</a></span>
+necessity of calling into existence triangular constituencies,
+in which no elector should have the power to vote for more
+than two of the three candidates, and wished also to deprive
+the freemen of their guild qualification. Lord Palmerston
+had no relish for the subject. His predilections, in fact,
+leaned in quite the opposite direction. If his manner was
+genial, his temper was conservative, and he was inclined to
+smile, if not to scoff, at politicians who met such problems
+of government with other than a light heart. He was therefore
+inclined at this juncture to adopt Lord Melbourne&rsquo;s
+attitude, and to meet Lord John with that statesman&rsquo;s famous
+remark, &lsquo;Why can&rsquo;t you let it alone?&rsquo;</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">PALMERSTON AND REFORM</div>
+
+<p>Devotion to one idea, declared Goethe, is the condition
+of all greatness. Lord John was devoted from youth to age
+to the idea of Parliamentary reform, and in season and out
+was never inclined to abandon it. Probably Lord Palmerston
+would have adopted a less hostile attitude if he had
+been in his proper element at the Foreign Office; but being
+Home Secretary, he was inclined to kick against a measure
+which promised to throw into relief his own stationary
+position on one of the pet subjects of the party of progress.
+Whilst the Cabinet was still engaged in thrashing the subject
+out, tidings of the battle of Sinope reached England, and the
+popular indignation against Russia, which had been gathering
+all the autumn, burst forth, as has already been stated, into a
+fierce outcry against the Czar. Two days after the news of
+Russia&rsquo;s cowardly attack had been confirmed, Palmerston
+saw his opportunity, and promptly resigned. Doubtless
+such a step was determined by mixed motives. Objections
+to Lord John&rsquo;s proposals for Parliamentary reform at
+best only half explains the position, and behind such repugnance
+lay hostility to Lord Aberdeen&rsquo;s vacillating policy on
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[238]</a></span>
+the Eastern Question. The nation accepted Lord Palmerston&rsquo;s
+resignation in a matter-of-fact manner, which probably
+surprised no one more than himself. The Derbyites, oddly
+enough, made the most pother about the affair; but a man
+on the verge of seventy, and especially one like Lord
+Palmerston with few illusions, is apt to regard the task of
+forming a new party as a game which is not worth the
+candle. The truth is, Palmerston, like other clever men
+before and since, miscalculated his strength, and on
+Christmas Eve was back again in office. He had received
+assurances from his colleagues that the Reform proposals
+were still open to discussion; and, as the Cabinet had taken
+in his absence a decision on Turkish affairs which was in
+harmony with the views that he had persistently advocated,
+he determined to withdraw his resignation.</p>
+
+<p>The new year opened darkly with actual war, and with
+rumours of it on a far more terrible scale. &lsquo;My expectation
+is,&rsquo; wrote Sir G. C. Lewis on January 4, &lsquo;that before long
+England and France will be at war with Russia; and as long
+as war lasts all means of internal improvement must slumber.
+The Reform Bill must remain on the shelf&mdash;if there is war;
+for a Government about to ask for large supplies and to impose
+war taxes, cannot propose a measure which is sure to
+create dispersion and to divide parties.&rsquo; France, in spite
+of the action of the Emperor over the question of the Holy
+Places, had not displayed much interest in the quarrel; but
+a contemptuous retort which Nicholas made to Napoleon
+III.&rsquo;s final letter in the interests of peace put an end to the
+national indifference. The words &lsquo;Russia will prove herself
+in 1854 what she was in 1812,&rsquo; cut the national pride to the
+quick, and the cry on that side of the Channel as on this,
+was for war with Russia. The Fleets were ordered to enter the
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[239]</a></span>
+Black Sea, and on February 27 England and France sent a
+joint ultimatum to St. Petersburg, demanding that the Czar&rsquo;s
+troops should evacuate the Principalities by April 30.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">AN INDIGNANT PROTEST</div>
+
+<p>The interval of suspense was seized by Lord John to
+place the Reform proposals of the Government before the
+House of Commons; but the nation was by this time restless,
+dissatisfied, and preoccupied, for the blast of the trumpet
+seemed already in the air. The second reading of the
+measure was fixed for the middle of March; but the increasing
+strain of the Eastern Question led Lord John to
+announce at the beginning of that month that the Government
+had decided not to bring forward the second reading
+until the end of April. This announcement led to a
+personal attack, and one member, whose name may be
+left in the oblivion which has overtaken it, had the audacity
+to hint that the leader of the House had never intended
+to proceed with the measure. Stung into sudden indignation
+by the taunt, Lord John promptly expressed his
+disdain of the opinion of a politician who had no claim
+whatever to speak in the name of Reform, and went on, with
+a touch of pardonable pride, to refer to his own lifelong
+association with the cause. When he turned to his opponent
+with the words, &lsquo;Does the honourable gentleman
+think he has a right to treat me&mdash;&mdash;,&rsquo; the House backed and
+buried his protest with its generous cheers. Lord John
+Russell, in power or out of it, was always jealous for the
+reputation of the responsible statesmen of the nation, and he
+did not let this occasion pass without laying emphasis on
+that point. &lsquo;I should be ashamed of myself if I were to
+prefer a concern for my own personal reputation to that
+which I understood to be for the interests of my country.
+But it seems to me that the character of the men who rule
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[240]</a></span>
+this country&mdash;whether they be at the moment in office or in
+opposition&mdash;is a matter of the utmost interest to the people
+of this country, and that it is of paramount importance that
+full confidence should be reposed in their character. It is, in
+fact, on the confidence of the people in the character of public
+men that the security of this country in a great degree depends.&rsquo;</p>
+
+<p>A few days later it became plain that war was at hand, and
+a strong feeling prevailed in Parliament that the question of
+Reform ought to be shelved for a year. Lord John&rsquo;s position
+was one of great difficulty. He felt himself pledged on the
+subject, and, though recognising that a great and unexpected
+emergency had arisen, which altered the whole political outlook,
+he knew that with Lord Palmerston and others in the
+Ministry the question was not one of time, but of principle.
+The sinews of war had to be provided. Mr. Gladstone proposed
+to double the income tax, and Lord John urged that
+a period of increased taxation ought to be a period of
+widened political franchise. He therefore was averse to
+postponement, unless in a position to assure his Radical
+following that the Government recognised that it was committed
+to the question. Lord Aberdeen was only less anxious
+than Lord John for the adoption of a progressive and enlightened
+home policy; in fact, his attitude in his closing
+years on questions like Parliamentary reform was in marked
+contrast to his rigidly conservative views on foreign policy.
+He therefore determined to sound the Cabinet advocates of
+procrastination as to their real feeling about Reform, with
+the result that he saw clearly that Lord John Russell&rsquo;s fears
+were not groundless, since Lord Palmerston and Lord
+Lansdowne bluntly declared that they meant to retire from
+office if the Government went forward with the Bill.
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[241]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">&lsquo;GOD DEFEND THE RIGHT&rsquo;</div>
+
+<p>Lord John felt that he could not withdraw the Bill unconditionally,
+and therefore resignation seemed the only
+honourable course which was left. After deliberate consideration
+he could see no other choice in the matter, and,
+on April 8, relinquished his seat in the Cabinet. The Court,
+the Prime Minister and his colleagues saw at once the gravity
+of the position, for the Liberal party were restive enough
+under Lord Aberdeen, without the withdrawal from his
+Cabinet of a statesman of the first rank, who was not anxious
+for peace at any price. Lord John&rsquo;s position in the
+country at the moment rendered it probable that a quarrel
+with him would bring about the downfall of the Government.
+His zeal for Reform won him the respect and support
+of the great towns, and the determination which he shared
+with Palmerston to resist the intolerable attitude of the
+Czar made him popular with the crowd. A recent speech,
+delivered when Nicholas had recalled his Ambassador
+from London, had caught, moreover, the sympathies of all
+classes of the community. &lsquo;For my part, if most unexpectedly
+the Emperor of Russia should recede from his former
+demands, we shall all rejoice to be spared the pain, the
+efforts, and the burdens of war. But if peace is no longer
+consistent with our duty to England, with our duty to
+Europe, with our duty to the world, we can only endeavour
+to enter into this contest with a stout heart. May God
+defend the right, and I, for my part, shall be willing to bear
+my share of the burden and the responsibility.&rsquo;</p>
+
+<p>John Leech, in one of his inimitable cartoons in &lsquo;Punch,&rsquo;
+caught the situation with a flash of insight which almost
+amounted to genius, and Lord John became the hero of
+the hour. One verse out of a spirited poem entitled &lsquo;God
+defend the Right,&rsquo; which appeared in &lsquo;Punch&rsquo; at the time,
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[242]</a></span>
+may be quoted in passing, especially as it shows the patriotic
+fervour and the personal enthusiasm which Lord John
+Russell&rsquo;s speech evoked in the country:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">&lsquo;From humble homes and stately domes the cry goes through the air,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">With the loftiness of challenge, the lowliness of prayer,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Honour to him who spoke the words in the Council of the Land,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">To find faith in old England&rsquo;s heart, force in old England&rsquo;s hand.&rsquo;<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>A week before the appearance of these lines, the cartoon
+in &lsquo;Punch&rsquo; represented Lord Aberdeen, significantly arrayed
+in Windsor uniform, vainly attempting to hold back the
+struggling British lion, which sees the Russian bear in the
+distance, and exclaiming, &lsquo;I <i>must</i> let him go.&rsquo;</p>
+
+<p>Lord John&rsquo;s resignation meant much, perhaps everything,
+to the Government. Great pressure was put upon him.
+The Queen and the Cabinet alike urged him to abandon his
+intention of retirement; whilst Lord Palmerston, with that
+personal chivalry which was characteristic of him, declared
+that in a moment of European crisis he could be better
+spared, and was ready to resign if Lord John insisted upon
+such terms, as the price for his own continuance in office.
+Every day the situation abroad was becoming more critical,
+and Lord John saw that it might imperil greater interests
+than any which were bound up with the progress of a party
+question to resist such appeals. He, therefore, on April 11
+withdrew his resignation, and received an ovation in the
+House of Commons when he made it plain that he was
+willing to thrust personal considerations aside in the interests
+of his colleagues, and for the welfare of his country. Mr.
+Edward Miall has described the scene. &lsquo;&ldquo;If it should be
+thought that the course he was taking would damage the
+cause of Reform&rdquo;&mdash;the noble Lord paused, choked with the
+violence of his own emotions. Then arose a cheer from
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[243]</a></span>
+both sides of the House, loud and long continued....
+Every eye was glistening with sudden moisture, and every
+heart was softened with genuine sympathy.... The effect
+was electric. Old prejudices long pent up, grudges, accumulated
+discontents, uncharitable suspicions, all melted
+away before that sudden outburst of a troubled heart.&rsquo;<a name="FNanchor_36_36" id="FNanchor_36_36"></a><a href="#Footnote_36_36" class="fnanchor">[36]</a></p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">THE PLAN OF CAMPAIGN</div>
+
+<p>Throughout the spring diplomacy was still busy, though
+it became every week more and more apparent that hostilities
+were inevitable. Lord Stratford achieved, what Lord Clarendon
+did not hesitate to term, a &lsquo;great diplomatic triumph&rsquo;
+when he won consent from the Porte to fresh terms in the
+interests of peace, which met with the approval, not only of
+England and France, but also of Austria and Prussia. The
+Czar began at length to realise the gravity of the situation
+when Austria moved in February fifty thousand men to the
+frontier of the territory which Russia had seized. When the
+Russian troops, a few months later, evacuated the Principalities,
+Austria and Prussia, whose alliance had been formed
+in defence of the interests of Germany, were no longer
+directly concerned in the quarrel. Thus the war which England
+and France declared at the end of March against Russia
+was one which they were left to pursue, with the help of
+Turkey, alone. Lord John Russell urged that it should be
+short and sharp, and with characteristic promptitude sketched
+out, with Lord Panmure&rsquo;s help, a plan of campaign. He
+urged that ten thousand men should at once be raised for
+the Army, five thousand for the Navy, and that the services
+of fifteen thousand more be added to the Militia. He laid
+stress on the importance of securing the active aid of
+Austria, for he thought that her co-operation might make the
+difference between a long and a short war. He proposed
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[244]</a></span>
+that Sweden should be drawn into the Alliance, with the
+view of striking a blow at Russia in the North as well as
+on her southern frontier. He also proposed that English
+and French troops should be massed at Constantinople,
+and submitted a plan of operations for the consideration of
+the Cabinet.</p>
+
+<p>Lord John knew perfectly well that radical changes
+were imperative in the administration of the Army. The
+Secretary for War was, oddly enough, Secretary for the
+Colonies as well, and there was also a Secretary at War,
+who controlled the finances at the bidding of the Commander-in-Chief.
+The Ordnance Department was under
+one management, the Commissariat under another, whilst
+the Militia fell within the province of a third, in the shape
+of the Home Office. Lord John Russell had seen enough
+of the outcome of divided counsels in the Cabinet, and
+insisted, in emphatic terms, on the necessity of separating
+the duties of the War and Colonial Departments, and of
+giving the Minister who held the former post undisputed
+control over all branches of the executive.</p>
+
+<p>It was perhaps an undesigned coincidence, but none
+the less unfortunate, that the statesmen in the Aberdeen
+Government who were directly concerned with the war were
+former colleagues of Sir Robert Peel. Lord Aberdeen&rsquo;s repugnance
+to hostilities with Russia was so notorious that
+the other Peelites in the Cabinet fell under the suspicion of
+apathy; and the nation, exasperated at the Czar&rsquo;s bombastic
+language and high-handed action, was not in the mood to
+make fine distinctions. The Duke of Newcastle and his
+<ins class="correction" title="Transcriber's note: original reads 'riend'">friend</ins>, Mr. Sidney Herbert, were regarded, perhaps unjustly,
+as lukewarm about the approaching campaign; but it was
+upon the former that the brunt of public censure ultimately
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[245]</a></span>
+fell. The Duke was Secretary for War and the Colonies.
+It was an odd combination of offices which had existed for
+more than half a century. The tradition is that it had
+been brought about in order that the Secretary for the
+Colonies, who at the beginning of the century had comparatively
+little to do, but who possessed large patronage,
+might use that patronage on behalf of deserving military men.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">THE DUKE OF NEWCASTLE&rsquo;S FAILURE</div>
+
+<p>In the immediate prospect of hostilities, it was felt to be
+imperative that two posts of such responsibility should not
+be held by the same Minister; but the Duke was adverse to
+the proposed change. It was, however, brought about in
+the early summer, and the Duke was given his choice of the
+two posts. He decided to relinquish the Colonies, and
+thus the burden of the approaching conflict fell upon him
+by his own deliberate act. Sir George Grey was appointed
+to the vacant office. The Duke of Newcastle&rsquo;s ambition outstripped
+his ability, and the choice which he made was
+disastrous both to himself and to the nation. Because
+some men are born great, they have greatness of another
+kind thrust upon them; and too often it happens that
+responsibility makes plain the lack of capacity, which the
+glamour neither of rank nor of place can long conceal. The
+Duke of Newcastle was born to greatness&mdash;for in the middle
+of the century the highest rank in the Peerage counted for
+more in politics than it does to-day&mdash;but he certainly did
+not achieve it as War Minister.</p>
+
+<p>There is no need to relate here the more than twice-told
+story of the Crimean War. Its incidents have been
+described by historians and soldiers; and, of late, gallant
+officers who took part in it have retraced its course and
+revived its memories. In one sense it is a glorious chapter
+in the annals of the Queen&rsquo;s reign, and yet there are
+cir<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[246]</a></span>cumstances
+connected with it which every Englishman,
+worthy of the name, would gladly forget. Although the
+nation did not take up arms with a light heart, its judgment
+was clouded by passion; and the first great war since
+Waterloo caught the imagination of the people, especially
+as Lord Raglan, one of the old Peninsular heroes, was in
+command of the Army of Invasion. England and France
+were not satisfied merely to blockade the Black Sea and
+crush the commerce of Russia. They determined to strike
+at the heart of the Czar&rsquo;s power in the East, and therefore
+the Allies made a dash at the great arsenal and fort of
+Sebastopol. It did not enter into their reckoning that there
+might be a protracted siege. What they anticipated was a
+swift march, a sudden attack, and the capture of the stronghold
+by bombardment. The allied forces&mdash;25,000 English
+soldiers, 23,000 French, and about 5,000 Turks&mdash;landed in
+the Crimea in September, 1854, and stormed the heights of
+the Alma on the 20th of that month. Then they hesitated,
+and their chance of reducing Sebastopol that autumn was lost.
+&lsquo;I have been very slow to enter into this war,&rsquo; said Lord
+Aberdeen to an alderman at a banquet in the City. &lsquo;Yes,&rsquo;
+was the brusque retort, &lsquo;and you will be equally slow to get
+out of it.&rsquo;</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">BALACLAVA AND INKERMAN</div>
+
+<p>Divided counsels prevailed in the camp as well as in
+the Cabinet. Cholera attacked the troops, and stores
+began to fail. Prince Menschikoff, defeated at Alma,
+seized the opportunity which the delay gave him to render
+the harbour of Sebastopol impassable to hostile ships; and
+General Todleben brought his skill as an engineer to the
+task of strengthening by earthworks the fortifications of the
+Russian stronghold. The Allies made the blunder of marching
+on Sebastopol from the southern instead of the northern
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[247]</a></span>
+side of the harbour, and this gave time to the enemy to
+receive strong reinforcements, with the result that 120,000
+men were massed behind the Russian fortifications. Meanwhile
+a rumour that Sebastopol had fallen awakened short-lived
+rejoicings in England and France. The tidings were
+contradicted in twenty-four hours, but most people thought,
+on that exciting 3rd of October, that the war was virtually
+at an end. The Emperor Napoleon announced the imaginary
+victory of their comrades in arms to his assembled
+troops. Even Mr. Gladstone was deceived for the moment,
+and there is a letter of his in existence to one of the most
+prominent of his colleagues, full of congratulation at such a
+result. The chagrin of the nation was great when it learnt
+that the Russians were not merely holding their own, but
+were acting on the aggressive; whilst the disappointment was
+quickened by the lack of vigour displayed by the Cabinet.
+The Allies fought, on October 25, the glorious yet indecisive
+battle of Balaclava, which was for ever rendered memorable
+by the useless but superb charge of the Light Brigade.
+Less than a fortnight later, on November 5, the Russians
+renewed the attack, and took the English by surprise. A
+desperate hand-to-hand struggle against overwhelming odds
+ensued. Then the French came to the aid of the English
+troops, and the battle of Inkerman was won.</p>
+
+<p>As the winter approached, the position of the Allies grew
+perilous, and it seemed likely that the plans of the invaders
+would miscarry, and the besieging Allies be reduced to the
+position of the besieged. Before the middle of November
+winter set in with severity along the shores of the Black Sea,
+and a hurricane raged, which destroyed the tents of the troops,
+and wrecked more than a score of ships, which were carrying
+stores of ammunition and clothing. As the winter
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[248]</a></span>
+advanced, with bleak winds and blinding snow, the shivering,
+ill-fed soldiers perished in ever-increasing numbers under the
+twofold attack of privation and pestilence. The Army had
+been despatched to the Crimea in the summer, and, as
+no one imagined that the campaign would last beyond the
+early autumn, the brave fellows in the trenches of Sebastopol
+were called to confront the sudden descent of winter without
+the necessary stores. It was then that the War Office awoke
+slowly to the terrible nature of the crisis. Lord John Russell
+had made his protest months before against the dilatory action
+of that department, and, though he knew that personal odium
+was sure to follow, endeavoured at the eleventh hour to
+persuade Lord Aberdeen to take decisive action. &lsquo;We are
+in the midst of a great war,&rsquo; were his words to the Premier
+on November 17. &lsquo;In order to carry on that war with
+efficiency, either the Prime Minister must be constantly
+urging, hastening, completing the military preparations, or
+the Minister of War must be strong enough to control other
+departments.&rsquo; He went on to contend that the Secretary
+of State for War ought to be in the House of Commons, and
+that he ought, moreover, to be a man who carried weight in
+that assembly, and who brought to its debates not only
+vigour of mind but experience of military details. &lsquo;There is
+only one person belonging to the Government,&rsquo; added Lord
+John, &lsquo;who combines these advantages. My conclusion is
+that before Parliament meets Lord Palmerston should be
+entrusted with the seals of the War Department.&rsquo;</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">INCAPACITY IN HIGH PLACES</div>
+
+<p>This was, of course, an unwelcome proposition to Lord
+Aberdeen, and he met it with the declaration that no one man
+was competent to undertake the duties of Secretary of State
+for War and those of Secretary at War. He considered that
+the latter appointment should be held in connection with
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[249]</a></span>
+the finances of the Army, and in independence of the Secretary
+for the War Department. Lord John replied that &lsquo;either
+the Prime Minister must himself be the acting and moving
+spirit of the whole machine, or else the Secretary for War
+must have delegated authority to control other departments,&rsquo;
+and added, &lsquo;neither is the case under the present <i>régime</i>.&rsquo;
+Once more, nothing came of the protest, and, when Parliament
+met on December 12, to indulge in the luxury of dull
+debates and bitter personalities, the situation remained unchanged,
+in spite of the growing sense of disaster abroad and
+incapacity at home. The Duke of Newcastle in the Lords
+made a lame defence, and his monotonous and inconclusive
+speech lasted for the space of three hours. &lsquo;The House
+went to sleep after the first half hour,&rsquo; was the cynical
+comment of an Opposition peer. As the year ended the
+indignation in the country against the Duke of Newcastle
+grew more and more pronounced, and he, in common with
+Lord Aberdeen, was thought in many quarters to be starving
+the war. The truth was, the Duke was not strong enough
+for the position, and if he had gone to the Colonial Office,
+when that alternative was offered him, his reputation would
+not now be associated with the lamentable blunders which,
+rightly or wrongly, are laid to his charge. It is said that he
+once boasted that he had often kept out of mischief men
+who, he frankly admitted, were his superiors in ability.
+However that may be, the Duke of Newcastle ignominiously
+failed, at the great crisis in his public career, to keep out of
+mischief men who were his subordinates in position, and,
+in consequence, to arrest the fatal confusion which the
+winter campaign made on the military resources of the
+nation. Lord Hardinge, who on the death of the Duke of
+Wellington had succeeded to the post of Commander-in-
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[250]</a></span>Chief,
+assured Lord Malmesbury in January 1855 that the
+Duke of Newcastle had never consulted him on any subject
+connected with the war. He added, with considerable heat,
+that not a single despatch had been submitted to him; in
+fact, he had been left to gather what the War Minister was
+doing through the published statements in the newspapers.</p>
+
+<p>The Duke of Newcastle was a sensible, well-intentioned
+man, but allowed himself to be involved in the management
+of the details of his office, instead of originating a
+policy and directing the broad course of affairs with vigour
+and determination. He displayed a degree of industry
+during the crisis which was praiseworthy in itself, and quite
+phenomenal in the most exalted branch of the Peerage, but
+he lacked the power of initiative, and had not sufficient
+force and decision of character to choose the right men for
+the emergency.</p>
+
+<p>The Cabinet might falter and the War Office dawdle, the
+faith of the soldiers in the authorities might be shaken and
+their hopes of personal succour be eclipsed, but the charity
+of womanhood failed not to respond to the call of the suffering,
+or to the demands of self-sacrifice. Florence Nightingale,
+and the nurses who laboured at her side in the
+hospital at Scutari not only soothed the dying and nursed
+the sick and wounded, but thrilled the heart of England by
+their modest heroism and patient devotion.</p>
+
+<p>Before Parliament met in December, Lord John Russell,
+in despair of bringing matters to a practical issue, informed
+his colleagues that, though he was willing to remain in the
+Cabinet, and to act as Leader of the House during the short
+session before Christmas, it was his intention to relinquish
+office at the close of the year. The objection was raised
+that it was unconstitutional for him to meet Parliament in
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[251]</a></span>
+a responsible position if he had arrived at this fixed
+but unannounced resolution. He met this expression of
+opinion by requesting Lord Aberdeen to submit his resignation
+to the Queen on December 7. The correspondence
+between Lord Lansdowne and Lord John, and the important
+memorandum which the latter drew up on December 30,
+which Mr. Walpole has printed, speak for themselves.<a name="FNanchor_37_37" id="FNanchor_37_37"></a><a href="#Footnote_37_37" class="fnanchor">[37]</a> It
+will be seen that Lord John once more insisted that the
+Secretary of State for the War Department ought immediately
+to be invested with all the more important functions
+hitherto exercised by the Secretary at War, and he again laid
+stress on the necessity in such a crisis that the War Minister
+should be a member of the House of Commons. He complained
+that, though he was responsible in the Commons,
+Lord Aberdeen did not treat him with the confidence which
+alone could enable a Leader of the House to carry on
+the business of the Government with satisfaction. He
+declared that Lord Grey treated Lord Althorp in a different
+fashion, and that Lord Melbourne, to bring the matter
+nearer home, had shown greater consideration towards himself.
+He added that he felt absolved from the duty of
+defending acts and appointments upon which he had not
+been consulted.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">LORD LANSDOWNE AS PEACEMAKER</div>
+
+
+
+<p>Lord Lansdowne succeeded for the moment in patching
+up an unsatisfactory peace, but it was becoming every day
+more and more obvious that the Aberdeen Government
+was doomed. The memorandum which Lord John drew
+up, at the suggestion of Lord Lansdowne, describes in
+pithy and direct terms the privations of the soldiers, and
+the mortality amongst men and horses, which was directly
+due to hunger and neglect. He shows that between the
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[252]</a></span>
+end of September and the middle of November there was
+at least six weeks when all kinds of supplies might have
+been landed at Balaclava, and he points out that the
+stores only needed to be carried seven or eight miles
+to reach the most distant division of the Army. He
+protested that there had been great mismanagement, and
+added: &lsquo;Soldiers cannot fight unless they are well fed.&rsquo;
+He stated that he understood Lord Raglan had written
+home at the beginning of October to say that, if the Army
+was to remain on the heights during the winter, huts would
+be required, since the barren position which they held did
+not furnish wood to make them. Nearly three months had,
+however, passed, and winter in its most terrible form had
+settled on the Crimea, and yet the huts still appeared not to
+have reached the troops, though the French had done their
+best to make good the discreditable breakdown of our commissariat.
+<span class="sidenote">A FRANK STATEMENT</span>&lsquo;There appears,&rsquo; concludes Lord John, &lsquo;a want
+of concert among the different departments. When the
+Navy forward supplies, there is no military authority to
+receive them; when the military wish to unload a ship, they
+find that the naval authority has already ordered it away.
+Lord Raglan and Sir Edmund Lyons should be asked to
+concert between them the mode of remedying this defect.
+Neither can see with his own eyes to the performance of
+all the subordinate duties, but they can choose the best men
+to do it, and arm them with sufficient authority. For on the
+due performance of these subordinate duties hangs the welfare
+of the Army. Lord Raglan should also be informed
+exactly of the amount of reinforcements ordered to the
+Crimea, and at what time he may expect them. Having
+furnished him with all the force in men and material which
+the Government can send him, the Government is entitled
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[253]</a></span>
+to expect from him in return his opinion as to what can be
+done by the allied armies to restore the strength and efficiency
+of the armies for the next campaign. Probably the troops
+first sent over will require four months&rsquo; rest before they will
+be able to move against an enemy.&rsquo; Procrastination was,
+however, to have its perfect work, and Lord John, chilled
+and indignant, told Lord Aberdeen on January 3 that nothing
+could be less satisfactory than the result of the recent
+Cabinets. &lsquo;Unless,&rsquo; he added, &lsquo;you will direct measures, I
+see no hope for the efficient prosecution of the war;&rsquo; for by
+this time it was perfectly useless, he saw, to urge on Lord
+Aberdeen the claims of Lord Palmerston.</p>
+
+<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_36_36" id="Footnote_36_36"></a><a href="#FNanchor_36_36"><span class="label">[36]</span></a> <i>Life of Edward Miall, M.P.</i>, by A. Miall, p. 179.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_37_37" id="Footnote_37_37"></a><a href="#FNanchor_37_37"><span class="label">[37]</span></a> <i>Life of Lord John Russell</i>, by Spencer Walpole, vol. ii. 232-235.</p></div>
+</div>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[254]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII"></a>CHAPTER XII</h2>
+
+<p class="title">THE VIENNA DIFFICULTY<br /><br />
+
+1855</p>
+
+<p class="desc">Blunders at home and abroad&mdash;Roebuck&rsquo;s motion&mdash;&lsquo;General Février
+turns traitor&rsquo;&mdash;France and the Crimea&mdash;Lord John at Vienna&mdash;The
+pride of the nation is touched&mdash;Napoleon&rsquo;s visit to Windsor&mdash;Lord
+John&rsquo;s retirement&mdash;The fall of Sebastopol&mdash;The Treaty of Paris.</p>
+
+
+<p class="noi"><span class="smcap">Parliament</span> met on January 23, and the general indignation
+at once found expression in Mr. Roebuck&rsquo;s motion&mdash;the
+notice of which was cheered by Radicals and Tories
+alike&mdash;to &lsquo;inquire into the condition of our Army before
+Sebastopol, and into the conduct of those Departments of
+the Government whose duty it has been to minister to the
+wants of that Army.&rsquo; Lord John, in view of the blunders at
+home and abroad, did not see how such a motion was to
+be resisted, and at once tendered to Lord Aberdeen his
+resignation. His protests, pointed and energetic though
+they had been, had met with no practical response. Even
+the reasonable request that the War Minister should be in
+the Commons to defend his own department had passed unheeded.
+Peelites, like Sir James Graham and Mr. Sidney
+Herbert, might make the best of a bad case, but Lord John
+felt that he could not honestly defend in Parliament a course
+of action which he had again and again attacked in the
+Cabinet. Doubtless it would have been better both for
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[255]</a></span>
+himself and for his colleagues if he had adhered to his
+earlier intention of resigning; and his dramatic retreat at
+this juncture unquestionably gave a handle to his adversaries.
+Though prompted by conscientious motives, sudden flight,
+in the face of what was, to all intents and purposes, a
+vote of censure, was a grave mistake. Not unnaturally, such
+a step was regarded as a bid for personal power at the
+expense of his colleagues. It certainly placed the Cabinet
+in a most embarrassing position, and it is easy to understand
+the irritation which it awakened. In fact, it led those who
+were determined to put the worst possible construction on
+Lord John&rsquo;s action to hint that he wished to rid himself
+of responsibility and to stand clear of his colleagues, so that
+when the nation grew tired of the war he might return to
+office and make peace. Nothing could well have been further
+from the truth.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">ROEBUCK&rsquo;S MOTION</div>
+
+<p>Lord John&rsquo;s retirement was certainly inopportune; but it
+is almost needless to add&mdash;now that it is possible to review his
+whole career, as well as all the circumstances which marked
+this crisis in it&mdash;that he was not actuated by a self-seeking
+spirit. Looking back in after life, Lord John frankly admitted
+that he had committed an error in resigning office under Lord
+Aberdeen at the time and in the manner in which he did it.
+He qualified this confession, however, by declaring that he
+had committed a much greater error in agreeing to serve
+under Lord Aberdeen as Prime Minister: &lsquo;I had served
+under Lord Grey and Lord Melbourne before I became
+Prime Minister, and I served under Lord Palmerston after I
+had been Prime Minister. In no one of these cases did I
+find any difficulty in allying subordination with due counsel
+and co-operation. But, as it is proverbially said, &ldquo;Where
+there is a will there is a way,&rdquo; so in political affairs the
+con<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[256]</a></span>verse
+is true, &ldquo;Where there is no will there is no way.&rdquo;&rsquo; He
+explained his position in a personal statement in the House
+of Commons on the night of Mr. Roebuck&rsquo;s motion. &lsquo;I
+had to consider whether I could fairly and honestly say,
+&ldquo;It is true that evils have arisen. It is true that the brave
+men who fought at the Alma, at Inkerman, and at Balaclava
+are perishing, many of them from neglect; it is true that
+the heart of the whole of England throbs with anxiety and
+sympathy on this subject; but I can tell you that such
+arrangements have been made&mdash;that a man of such vigour
+and efficiency has taken the conduct of the War Department,
+with such a consolidation of offices as to enable him to have
+the entire control of the whole of the War Offices&mdash;so that
+any supply may be immediately furnished, and any abuse
+instantly remedied.&rdquo; I felt I could not honestly make such a
+declaration; I therefore felt that I could come only to one
+conclusion, and that as I could not resist inquiry&mdash;by giving
+the only assurances which I thought sufficient to prevent it&mdash;my
+duty was not to remain any longer a member of the
+Government.&rsquo; In the course of a powerful speech Lord
+John added that he would always look back with pride on
+his association with many measures of the Aberdeen
+Government, and more particularly with the great financial
+scheme which Mr. Gladstone brought forward in 1853.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">OPEN CONFESSION</div>
+
+<p>He refused to admit that the Whigs were an exclusive
+party, and he thought that such an idea was refuted by the fact
+that they had consented to serve in a Coalition Government.
+&lsquo;I believe that opinion to have been unjust, and I think that
+the Whig party during the last two years have fully justified
+the opinion I entertained. I will venture to say that no set
+of men ever behaved with greater honour or with more disinterested
+patriotism than those who have supported the
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[257]</a></span>
+Government of the Earl of Aberdeen. It is my pride, and
+it will ever be my pride to the last day of my life, to have
+belonged to a party which, as I consider, upholds the true
+principles of freedom; and it will ever be my constant endeavour
+to preserve the principles and to tread in the
+paths which the Whig party have laid down for the guidance
+of their conduct.&rsquo; Lord John made no attempt to disguise
+the gravity of the crisis, and the following admission might
+almost be said to have sealed the fate of the Ministry: &lsquo;Sir, I
+must say that there is something, with all the official knowledge
+to which I have had access, that to me is inexplicable
+in the state of our army. If I had been told, as a reason
+against the expedition to the Crimea last year, that your
+troops would be seven miles from the sea, and that&mdash;at that
+seven miles&rsquo; distance&mdash;they would be in want of food, of
+clothing, and of shelter to such a degree that they would
+perish at the rate of from ninety to a hundred a day, I should
+have considered such a prediction as utterly preposterous,
+and such a picture of the expedition as entirely fanciful and
+absurd. We are all, however, forced to confess the notoriety
+of that melancholy state of things.&rsquo; Three days later, after
+a protracted and heated debate, Mr. Roebuck&rsquo;s motion was
+carried in a House of 453 members by the sweeping majority
+of 157. &lsquo;The division was curious,&rsquo; wrote Greville. &lsquo;Some
+seventy or eighty Whigs, ordinary supporters of Government,
+voted against them, and all the Tories except about six or
+seven.&rsquo; There was no mistaking the mandate either of
+Parliament or of the people. Lord Aberdeen on the following
+day went down to Windsor and laid his resignation
+before the Queen, and in this sorry fashion the Coalition
+Government ignominiously collapsed, with hardly an expression
+of regret and scarcely a claim to remembrance.
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[258]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The Queen&rsquo;s choice fell upon Lord Derby, but his efforts
+to form an Administration proved unavailing. Lord Lansdowne
+was next summoned, and he suggested that Lord John
+Russell should be sent for, but in his case, also, sufficient
+promises of support were not forthcoming. In the end
+Her Majesty acquiesced in the strongly-expressed wish of
+the nation, and Lord Palmerston was called to power on
+February 5. For the moment Lord John was out of office,
+and Lord Panmure took the place of the Duke of Newcastle
+as War Minister, but all the other members of the defeated
+Administration, except, of course, Lord Aberdeen, entered
+the new Cabinet. Lord Palmerston knew the feeling of the
+country, and was not afraid to face it, and, therefore, determined
+to accept Mr. Roebuck&rsquo;s proposals for a searching
+investigation of the circumstances which had attended the
+conduct of the war. Loyalty to their late chief, as well as
+to their former colleague, the Duke of Newcastle, led Sir
+James Graham, Mr. Sidney Herbert, Mr. Gladstone, and
+other Peelites to resign. Lord John, urged by Lord
+Palmerston, became Colonial Secretary. Palmerston
+shared Lord Clarendon&rsquo;s view that no Government calling
+itself Liberal had a chance of standing without Lord John.
+Sir G. C. Lewis succeeded Mr. Gladstone as Chancellor of
+the Exchequer, and Sir Charles Wood took Sir James
+Graham&rsquo;s vacant place at the Admiralty.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">&lsquo;GENERAL FÉVRIER TURNS TRAITOR&rsquo;</div>
+
+<p>Changes of a more momentous character quickly followed.
+Early in the winter, when tidings of the sufferings
+of the Allies reached St. Petersburg, the Emperor Nicholas
+declared, with grim humour, that there were two generals
+who were about to fight for him, &lsquo;Janvier et Février;&rsquo;
+but the opening month of the year brought terrible privations
+to the Russian reinforcements as they struggled
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[259]</a></span>
+painfully along the rough winter roads on the long march
+to the Crimea. The Czar lost a quarter of a million of
+men before the war ended, and a vast number of them fell
+before the cold or the pestilence. Omar Pasha defeated
+the Russian troops at Eupatoria in the middle of February.
+The fact that his troops had been repulsed by the hated
+Turks touched the pride of Nicholas to the quick, and is
+believed to have brought on the fatal illness which seized
+him a few days later. On February 27, just after the
+Emperor had left the parade-ground on which he had been
+reviewing his troops, he was struck down by paralysis, and,
+after lingering in a hopeless condition for a day or two,
+died a baffled and disappointed man. The irony of the
+situation was reflected with sombre and dramatic realism in
+a political cartoon which appeared in &lsquo;Punch.&rsquo; It represented
+a skeleton in armour, laying an icy hand, amid the
+falling snow, on the prostrate Czar&rsquo;s heart. The picture&mdash;one
+of the most powerful that has ever appeared, even in
+this remarkable mirror of the times&mdash;was entitled, &lsquo;General
+Février turned Traitor,&rsquo; and underneath was the dead Emperor&rsquo;s
+cruel boast, &lsquo;Russia has two generals on whom she can
+confide&mdash;Generals Janvier and Février.&rsquo; Prior to the resignation
+of the Peelites the second Congress of Vienna
+assembled, and Lord John Russell attended it as a plenipotentiary
+for England; and France, Austria, Turkey, and
+Russia were also represented. The &lsquo;four points&rsquo; which
+formed the basis of the negotiations were that Russia should
+abandon all control over Moldavia, Wallachia, and Servia;
+that the new Czar, Alexander II., should surrender his
+claim to command the entrance of the Danube; that
+all treaties should be annulled which gave Russia supremacy
+in the Black Sea; and that she should dismiss her
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[260]</a></span>
+pretensions to an exclusive right to protect in her own
+fashion the Christians in the Ottoman Empire. Nicholas,
+though at one time favourable to this scheme as a basis of
+peace, eventually fell back on the assertion that he
+would not consent to any limitation of his naval power in
+the Black Sea. Though the parleyings at Vienna after his
+death were protracted, the old difficulty asserted itself again,
+with the result that the second Congress proved, as spring
+gave way to summer, as futile as the first.</p>
+
+<p>Although subjects which vitally affected the Turkish
+Empire were under consideration, the Turkish Ambassador
+at Vienna had received anything but explicit directions, and
+Lord John was forced to the conclusion that the negotiations
+were not regarded as serious at Constantinople. Indeed, he
+had, in Mr. Spencer Walpole&rsquo;s words, &lsquo;reason to suspect that
+the absence of a properly credited Turk was not due to the
+dilatory character of the Porte alone but to the perverse
+action of Lord Stratford de Redcliffe.&rsquo;<a name="FNanchor_38_38" id="FNanchor_38_38"></a><a href="#Footnote_38_38" class="fnanchor">[38]</a> Lord Clarendon
+did not hesitate to declare that Lord Stratford was inclined
+to thwart any business which was not carried on in Constantinople,
+and the English Ambassador kept neither Lord
+John in Vienna nor the Cabinet in Downing Street
+acquainted with the views of the Porte. Lord John
+declared that the Turkish representative at Vienna, from
+whom he expected information about the affairs of his
+own country, was &lsquo;by nature incompetent, and by instruction
+silent.&rsquo; Two schemes, in regard to the point which was
+chiefly in dispute, were before the Congress; they are best
+stated in Lord John&rsquo;s own words: &lsquo;One, called limitation,
+proposed that only four ships of the line should be maintained
+in the Black Sea by Russia, and two each by the
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[261]</a></span>
+allies of Turkey. The other mode, proposed by M. Drouyn
+de Lhuys, contemplated a much further reduction of force&mdash;namely,
+to eight or ten light vessels, intended solely to protect
+commerce from pirates and perform the police of the
+coast.&rsquo; Although a great part of the Russian fleet was
+at the bottom of the sea, and the rest of it hemmed in in
+the harbour of Sebastopol, Prince Gortschakoff announced,
+with the air of a man who was master of the situation, that
+the Czar entirely refused to limit his power in the Euxine.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">COUNT BUOL&rsquo;S COMPROMISE</div>
+
+<p>At this juncture Count Buol proposed a compromise,
+to the effect that Russia should maintain in the Black Sea
+a naval force not greater than that which she had had at
+her disposal there before the outbreak of the war; that
+any attempt to evade this limitation should be interpreted
+as a <i>casus belli</i>, by France, England, and Austria,
+which were to form a triple treaty of alliance to defend
+the integrity and independence of Turkey in case of
+aggression. Lord Palmerston believed, to borrow his own
+phrase, that Austria was playing a treacherous game, but
+that was not the opinion at the moment either of Lord
+John Russell or of M. Drouyn de Lhuys. They appear
+to have thought that the league of Austria with England
+and France to resist aggression upon Turkey would prove
+a sufficient check on Russian ambition, and did not lay stress
+enough on the objections, which at once suggested themselves
+both in London and Paris. The Prince Consort put
+the case against Count Buol&rsquo;s scheme in a nutshell: &lsquo;The
+proposal of Austria to engage to make war when the Russian
+armaments should appear to have become excessive is of
+no kind of value to the belligerents, who do not wish to
+establish a case for which to make war hereafter, but to
+obtain a security upon which they can conclude peace now.
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[262]</a></span>&rsquo;
+Lord John Russell, in a confidential interview with Count
+Buol, declared that he was prepared to recommend the
+English Cabinet to accept the Austrian proposals. It
+seemed to him that, if Russia was willing to accept the compromise
+and to abandon the attitude which had led to the
+war, the presence of the Allies in the Crimea was scarcely
+justifiable. M. Drouyn de Lhuys took the same view, and
+both plenipotentiaries hastened back to urge acquiescence
+in proposals which seemed to promise the termination of a
+war in which, with little result, blood and treasure had
+already been lavishly expended.</p>
+
+<p>Lord Palmerston and Lord Clarendon, backed by
+popular sentiment, refused to see in Russia&rsquo;s stubborn
+demand about her fleet in the Black Sea other than a perpetual
+menace to Turkey. They argued that England had
+made too heavy a sacrifice to patch up in this fashion an
+inglorious and doubtful peace. The attitude of Napoleon
+III. did more than anything else to confirm this decision.
+The war in the Crimea had never been as popular in France
+as it was in England. The throne which Napoleon had
+seized could only be kept by military success, and there is
+no doubt whatever that personal ambition, and the prestige
+of a campaign, with England for a companion-in-arms,
+determined the despatch of French troops to the Crimea.
+On his return, Lord John at once saw the difficulty in which
+his colleagues were landed. The internal tranquility of
+France was imperilled if the siege of Sebastopol was abandoned.
+&lsquo;The Emperor of the French,&rsquo; he wrote, &lsquo;had been
+to us the most faithful ally who had ever wielded the sceptre
+or ruled the destinies of France. Was it possible for the
+English Government to leave the Emperor to fight unaided
+the battle of Europe, or to force him to join us in a peace
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[263]</a></span>
+which would have sunk his reputation with his army and
+his people?&rsquo; He added, that this consideration seemed
+to him so weighty that he ceased to urge on Lord Palmerston
+the acceptance of the Austrian terms, and Lord
+Clarendon therefore sent a reply in which Count Buol&rsquo;s
+proposals were rejected by the Cabinet. Lord Palmerston
+laid great stress on Lord John&rsquo;s presence in his ministry,
+and Mr. Walpole has shown that the latter only consented
+to withdraw his resignation after not merely an urgent, but
+a thrice-repeated personal request from the Premier.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">PRESSURE FROM PALMERSTON</div>
+
+<p>He ought unquestionably, at all hazards to Lord Palmerston&rsquo;s
+Government, to have refused to remain a member of
+it when his colleagues intimated that they were not in a
+position to accept his view of the situation without giving
+mortal offence to the Emperor of the French. Under the
+circumstances, Lord Palmerston ought not to have put the
+pressure on Lord John. The latter stayed in order to
+shield the Government from overthrow by a combined
+Radical and Tory attack at a moment when Palmerston
+was compelled to study the susceptibilities of France and
+Napoleon III.&rsquo;s fears concerning his throne. There is a
+published letter, written by the Prince Consort at this juncture
+to his brother the Duke of Saxe-Coburg, which throws
+light on the situation. The Prince hints that the prospects
+of the Allies in the Crimea had become more hopeful, just
+as diplomatic affairs at Vienna had taken an awkward turn.
+He states that in General Pélissier the French &lsquo;have at
+last a leader who is determined and enterprising, and who
+will once more raise the spirit of the army, which has sunk
+through Canrobert&rsquo;s mildness.&rsquo; He adds that the English
+troops &lsquo;are again thirty thousand men under arms, and their
+spirit is excellent. At home, however, Gladstone and the
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[264]</a></span>
+Peelites are taking up the cry for peace, and declaring themselves
+against all further continuation of the war; whilst
+Lord Derby and the Protectionists are all for making
+common cause with Layard and others, in order to overthrow
+Palmerston&rsquo;s Ministry.&rsquo; Disraeli, significantly adds the
+Prince, has been &lsquo;chiefly endeavouring to injure&rsquo; Lord
+John Russell.</p>
+
+<p>Towards the end of May, Mr. Disraeli introduced a
+resolution condemning the conduct of the Government,
+and calling attention to Lord John Russell&rsquo;s attitude at
+the Vienna Conference. Lord John had fulfilled the
+promise which he had given to Count Buol before leaving
+Vienna; but Lord Palmerston was determined to maintain
+the alliance with France, and therefore, as a member
+of his Government, Lord John&rsquo;s lips were sealed when he
+rose to defend himself. He stated in a powerful speech the
+reasons which had led to the failure of the Conference, and
+ended without any allusion to the Austrian proposals or
+his own action in regard to them. Irritated at the new turn
+of affairs, Count Buol disclosed what had passed behind the
+scenes in Vienna, and Lord John found himself compelled
+to explain his explanations. He declared that he had
+believed before leaving Vienna that the Austrian scheme
+held out the promise of peace, and, with this conviction in
+his mind, he had on his return to London immediately
+advised its acceptance by Lord Palmerston. He was not
+free, of course, to state with equal frankness the true reason
+of its rejection by the Cabinet, and therefore was compelled
+to fall back on the somewhat lame plea that it had
+been fully considered and disallowed by his colleagues.
+Moreover he felt, as a plenipotentiary, it was his duty to
+submit to the Government which had sent him to Vienna,
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[265]</a></span>
+and as a member of the Cabinet it was not less his duty
+to yield to the decision of the majority of his colleagues.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">AN EMBARRASSING POSITION</div>
+
+<p>Lord John&rsquo;s explanations were not deemed satisfactory.
+He was in the position of a man who could only defend
+himself and make his motives plain to Parliament and the
+country by statements which would have embarrassed his
+colleagues and have shattered the French alliance at a
+moment when, not so much on national as on international
+grounds, it seemed imperative that it should be sustained.
+The attacks in the Press were bitter and envenomed;
+and when Lord John, in July, told Lord Palmerston it
+was his intention to retire, the latter admitted with an
+expression of great regret that the storm was too strong
+to be resisted, though, he added, &lsquo;juster feelings will in
+due time prevail.&rsquo; A few days later Lord John, in a calm
+and impressive speech, anticipated Sir E. B. Lytton&rsquo;s
+hostile motion on the Vienna Conference by announcing
+his intention to the House. Though he still felt in
+honour obliged to say nothing on the real cause of his
+withdrawal, his dignified attitude on that occasion made
+its own impression, and all the more because of the
+sweeping abuse to which he was at the moment exposed.
+It was of this speech that Sir George Cornewall
+Lewis said that it was listened to with attention and respect
+by an audience partly hostile and partly prejudiced. He declared
+that he was convinced it would go far to remove the
+imputations, founded on error and misrepresentation, under
+which Lord John laboured. He added, with a generosity
+which, though characteristic, was rare at that juncture:
+&lsquo;I shall be much surprised if, after a little time and a little reflection,
+persons do not come to the conclusion that never was
+so small a matter magnified beyond its true <ins class="correction" title="Transcriber's note: original reads 'porportions'">proportions</ins>.
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[266]</a></span>&rsquo;</p>
+
+<p>Within twenty-four hours of his resignation Lord John
+had an opportunity of showing that he bore no malice
+towards former colleagues. Mr. Roebuck, with characteristic
+denunciations, attacked the Government on the damaging
+statements contained in the report of the Sebastopol
+Committee. He proposed a motion censuring in severe
+terms every member of the Cabinet whose counsels had led
+to such disastrous results. Whatever construction might
+be placed on Lord John&rsquo;s conduct of affairs in Vienna, he
+at least could not be charged with lukewarmness or apathy
+in regard to the administration of the army and the prosecution
+of the war. He had, in fact, irritated Lord
+Aberdeen and the Duke of Newcastle by insisting again
+and again on the necessity of undivided control of the
+military departments, and on the need of a complete
+reorganisation of the commissariat. A less magnanimous
+man would have seized the opportunity of this renewed
+attack to declare that he, at least, had done his best at
+great personal cost to prevent the deplorable confusion and
+collapse which had overtaken the War Office. He disdained,
+however, the mean personal motive, and made, what
+Lord Granville called, a &lsquo;magnificent speech,&rsquo; in which he
+declared that every member without exception remained
+responsible for the consequences which had overtaken the
+Expedition to the Crimea, Mr. Kinglake once asserted that,
+though Lord John Russell was capable of coming to a bold,
+abrupt, and hasty decision, not duly concerted with men
+whose opinions he ought to have weighed, no statesman in
+Europe surpassed him on the score of courage or high
+public spirit. The chivalry which he displayed in coming
+to the help of the Government on the morrow of his own
+almost compulsory retirement from office was typical of a
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[267]</a></span>
+man who made many mistakes, but was never guilty, even
+when wounded to the quick, of gratifying the passing resentments
+of the hour at the expense of the interests of the
+nation.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">WARLIKE COUNSELS PREVAIL</div>
+
+<p>During the summer of 1855 the feeling of the country
+grew more and more warlike. The failure of the negotiations
+at Vienna had touched the national pride. The State
+visit in the spring to the English Court of the Emperor
+Napoleon, and his determination not to withdraw his troops
+from the Crimea until some decisive victory was won, had
+rekindled its enthusiasm. The repulse at the Redan,
+the death of Lord Raglan, and the vainglorious boast of
+Prince Gortschakoff, who declared &lsquo;that the hour was at
+hand when the pride of the enemies of Russia would be
+lowered, and their armies swept from our soil like chaff
+blown away by the wind,&rsquo; rendered all dreams of diplomatic
+solution impossible, and made England, in spite of the
+preachers of peace at any price, determined to push forward
+her quarrel to the bitter end. The nation, to borrow the
+phrase of one of the shrewdest political students of the time,
+had now begun to consider the war in the Crimea as a &lsquo;duel
+with Russia,&rsquo; and pride and pluck were more than ever
+called into play, both at home and abroad, in its maintenance.
+The war, therefore, took its course. Ample supplies and
+reinforcements were despatched to the troops, and the Allies,
+under the command of General Simpson and General
+Pélissier, pushed forward the campaign with renewed vigour.
+Sardinia and Sweden had joined the alliance, and on August
+16 the troops of the former, acting in concert with the
+French, drove back the Russians, who had made a sortie
+along the valley of the Tchernaya. After a month&rsquo;s
+bombardment by the Allies, the Malakoff, a redoubt which
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">[268]</a></span>
+commanded Sebastopol, was taken by the French; but the
+English troops were twice repulsed in their attack on the
+Redan. Gortschakoff and Todleben were no longer able to
+withstand the fierce and daily renewed bombardment. The
+forts on the south side were, therefore, blown up, the ships
+were sunk, and the army which had gallantly defended the
+place retired to a position of greater security with the result
+that Sebastopol fell on September 8, and the war was virtually
+over. Sir Evelyn Wood lately drew attention to the fact
+that forty out of every hundred of the soldiers who served
+before Sebastopol in the depth of that terrible winter of
+1854 lie there, or in the Scutari cemetery&mdash;slain, not by the
+sword, but by privation, exposure, disease, and exertions
+beyond human endurance.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">ALL FOR NAUGHT</div>
+
+<p>France was clamouring for peace, and Napoleon was
+determined not to prolong the struggle now that his troops
+had come out of the siege of Sebastopol with flying colours.
+Russia, on her part, had wellnigh exhausted her resources.
+Up to the death of the Emperor Nicholas, she had lost
+nearly a quarter of a million of men, and six months later,
+so great was the carnage and so insidious the pestilence,
+that even that ominous number was doubled. The loss of
+the Allies in the Crimean war was upwards of eighty-seven
+thousand men, and more than two-thirds of the slain fell to
+France. Apart from bloodshed, anguish, and pain, the
+Crimean war bequeathed to England an increase of
+41,000,000<i>l.</i> in the National Debt. No wonder that overtures
+for the cessation of hostilities now met with a
+welcome which had been denied at the Vienna Conference.
+After various negotiations, the Peace of Paris was signed
+on March 30, 1856. Russia was compelled to relinquish
+her control over the Danube and her protectorate over the
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">[269]</a></span>
+Principalities, and was also forbidden to build arsenals on
+the shores of the Black Sea, which was declared open to all
+ships of commerce, but closed to all ships of war. Turkey,
+on the other hand, confirmed, on paper at least, the privileges
+proclaimed in 1839 to Christians resident in the
+Ottoman Empire; but massacres at Damascus, in the
+Lebanon, and later in Bulgaria, and recently in Armenia,
+have followed in dismal sequence in spite of the Treaty of
+Paris. The neutrality of the Black Sea came to an end a
+quarter of a century ago, and the substantial gains&mdash;never
+great even at the outset&mdash;of a war which was costly in blood
+and treasure have grown small by degrees until they have
+almost reached the vanishing point.</p>
+
+<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_38_38" id="Footnote_38_38"></a><a href="#FNanchor_38_38"><span class="label">[38]</span></a> <i>Life of Lord John Russell</i>, vol. ii. p. 251.</p></div>
+</div>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">[270]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIII" id="CHAPTER_XIII"></a>CHAPTER XIII</h2>
+
+<p class="title">LITERATURE AND EDUCATION</p>
+
+<p class="desc">Lord John&rsquo;s position in 1855&mdash;His constituency in the City&mdash;Survey
+of his work in literature&mdash;As man of letters&mdash;His historical
+writings&mdash;Hero-worship of Fox&mdash;Friendship with Moore&mdash;Writes
+the biography of the poet&mdash;&lsquo;Don Carlos&rsquo;&mdash;A book wrongly attributed
+to him&mdash;Publishes his &lsquo;Recollections and Suggestions&rsquo;&mdash;An
+opinion of Kinglake&rsquo;s&mdash;Lord John on his own career&mdash;Lord
+John and National Schools&mdash;Joseph Lancaster&rsquo;s tentative efforts&mdash;The
+formation of the Council of Education&mdash;Prejudice blocks the
+way&mdash;Mr. Forster&rsquo;s tribute.</p>
+
+
+<p class="noi"><span class="smcap">Men</span> talked in the autumn of 1855 as if Lord John
+Russell&rsquo;s retirement was final, and even his brother, the
+Duke of Bedford, considered it probable that his career as
+a responsible statesman was closed. His health had always
+been more or less delicate, and he was now a man of sixty-three.
+He had been in Parliament for upwards of forty
+years, and nearly a quarter of a century had passed since
+he bore the brunt of the wrath and clamour and evil-speaking
+of the Tories at the epoch of Reform. He had
+been leader of his party for a long term of difficult years,
+and Prime Minister for the space of six, and in that
+capacity had left on the statute book an impressive record
+of his zeal on behalf of civil and religious liberty. No
+statesman of the period had won more distinction in spite
+of &lsquo;gross blunders,&rsquo; which he himself in so many words
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">[271]</a></span>
+admitted. He was certainly entitled to rest on his laurels;
+but it was nonsense for anyone to suppose that the animosity
+of the Irish, or the indignation of the Ritualists, or
+the general chagrin at the collapse&mdash;under circumstances
+for which Lord John was by no means alone responsible&mdash;of
+the Vienna Conference, could condemn a man of so much
+energy and courage, as well as political prescience, to perpetual
+banishment from Downing Street.</p>
+
+<p>There were people who thought that Lord John was played
+out in 1855, and there were many more who wished to think
+so, for he was feared by the incompetent and apathetic of his
+own party, as well as by those who had occasion to reckon with
+him in honourable but strenuous political conflict. The great
+mistake of his life was not the Durham Letter, which has
+been justified, in spite of its needless bitterness of tone, by
+the inexorable logic of accomplished events. It was not
+his attitude towards Ireland in the dark years of famine,
+which was in reality far more temperate and generous than
+is commonly supposed. It was not his action over the
+Vienna Conference, for, now that the facts are known, his
+reticence in self-defence, under the railing accusations which
+were brought against him, was magnanimous and patriotic.
+The truth is, Lord John Russell placed himself in a false
+position when he yielded to the importunity of the Court
+and the Peelites by consenting to accept office under Lord
+Aberdeen. The Crimean War, which he did his best to
+prevent, only threw into the relief of red letters against a
+dark sky the radical divergence of opinion which existed in
+the Coalition Government.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">OUT OF OFFICE</div>
+
+<p>For nearly four years after his retirement from office
+Lord John held an independent political position, and
+there is evidence enough that he enjoyed to the full
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">[272]</a></span>
+this respite from the cares of responsibility. He gave up
+his house in town, and the quidnuncs thought that they
+had seen the last of him as a Minister of the Crown, whilst
+the merchants and the stockbrokers of the City were supposed
+to scout his name, and to be ready to lift up their
+heel against him at the next election.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile, Lord John studied to be quiet, and succeeded.
+He visited country-houses, and proved a delightful as well as
+a delighted guest. He travelled abroad, and came back
+with new political ideas about the trend in foreign politics.
+He published the final volume of his &lsquo;Memoirs and Correspondence
+of Thomas Moore,&rsquo; and busied himself over his
+&lsquo;Life and Times of Charles James Fox,&rsquo; and other congenial
+literary tasks. He appeared on the platform and
+addressed four thousand persons in Exeter Hall, in connection
+with the Young Men&rsquo;s Christian Association, on the
+causes which had retarded moral and political progress in
+the nation. He went down to Stroud, and gave his old
+constituents a philosophic address on the study of history.
+He spoke at the first meeting of the Social Science Congress
+at Birmingham, presided over the second at Liverpool,
+and raised in Parliament the questions of National
+Education, Jewish Disabilities, the affairs of Italy, besides
+taking part, as an independent supporter of Lord Palmerston,
+in the controversies which arose from time to time in the
+House of Commons. His return to office grew inevitable
+in the light of the force of his character and the integrity
+of his aims.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">LITERARY WORK</div>
+
+<p>It is, of course, impossible in the scope of this volume to
+describe at any length Lord John Russell&rsquo;s contributions
+to literature, even outside the range of letters and articles
+in the press and that almost forgotten weapon of
+con<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">[273]</a></span>troversy,
+the political pamphlet. From youth to age Lord
+John not merely possessed the pen of a ready writer, but
+employed it freely in history, biography, criticism, <i>belles-lettres</i>,
+and verse. His first book was published when
+George III. was King, and his last appeared when almost
+forty years of Queen Victoria&rsquo;s reign had elapsed. The
+Liverpool Administration was in power when his biography
+of his famous ancestor, William, Lord Russell, appeared, and
+that of Mr. Disraeli when the veteran statesman took the
+world into his confidence with &lsquo;Recollections and Suggestions.&rsquo;
+It is amusing now to recall the fact that two years
+after the battle of Waterloo Lord John Russell feared that
+he could never stand the strain of a political career, and
+Tom Moore&rsquo;s well-known poetical &lsquo;Remonstrance&rsquo; was
+called forth by the young Whig&rsquo;s intention at that time to
+abandon the Senate for the study. When Lord Grey&rsquo;s
+Ministry was formed in 1830 to carry Reform, Lord John
+was the author of several books, grave and gay, and had
+been seventeen years in Parliament, winning already a considerable
+reputation within and without its walls. It was a
+surprise at the moment, and it is not even yet quite clear
+why Russell was excluded from the Cabinet. Mr. Disraeli
+has left on record his interpretation of the mystery: &lsquo;Lord
+John Russell was a man of letters, and it is a common
+opinion that a man cannot at the same time be successful
+both in meditation and in action.&rsquo; If this surmise is correct,
+Lord John&rsquo;s fondness for printer&rsquo;s ink kept him out of
+Downing Street until he made by force his merit known
+as a champion of popular rights in the House of Commons.
+Literature often claimed his pen, for, besides many contributions
+in prose and verse to periodicals, to say
+nothing of writings which still remain in manuscript and
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">[274]</a></span>
+prefaces to the books of other people, he published about
+twenty works, great and small. Yet, his strength lay elsewhere.</p>
+
+<p>His literary pursuits, with scarcely an exception, represent
+his hours of relaxation and the manner in which he sought
+relief from the cares of State. In the pages of &lsquo;William,
+Lord Russell,&rsquo; which was published in 1819, when political
+corruption was supreme and social progress all but impossible,
+Lord John gave forth no uncertain sound. &lsquo;In these
+times, when love of liberty is too generally supposed to be
+allied with rash innovation, impiety, and anarchy, it seems to
+me desirable to exhibit to the world at full length the
+portrait of a man who, heir to wealth and title, was foremost
+in defending the privileges of the people; who, when busily
+occupied in the affairs of public life, was revered in his own
+family as the best of husbands and of fathers; who joined
+the truest sense of religion with the unqualified assertion of
+freedom; who, after an honest perseverance in a good
+cause, at length attested, on the scaffold, his attachment to
+the ancient principles of the Constitution and the inalienable
+right of resistance.&rsquo; The interest of the book consists not
+merely in its account&mdash;gathered in part at least from family
+papers at Woburn and original letters at Longleat&mdash;of Lord
+Russell, but also in the light which is cast on the period of
+the Restoration, and the policy of Charles II. and the Duke
+of York.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">A CONFIDENT WHIG</div>
+
+<p>Two years later, Lord John published an &lsquo;Essay on the
+History of the English Government and Constitution,&rsquo;
+which, in an expanded form, has passed through several
+editions, and has also appeared in a French version. The
+book is concerned with constitutional change in England
+from the reign of Henry VII. to the beginning of the
+nine<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">[275]</a></span>teenth
+century. Lord John made no secret of his conviction
+that, whilst the majority of the Powers of Europe
+needed revolutionary methods to bring them into sympathy
+with the aspirations of the people, the Government of
+England was not in such an evil case, since its &lsquo;abuses
+easily admit of reforms consistent with its spirit, capable of
+being effected without injury or danger, and mainly contributing
+to its preservation.&rsquo; The historical reflections which
+abound in the work, though shrewd, can scarcely be described
+as remarkable, much less as profound. The &lsquo;Essay on
+English Government&rsquo; is, in fact, not the confessions of an
+inquiring spirit entangled in the maze of political speculation,
+but the conclusions of a young statesman who has made
+up his mind, with the help of Somers and Fox.</p>
+
+<p>Perhaps, however, the most important of Lord John&rsquo;s
+contributions to the study of the philosophy of history was
+&lsquo;Memoirs of the Affairs of Europe from the Peace of Utrecht.&rsquo;
+It describes at considerable length, and often with luminous
+insight, the negotiations which led to the treaty by which
+the great War of the Spanish Succession was brought to an
+end. It also throws light on men and manners during
+the last days of Louis XIV., and on the condition of affairs
+in France which followed his death. The closing pages of
+the second volume are concerned with a survey of the
+religious state of England during the first half of the eighteenth
+century. Lord John in this connection pays homage
+to the work of Churchmen of the stamp of Warburton,
+Clarke, and Hoadly; but he entirely fails to appreciate at
+anything like their true value the labours of Whitfield and
+Wesley, though doing more justice to the great leaders of
+Puritanism, a circumstance which was perhaps due to the
+fact that they stand in the direct historical succession, not
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">[276]</a></span>
+merely in the assertion of the rights of conscience, but in the
+ordered growth of freedom and society.</p>
+
+<p>Amongst the most noteworthy of Lord John Russell&rsquo;s
+literary achievements were the two works which he published
+concerning a statesman whose memory, he declared,
+ought to be &lsquo;consecrated in the heart of every lover of
+freedom throughout the globe&rsquo;&mdash;Charles James Fox, a
+master of assemblies, and, according to Burke, perhaps the
+greatest debater whom the world has ever seen. The
+books in question are entitled &lsquo;Memorials and Correspondence,&rsquo;
+which was published in four volumes at intervals
+between the years 1853 and 1857, and the more important
+&lsquo;Life and Times of Charles James Fox,&rsquo; which appeared
+in three volumes between the years 1859 and 1866. This
+task, like so many others which Lord John accomplished,
+came unsought at the death of his old friend, Lady Holland,
+in 1845. It was the ambition of Lord Holland, &lsquo;nephew
+of Fox and friend of Grey,&rsquo; as he used proudly to style
+himself, to edit the papers and write the life of his brilliant
+kinsman. Politics and society and the stately house at
+Kensington, which, from the end of last century until the
+opening years of the Queen&rsquo;s reign, was the chief <i>salon</i>
+of the Whig party, combined, with an easy procrastinating
+temperament, to block the way, until death ended, in the
+autumn of 1840, the career of the gracious master of
+Holland House. The materials which Lord Holland and
+his physician, librarian, and friend, Dr. John Allen, had
+accumulated, and which, by the way, passed under the
+scrutiny of Lord Grey and Rogers, the poet, were
+edited by Lord John, with the result that he grew fascinated
+with the subject, and formed the resolution, in
+consequence, to write &lsquo;The Life and Times&rsquo; of the great
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">[277]</a></span>
+Whig statesman. He declared that it was well to have a
+hero, and a hero with a good many faults and failings.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">FOX AND MOORE</div>
+
+<p>Fox did more than any other statesman in the dull reign
+of George II. to prepare the way for the epoch of Reform,
+and it was therefore fitting that the statesman who more
+than any other bore the brunt of the battle in 1830-32
+should write his biography. Lord Russell&rsquo;s biography of
+Fox, though by no means so skilfully written as Sir George
+Otto Trevelyan&rsquo;s vivacious description of &lsquo;The Early History
+of Charles James Fox,&rsquo; is on a more extended scale than the
+latter. Students of the political annals of the eighteenth
+century are aware of its value as an original and suggestive
+contribution to the facts and forces which have shaped the
+relations of the Crown and the Cabinet in modern history.
+Fox, in Lord John&rsquo;s opinion, gave his life to the defence of
+English freedom, and hastened his death by his exertion to
+abolish the African Slave Trade. He lays stress, not only
+on the great qualities which Fox displayed in public life,
+but also on the simplicity and kindness of his nature, and
+the spell which, in spite of grievous faults, he seemed able
+to cast, without effort, alike over friends and foes.</p>
+
+<p>One of the earliest, and certainly one of the closest,
+friendships of Lord John Russell&rsquo;s life was with Thomas
+Moore. They saw much of each other for the space
+of nearly forty years in London society, and were also
+drawn together in the more familiar intercourse of foreign
+travel. It was with Lord John that the poet went to
+Italy in 1819 to avoid arrest for debt, after his deputy at
+Bermuda had embezzled 6,000<i>l.</i> Moore lived, more or
+less, all his days from hand to mouth, and Lord John Russell,
+who was always ready in a quiet fashion, in Kingsley&rsquo;s
+phrase, to help lame dogs over stiles, frequently displayed
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">[278]</a></span>
+towards the light-hearted poet throughout their long friendship
+delicate and generous kindness. He it was who, in
+conjunction with Lord Lansdowne, obtained for Moore
+in 1835 a pension of 300<i>l.</i> a year, and announced the
+fact as one which was &lsquo;due from any Government, but
+much more from one some of the members of which
+are proud to think themselves your friends.&rsquo; Moore died
+in 1852, and when his will was read&mdash;it had been made
+when Lord John was still comparatively unknown&mdash;it
+was discovered that he had, to give his own words, &lsquo;confided
+to my valued friend, Lord John Russell (having
+obtained his kind promise to undertake the service for
+me), the task of looking over whatever papers, letters, or
+journals I may leave behind me, for the purpose of forming
+from them some kind of publication, whether in the shape
+of memoirs or otherwise, which may afford the means of
+making some provision for my wife and family.&rsquo; Although
+Lord John was sixty, and burdened with the cares of State,
+if not with the cares of office, he cheerfully accepted the
+task. Though it must be admitted that he performed
+some parts of it in rather a perfunctory manner, the eight
+volumes which appeared between 1853 and 1856 of the
+&lsquo;Memoirs, Journal, and Correspondence of Thomas Moore&rsquo;
+represent a severe tax upon friendship, as well as no ordinary
+labour on the part of a man who was always more or less
+immersed in public affairs.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">&lsquo;DON CARLOS&rsquo;</div>
+
+<p>Lord John also edited the &lsquo;Correspondence of John,
+fourth Duke of Bedford,&rsquo; and prefaced the letters with a
+biographical sketch. Quite early in his career he also
+tried his hand at fiction in &lsquo;The Nun of Arrouca,&rsquo; a story
+founded on a romantic incident which occurred during his
+travels in the Peninsula. The book appeared in 1822,
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">[279]</a></span>
+and in the same year&mdash;he was restless and ambitious of
+literary distinction at the time, and had not yet found his
+true sphere in politics&mdash;he also published &lsquo;Don Carlos,&rsquo; a
+tragedy in blank verse, which was in reality not merely a
+tirade against the cruelties of the Inquisition, but an
+impassioned protest against religious disabilities in every
+shape or form. &lsquo;Don Carlos,&rsquo; though now practically forgotten,
+ran through five editions in twelve months, and the
+people remembered it when its author became the foremost
+advocate in the House of Commons of the repeal of the
+Test and Corporation Acts. Amongst other minor writings
+which belong to the earlier years of Lord John Russell, it is
+enough to name &lsquo;Essays and Sketches of Life and Character,&rsquo;
+&lsquo;The Establishment of the Turks in Europe,&rsquo; &lsquo;A Translation
+of the Fifth Book of the Odyssey,&rsquo; and an imitation of the
+Thirteenth Satire of Juvenal, as well as an essay on the
+&lsquo;Causes of the French Revolution,&rsquo; which appeared in 1832.</p>
+
+<p>It is still a moot point whether &lsquo;Letters Written for the
+Post, and not for the Press,&rsquo; an anonymous volume which
+appeared in 1820, and which consists of descriptions of a tour
+in Scotland, interspersed with dull moral lectures on the conduct
+of a wife towards her husband, was from his pen. Mr.
+George Elliot believes, on internal evidence, too lengthy
+to quote, that the book&mdash;a small octavo volume of more
+than four hundred pages&mdash;is erroneously attributed to his
+brother-in-law, and the Countess Russell is of the same
+opinion. Mr. Elliot cites inaccuracies in the book, and
+adds that the places visited in Scotland do not correspond
+with those which Lord John had seen when he went thither
+in company with the Duke and Duchess in 1807; and
+there is no evidence that he made another pilgrimage north
+of the Tweed between that date and the appearance of the
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">[280]</a></span>
+book. He adds that his father took the trouble to collect
+everything which was written by Lord John, and the book
+is certainly not in the library at Minto. Moreover, Mr.
+Elliot is confident that either Lord Minto or Lord John
+himself assured him that he might dismiss the idea of the
+supposed authorship.</p>
+
+<p>After his final retirement from office, Lord John published,
+in 1868, three letters to Mr. Chichester Fortescue
+on &lsquo;The State of Ireland,&rsquo; and this was followed by a
+contribution to ecclesiastical history in the shape of a
+volume of essays on &lsquo;The Rise and Progress of the
+Christian Religion in the West of Europe to the Council of
+Trent.&rsquo; The leisure of his closing years was, however,
+chiefly devoted to the preparation, with valuable introductions,
+of selections from his own &lsquo;Speeches and Despatches;&rsquo;
+and this, in turn, was followed, after an interval of five
+years, by a work entitled &lsquo;Recollections and Suggestions,
+1813-1873,&rsquo; which appeared as late as 1875, and which was
+of singular personal interest as well as of historical importance.
+It bears on the title-page two lines from Dryden,
+which were often on Lord John&rsquo;s lips in his closing years:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Not Heaven itself upon the past has power,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">But what has been has been, and I have had my hour.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<div class="sidenote">A RETROSPECT</div>
+
+<p>The old statesman&rsquo;s once tenacious memory was failing
+when he wrote the book, and there is little evidence of
+literary arrangement in its contents. If, however, Lord
+John did not always escape inaccuracy of statement or
+laboured discursiveness of style, the value not only of his
+political reminiscences, but also of his shrewd and often
+pithily expressed verdicts on men and movements, is unquestionable,
+and, on the whole, the vigour of the book is
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">[281]</a></span>
+as remarkable as its noble candour. Mr. Kinglake once
+declared that &lsquo;Lord John Russell wrote so naturally that it
+recalled the very sound of his voice;&rsquo; and half the charm of
+his &lsquo;Recollections and Suggestions&rsquo; consists in the artlessness
+of a record which will always rank with the original
+materials of history, between the year in which Wellington
+fought the battle of Vittoria and that in which, just sixty
+years later, Napoleon III. died in exile at Chislehurst. In
+speaking of his own career, Lord Russell, writing at the age
+of eighty-one, uses words which are not less manly than
+modest:</p>
+
+<p>&lsquo;I can only rejoice that I have been allowed to have
+my share in the task accomplished in the half-century
+which has elapsed from 1819 to 1869. My capacity, I
+always felt, was very inferior to that of the men who have
+attained in past times the foremost place in our Parliament
+and in the councils of our Sovereign. I have committed
+many errors, some of them very gross blunders. But the
+generous people of England are always forbearing and
+forgiving to those statesmen who have the good of their
+country at heart. Like my betters, I have been misrepresented
+and slandered by those who know nothing of me;
+but I have been more than compensated by the confidence
+and the friendship of the best men of my own political
+connection, and by the regard and favourable interpretation
+of my motives, which I have heard expressed by my generous
+opponents, from the days of Lord Castlereagh to these of
+Mr. Disraeli.&rsquo;</p>
+
+<p>There were few questions in which Lord John Russell
+was more keenly interested from youth to age than that of
+National Education. As a boy he had met Joseph Lancaster,
+during a visit of that far-seeing and practical friend
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">[282]</a></span>
+of poor children to Woburn, and the impression which the
+humble Quaker philanthropist made on the Duke of Bedford&rsquo;s
+quick-witted as well as kind-hearted son was retained,
+as one of his latest speeches show, to the close of life. At
+the opening of the new British Schools in Richmond in the
+summer of 1867, Lord John referred to his father&rsquo;s association
+with Joseph Lancaster, and added: &lsquo;In this way I
+naturally became initiated into a desire for promoting
+schools for the working classes, and I must say, from that
+time to this I never changed my mind upon the subject.
+I think it is absolutely necessary our schools should not
+merely be secular, but that they should be provided with
+religious teaching, and that religious teaching ought not to
+be sectarian. There will be plenty of time, when these
+children go to church or chapel, that they should learn
+either that particular form of doctrine their parents follow
+or adopt one more consistent with their conscientious
+feelings; but I think, while they are young boys and girls
+at school, it ought to be sufficient for them to know what
+Christ taught, and what the apostles taught; and from
+those lessons and precepts they may guide their conduct in
+life.&rsquo;</p>
+
+<p>Lord John put his hand to the plough in the day of
+small things, and, through good and through evil report,
+from the days of Lancaster, Bell, and Brougham, to those
+of Mr. Forster and the great measure of 1870, he never
+withdrew from a task which lay always near to his heart.
+It is difficult to believe that at the beginning of the present
+century there were less than three thousand four hundred
+schools of all descriptions in the whole of England, or that
+when the reign of George III. was closing one-half of the
+children of the nation still ran wild without the least
+pre<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283">[283]</a></span>tence
+of education. At a still later period the marriage
+statistics revealed the fact that one-third of the men and
+one-half of the women were unable to sign the register.
+The social elevation of the people, so ran the miserable plea
+of those who assuredly were not given to change, was
+fraught with peril to the State. Hodge, it was urged, ought
+to be content to take both the Law and the Commandments
+from his betters, since a little knowledge is a dangerous
+thing. As for the noisy, insolent operatives and artisans
+of the great manufacturing towns, was there not for them
+the strong hand of authority, and, if they grew too obstreperous,
+the uplifted sabre of the military as at Peterloo? It
+was all very well, however, to extol the virtues of patience,
+contentment, and obedience, but the sense of wrong and of
+defiance rankled in the masses, and with it&mdash;in a dull and
+confused manner&mdash;the sense of power.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">THE AWAKENING OF THE PEOPLE</div>
+
+<p>The Reform Bill of 1832 mocked in many directions
+the hopes of the people, but it at least marked a great
+social as well as a great political departure, and with it
+came the dawn of a new day to modern England. As
+the light broadened, the vision of poets and patriots began
+to be realised in practical improvements, which came
+home to men&rsquo;s business and bosom; the standard of
+intelligence rose, and with it freedom of thought, and
+the, sometimes passionate, but more often long-suffering
+demand for political, social, and economic concessions
+to justice. It was long before the privileged classes began
+to recognise, except in platform heroics, that it was high
+time to awake out of sleep and to &lsquo;educate our masters;&rsquo;
+but the work began when Lord Althorp persuaded the
+House of Commons to vote a modest sum for the erection of
+school buildings in England; and that grant of 20,000<i>l.</i> in
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284">[284]</a></span>
+1832 was the &lsquo;handful of corn on the top of the mountains&rsquo;
+which has brought about the golden harvest of to-day. The
+history of the movement does not, of course, fall within the
+province of these pages, though Lord John Russell&rsquo;s name
+is associated with it in an honourable and emphatic sense.
+The formation, chiefly at his instance, in 1839 of a Council
+of Education paved the way for the existing system of
+elementary education, and lifted the whole problem to the
+front rank of national affairs.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">POPULAR EDUCATION</div>
+
+<p>He was the first Prime Minister of England to carry a
+measure which made it possible to secure trained teachers
+for elementary schools; and his successful effort in 1847 to
+&lsquo;diminish the empire of ignorance,&rsquo; as he styled it, was one of
+the events in his public life on which he looked back in after
+years with the most satisfaction. During the session of 1856
+Lord John brought forward in the House of Commons a bold
+scheme of National Education. He contended that out of
+four million children of school age only one-half were receiving
+instruction, whilst not more than one-eighth were attending
+schools which were subject to inspection. The vast majority
+were to be found in schools where the standard of education,
+if not altogether an unknown quantity, was deplorably low.
+He proposed that the number of inspectors should be increased,
+and that a rate should be levied by the local authorities
+for supplying adequate instruction in places where it was
+unsatisfactory. He contended that the country should be
+mapped out in school districts, and that the managers should
+have the power to make provision for religious instruction,
+and, at the same time, should allow the parents of the children
+a voice in the matter. Prejudices ecclesiastical and social
+blocked the way, however, and Lord John was compelled
+to abandon the scheme, which suggested, and to a large
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285">[285]</a></span>
+extent anticipated Mr. Forster&rsquo;s far-reaching measure, which
+in 1870 met with a better fate, and linked the principles
+of local authority and central supervision in the
+harmonious working of public education. When the victory
+was almost won Mr. Forster, with characteristic kindliness,
+wrote to the old statesman who had laboured for the people&rsquo;s
+cause in years of supreme discouragement:&mdash;&lsquo;As regards
+universal compulsory education, I believe we shall soon
+complete the building. It is hard to see how there would
+have been a building to complete, if you had not, with great
+labour and in great difficulty, dug the foundations in 1839.&rsquo;
+Happily Lord John lived to witness the crowning of the
+edifice by the Gladstone Administration.</p>
+
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286">[286]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIV" id="CHAPTER_XIV"></a>CHAPTER XIV</h2>
+
+<p class="title">COMING BACK TO POWER<br /><br />
+
+1857-1861</p>
+
+<p class="desc">Lord John as an Independent Member&mdash;His chance in the City&mdash;The
+Indian Mutiny&mdash;Orsini&rsquo;s attempt on the life of Napoleon&mdash;The
+Conspiracy Bill&mdash;Lord John and the Jewish Relief Act&mdash;Palmerston
+in power&mdash;Lord John at the Foreign Office&mdash;Cobden and Bright&mdash;Quits
+the Commons with a Peerage.</p>
+
+
+<p class="noi"><span class="smcap">Lord John</span> came prominently to the front in public
+affairs in the brief session of 1857, which ended in Lord
+Palmerston&rsquo;s appeal to the country. He spoke against the
+Government during the discussions in the House of
+Commons on the conduct of the Persian War, and he
+exercised his independence in other directions. Even
+shrewd and well-informed observers were curiously oblivious,
+for the moment, of the signs of the times, for Greville wrote
+on February 27: &lsquo;Nobody cares any longer for John Russell,
+everybody detests Gladstone; Disraeli has no influence in
+the country, and a very doubtful position with his own
+party.&rsquo; Yet scarcely more than a fortnight later this cynical,
+but frank scribe added: &lsquo;Some think a reaction in favour of
+John Russell has begun. He stands for the City, and is in
+very good spirits, though his chances of success do not look
+bright; but he is a gallant little fellow, likes to face danger,
+and comes out well in times of difficulty.&rsquo; Between these
+two statements the unexpected had happened. Cobden
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287">[287]</a></span>
+had brought forward a motion censuring the conduct of
+the Government in the affair of the lorcha, &lsquo;Arrow,&rsquo; at
+Canton, and the three statesmen on whom Greville had
+contemptuously pronounced judgment&mdash;Russell, Gladstone,
+and Disraeli&mdash;had supported the Manchester school, with
+the result that the Government, on March 4, suffered defeat
+by a majority of sixteen votes. Parliament was dissolved in
+the course of the month, and the General Election brought
+Lord Palmerston back to power, pledged to nothing unless
+it was a spirited foreign policy.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">THE CITY FIGHTS SHY</div>
+
+<p>The personal ascendency of Lord Palmerston, whom
+Disraeli cleverly styled the Tory chief of a Radical Cabinet,
+carried the election, for there was a good deal of truth in
+the assertion that nobody cared a straw for his colleagues.
+The Peace party suffered defeat at the polls, and, amongst
+others, Cobden himself was turned out at Huddersfield,
+and Bright and Milner Gibson were his companions in
+misfortune at Manchester. A vigorous attempt was made
+to overthrow Lord John in the City, and his timid friends
+in the neighbourhood of Lombard Street and the Exchange
+implored him not to run the risk of a contested election.
+He was assured in so many words, states Lady Russell,
+that he had as much chance of being elected Pope as of
+being elected member for the City; and the statement
+roused his mettle. He was pitted against a candidate from
+Northampton, and the latter was brought forward with
+the powerful support of the Registration Association of
+the City of London, and in a fashion which was the reverse
+of complimentary to the old statesman.</p>
+
+<p>Lord John was equal to the occasion, and was by no
+means inclined to throw up the sponge. He went down to
+the City, and delivered not merely a vigorous, but vivacious
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_288" id="Page_288">[288]</a></span>
+speech, and in the course of it he said, with a jocularity
+which was worthy of Lord Palmerston himself: &lsquo;If a
+gentleman were disposed to part with his butler, his
+coachman, or his gamekeeper, or if a merchant were
+disposed to part with an old servant, a warehouseman, a
+clerk, or even a porter, he would say to him, &ldquo;John&mdash;(laughter)&mdash;I
+think your faculties are somewhat decayed;
+you are growing old, you have made several mistakes, and I
+think of putting a young man from Northampton in your
+place.&rdquo; (Laughter and cheers.) I think a gentleman would
+behave in that way to his servant, and thereby give John an
+opportunity of answering that he thought his faculties were
+not so much decayed, and that he was able to go on, at all
+events, some five or six years longer. That opportunity was
+not given to me. The question was decided in my
+absence, without any intimation to me; and I come now to
+ask you and the citizens of London to reverse that decision.&rsquo;
+He was taken at his word, and the rival candidate from
+Northampton was duly sent to the neighbouring borough of
+Coventry.</p>
+
+<p>The summer of 1857 was darkened in England by
+tidings of the Indian Mutiny and of the terrible massacre
+at Cawnpore. In face of the disaster Lord John not
+merely gave his hearty support to the Government, but
+delivered an energetic protest against the attack of the
+Opposition at such a crisis, and moved an address assuring
+the Crown of the support of Parliament, which was carried,
+in spite of Disraeli, without a division. At the same time
+Lord John in confidential intercourse made it plain that he
+recognised to the full extent the need of reform in the administration
+of India, and he did not hesitate to intimate
+that, in his view, the East India Company was no longer
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_289" id="Page_289">[289]</a></span>
+equal to the strain of so great a responsibility. He brought
+no railing accusations against the Company, but, on the
+contrary, declared that it must be admitted they had &lsquo;conducted
+their affairs in a wonderful manner, falling into errors
+that were natural, but displaying merits of a high order.
+The real ground for change is that the machine is worn
+out, and, as a manufacturer changes an excellent engine of
+Watt and Boulton made fifty years ago for a new engine
+with modern improvements, so it becomes us to find a new
+machine for the government of India.&rsquo;</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">THE ORSINI PLOT</div>
+
+<p>Before the upheaval in India had spent its force fresh
+difficulties overtook Lord Palmerston&rsquo;s Government. Count
+Orsini, strong in the conviction that Napoleon III. was the
+great barrier to the progress of revolution in Italy, determined
+to rid his countrymen of the man who, beyond all others,
+seemed bent on thwarting the national aspirations. With other
+conspirators, he threw three bombs on the night of January
+14, 1858, at the carriage of the Emperor and Empress as they
+were proceeding to the Opera, and, though they escaped unhurt,
+ten persons were killed and many wounded. The bombs
+had been manufactured in England, and Orsini&mdash;who was
+captured and executed&mdash;had arranged the dastardly outrage
+in London, and the consequence was a fierce outbreak of
+indignation on the other side of the Channel. Lord
+Palmerston, prompted by the French Government, which
+demanded protection from the machinations of political
+refugees, brought forward a Conspiracy Bill. The feeling
+of the country, already hostile to such a measure, grew pronounced
+when the French army, not content with congratulating
+the Emperor on his escape, proceeded to refer to
+England in insulting, and even threatening, terms. Lord
+John, on high constitutional grounds, protested against the
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_290" id="Page_290">[290]</a></span>
+introduction of the measure, and declared that he was
+determined not to share in such &lsquo;shame and humiliation.&rsquo;
+The Government were defeated on the Conspiracy Bill, on
+February 19, by nineteen votes. Amongst the eighty-four
+Liberals in the majority occur the names, not merely of
+Lord John Russell and Sir James Graham, but Mr. Cardwell
+and Mr. Gladstone. Lord Palmerston promptly resigned,
+and Lord Derby came into office. Disraeli, as
+Chancellor of the Exchequer and leader of the House of
+Commons, proceeded with characteristic audacity and a
+light heart to educate the new Conservative Party in the art
+of dishing the Whigs.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">THE JEWISH RELIEF ACT</div>
+
+<p>The new Ministry was short-lived. Lord Derby was in
+advance of his party, and old-fashioned Tories listened with
+alarm to the programme of work which he set before them.
+For the moment Lord John was not eager for office,
+and he declared that the &lsquo;new Ministers ought not to be
+recklessly or prematurely opposed.&rsquo; He added that he
+would not sanction any cabal among the Liberal party, and
+that he had no intention whatever of leading an alliance of
+Radicals and Peelites. Impressed with the magnitude of
+the issues at stake, he helped Lord Derby to pass the new
+India Bill, which handed the government of that country
+over to the Crown. He held that the question was too great
+to be made a battle-field of party, but thorough-paced
+adherents of Lord Palmerston did not conceal their indignation
+at such independent action. Lord John believed at the
+moment that it was right for him to throw his influence into
+the scale, and therefore he was indifferent to the passing
+clamour. The subsequent history of the English in India
+has amply justified the patriotic step which he took in scorn
+of party consequences. The Jewish Relief Act became law
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_291" id="Page_291">[291]</a></span>
+in 1858, and Lord John at length witnessed the triumph of
+a cause which he had brought again and again before
+Parliament since the General Election of 1847, when Baron
+Rothschild was returned as his colleague in the representation
+of the City. Scarcely any class of the community
+showed themselves more constantly mindful of his services
+on their behalf than the Jews. When one of them took an
+opportunity of thanking him for helping to free a once
+oppressed race from legal disabilities, Lord John replied:
+&lsquo;The object of my life has been not to benefit a race alone,
+but all nationalities that suffered under civil and religious
+disabilities.&rsquo; He used to relate with evident appreciation the
+reply which Lord Lyndhurst once gave to a timid statesman
+who feared a possible Hebrew invasion of the woolsack. The
+man who was appointed four times to that exalted seat retorted:
+&lsquo;Well, I see no harm in that; Daniel would have made
+a good Lord Chancellor.&rsquo;</p>
+
+<p>Everyone recognised that the Derby Administration
+was a mere stop-gap, and, as months passed on, its
+struggle for existence became somewhat ludicrous. They
+felt themselves to be a Ministry on sufferance, and, according
+to the gossip of the hour, their watchword was &lsquo;Anything
+for a quiet life.&rsquo; There were rocks ahead, and at
+the beginning of the session of 1859 they stood revealed in
+Mr. Disraeli&rsquo;s extraordinary proposals for Reform, and in
+the war-cloud which was gathering rapidly over Europe in
+consequence of the quarrel between France and Austria about
+the affairs of Italy. Mr. Disraeli&rsquo;s Reform Bill taxed the
+allegiance of his party to the breaking point, and when its
+provisions were disclosed two of his colleagues resigned&mdash;Mr.
+Spencer Walpole the Home Office, and Mr. Henley the
+Board of Trade, rather than have part or lot in such a
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_292" id="Page_292">[292]</a></span>
+measure. There is no need here to describe in detail a
+scheme which was foredoomed by its fantastic character to
+failure. It confused great issues; it brought into play what
+Mr. Bright called fancy franchises; it did not lower the
+voting qualification in boroughs; its new property qualifications
+were of a retrograde character; and it left the working
+classes where it found them. It frightened staid Tories of
+the older school, and excited the ridicule, if not the indignation,
+of all who had seriously grappled with the problem.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">LORD GRANVILLE&rsquo;S IMPOSSIBLE TASK</div>
+
+<p>The immediate effect was to unite all sections of the
+Liberal Party. Lord John led the attack, and did so on the
+broad ground that it did not go far enough; and on April 1,
+after protracted debate, the measure was defeated by a
+majority of thirty-nine votes in a House of six hundred and
+twenty-one members. Parliament was prorogued on April 19,
+and the country was thrown into the turmoil of a General
+Election. Lord John promptly appealed to his old constituents
+in the City, and in the course of a vigorous address
+handled the &lsquo;so-called Reform Bill&rsquo; in no uncertain
+manner. He declared that amongst the numerous defects
+of the Bill &lsquo;one provision was conspicuous by its presence
+and another by its absence.&rsquo; He had deemed it advisable
+on the second reading to take what seemed to be the &lsquo;most
+clear, manly, and direct&rsquo; course, and that was the secret
+of his amendment. The House of Commons had
+mustered in full force, and the terms of the amendment had
+been carried. The result of the General Election was that
+three hundred and fifty Liberals and three hundred and two
+Conservatives were returned to Westminster. Parliament
+met on May 31, and Lord Hartington moved an amendment
+to the Address which amounted to an expression of want of
+confidence. The amendment was carried by a majority
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_293" id="Page_293">[293]</a></span>
+of thirteen on June 12, and Lord Derby&rsquo;s Administration
+came the same night to an end. The result of the division
+took both parties somewhat by surprise. The astonishment
+was heightened when her Majesty sent for Lord
+Granville, an action which, to say the least, was a left-handed
+compliment to old and distinguished advisers of the Crown.
+Happily, though the sovereign may in such high affairs of
+State propose, it is the country which must finally dispose,
+and Lord Granville swiftly found that in the exuberance of
+political youth he had accepted a hopeless commission.
+He therefore relinquished an impossible task, and the Queen
+sent for Lord Palmerston.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">PALMERSTON&rsquo;S MIXED MULTITUDE</div>
+
+<p>In the earlier years of Lord John&rsquo;s retirement from
+office after the Vienna Conference his relations with some
+of his old colleagues, and more particularly with Lord
+Clarendon and Lord Palmerston, were somewhat strained.
+The blunders of the Derby Government, the jeopardy in
+India, the menacing condition of foreign politics, and, still
+more, the patriotism and right feeling of both men, gradually
+drew Palmerston and Russell into more intimate
+association, with the result that in the early summer of
+1859 the frank intercourse of former years was renewed.
+More than twelve years had elapsed since Lord John had
+attained the highest rank possible to an English statesman.
+In the interval he had consented, under strong pressure
+from the most exalted quarters, to waive his claims by consenting
+to serve under Lord Aberdeen; and the outcome of
+that experiment had been humiliating to himself, as well as
+disastrous to the country. He might fairly have stood on
+his dignity&mdash;a fool&rsquo;s pedestal at the best, and one which
+Lord John was too sensible ever to mount&mdash;at the present
+juncture, and have declined to return to the responsibilities
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_294" id="Page_294">[294]</a></span>
+of office, except as Prime Minister. The leaders of the
+democracy, Mr. Bright and Mr. Cobden, were much more
+friendly to him than to Lord Palmerston. Apart from published
+records, Lady Russell&rsquo;s diary shows that at the
+beginning of this year Mr. Bright was in close communication
+with her husband. Lord John good-humouredly protested
+that Mr. Bright alarmed timid people by his speeches;
+whereupon the latter replied that he had been much misrepresented,
+and declared that he was more willing to be lieutenant
+than general in the approaching struggle for Reform.
+He explained his scheme, and Lord John found that it had
+much in common with his own, from which it differed only
+in degree, except on the question of the ballot. &lsquo;There has
+been a meeting between Bright and Lord John,&rsquo; was Lord
+Houghton&rsquo;s comment, &lsquo;but I don&rsquo;t know that it has led to
+anything except a more temperate tone in Bright&rsquo;s last
+speeches.&rsquo; Mr. Cobden, it is an open secret, would not have
+refused to serve under Lord John, but his hostility to Lord
+Palmerston&rsquo;s policy was too pronounced for him now to
+accept the offer of a seat in the new Cabinet. He assured
+Lord John that if he had been at the head of the Administration
+the result would have been different. Both Mr. Cobden
+and Mr. Bright felt that Lord Palmerston blocked the way to
+any adequate readjustment in home politics of the balance of
+power, and they were inspired by a settled distrust of his
+foreign policy. Lord John, on the other hand, though
+he might not move as swiftly as such popular leaders thought
+desirable, had still a name to conjure with, and was
+the consistent advocate, though on more cautious lines,
+of an extension of the franchise. Moreover, Lord John&rsquo;s
+attack on Palmerston&rsquo;s Government in regard to the
+conduct of the Chinese war, his vigorous protest against
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_295" id="Page_295">[295]</a></span>
+the Conspiracy Bill, and his frank sympathy with Mazzini&rsquo;s
+dream of a United Italy, helped to bring the old leader,
+in the long fight for civil and religious liberty, into
+vital touch with younger men of the stamp of Cobden,
+Bright, and Gladstone, of whom the people justly expected
+great things in the not distant future. Lord John knew,
+however, that the Liberal camp was full of politicians
+who were neither hot nor cold&mdash;men who had slipped into
+Parliament on easy terms, only to reveal the fact that their
+prejudices were many and their convictions few. They
+sheltered themselves under the great prestige of Lord
+Palmerston, and represented his policy of masterly inactivity,
+rather than the true sentiments of the nation. Lord Palmerston
+was as jaunty as ever; but all things are not possible
+even to the ablest man, at seventy-five.</p>
+
+<p>Although Lord John was not willing to serve under
+Lord Granville, who was his junior by more than a score
+of years, he saw his chance at the Foreign Office, and
+therefore consented to join the Administration of Lord
+Palmerston. In accepting office on such terms in the
+middle of June, he made it plain to Lord Palmerston
+that the importance of European affairs at the moment had
+induced him to throw in his lot with the new Ministry. The
+deadlock was brought to an end by Lord John&rsquo;s patriotic
+decision. Mr. Gladstone became Chancellor of the
+Exchequer, Lord Granville President of the Council; and
+amongst others in the Cabinet were Sir G. C. Lewis, Mr.
+Milner Gibson, Sir George Grey, and the Duke of Argyll.
+Though Cobden would not accept a place in the Government,
+he rendered it important service by negotiating the
+commercial treaty with France, which came into force at the
+beginning of 1860. Next to the abolition of the Corn Laws,
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_296" id="Page_296">[296]</a></span>
+which he more than any other man brought about, it was
+the great achievement of his career. Free Trade, by liberating
+commerce from the bondage under which it groaned,
+gave food to starving multitudes, redressed a flagrant and
+tyrannical abuse of power, shielded a kingdom from the
+throes of revolution, and added a new and magical impetus
+to material progress in every quarter of the globe. The
+commercial treaty with France, by establishing mercantile
+sympathy and intercourse between two of the most
+powerful nations of the world, carried forward the work
+which Free Trade had begun, and, by bringing into play
+community of interests, helped to give peace a sure foundation.</p>
+
+<p>Parliament met on January 24, and in the Speech from
+the Throne a Reform Bill was promised. It was brought
+forward by Lord John Russell on March 1&mdash;the twenty-ninth
+anniversary of a red-letter day in his life, the introduction of
+the first Reform Bill. He proposed to reduce the county
+franchise to 10<i>l.</i> qualification, and the borough to 6<i>l.</i>; one
+member was to be taken from each borough with a population
+of less than seven thousand, and in this way twenty-five
+seats were obtained for redistribution. Political power was
+to be given where the people were congregated, and Lord
+John&rsquo;s scheme of re-distribution gave two seats to the West
+Riding, and one each to thirty other counties or divisions,
+and five to boroughs hitherto unrepresented. The claims
+of Manchester, Liverpool, Birmingham, and Leeds were
+recognised by the proposal to add another representative in
+each case; and the claims of culture were not forgotten, for
+a member was given to London University. Gallio-like,
+Lord Palmerston cared for none of these things, and he made
+no attempt to conceal his indifference. One-half of the
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_297" id="Page_297">[297]</a></span>
+Cabinet appear to have shared his distaste for the measure,
+and two or three of them regarded it with aversion. If
+Cobden or Bright had been in the Cabinet, affairs might
+have taken a different course; as it was, Lord John and Mr.
+Gladstone stood almost alone.</p>
+
+<p>The Radicals, though gaining ground in the country,
+were numerically weak in the House of Commons, and the
+measure fell to the ground between the opposition of the
+Tories and the faint praise with which it was damned by
+the Whigs. Even Lord John was forced to confess that
+the apathy of the country was undeniable. A more sweeping
+measure would have had a better chance, but so long
+as Lord Palmerston was at the head of affairs it was idle
+to expect it. Lord John recognised the inevitable after
+a succession of dreary debates, and the measure was withdrawn
+on June 11. Lord John&rsquo;s first important speech
+in the House of Commons was made in the year of Peterloo,
+when he brought forward, thirteen years before the
+Reform Bill of 1832 was passed, proposals for an extension
+of the franchise; and his last great speech in the House of
+Commons at least showed how unmerited was the taunt of
+&lsquo;finality,&rsquo; for it sought to give the working classes a share in
+the government of the country.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">ACCEPTS A PEERAGE</div>
+
+<p>Early in the following year, Lord John was raised to
+the peerage as Earl Russell of Kingston-Russell and
+Viscount Amberley and Ardsalla. &lsquo;I cannot despatch,&rsquo;
+wrote Mr. Gladstone, &lsquo;as I have just done, the Chiltern
+Hundreds for you, without expressing the strong feelings
+which even that formal act awakens. They are mixed,
+as well as strong; for I hope you will be repaid in
+repose, health, and the power of long-continuing service,
+for the heavy loss we suffer in the House of Commons.
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_298" id="Page_298">[298]</a></span>
+Although you may not hereafter have opportunities of adding
+to the personal debt I owe you, and of bringing it
+vividly before my mind by fresh acts of courage and kindness,
+I assure you, the recollection of it is already indelible.&rsquo;
+Hitherto, Lord John&mdash;for the old name is the one under
+which his family and his friends still like to apply to him&mdash;had
+been a poor man; but the death, in the spring of this
+year, of his brother the Duke of Bedford, with whom, from
+youth to age, his intercourse had been most cordial, placed
+him in possession of the Ardsalla Estate, and, indeed, made
+possible his acceptance of the proffered earldom. Six
+months later, her Majesty conferred the Garter upon him,
+as a mark of her &lsquo;high approbation of long and distinguished
+services.&rsquo; Lord John had almost reached the
+age of three score and ten when he entered the House of
+Lords. He had done his work in &lsquo;another place,&rsquo; but he
+was destined to become once more First Minister of the
+Crown, and, as Mr. Froude put it, to carry his reputation at
+length off the scene unspotted by a single act which his biographers
+are called upon to palliate.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_299" id="Page_299">[299]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XV" id="CHAPTER_XV"></a>CHAPTER XV</h2>
+
+<p class="title">UNITED ITALY AND THE DIS-UNITED STATES<br /><br />
+
+1861-1865</p>
+
+<p class="desc">Lord John at the Foreign Office&mdash;Austria and Italy&mdash;Victor Emmanuel
+and Mazzini&mdash;Cavour and Napoleon III.&mdash;Lord John&rsquo;s energetic
+protest&mdash;His sympathy with Garibaldi and the struggle for freedom&mdash;The
+gratitude of the Italians&mdash;Death of the Prince Consort&mdash;The
+&lsquo;Trent&rsquo; affair&mdash;Lord John&rsquo;s remonstrance&mdash;The &lsquo;Alabama&rsquo; difficulty&mdash;Lord
+Selborne&rsquo;s statement&mdash;The Cotton Famine.</p>
+
+
+<p class="noi"><span class="smcap">Foreign</span> politics claimed Lord John&rsquo;s undivided attention
+throughout the four remaining years of the Palmerston
+Administration. It was well for the nation that a statesman
+of so much courage and self-reliance, cool sagacity, and
+wide experience, controlled the Foreign Office in years when
+wars and rumours of war prevailed alike in Europe and in
+America. He once declared that it had always been his aim
+to promote the cause of civil and religious liberty, not merely
+in England, but in other parts of the world, and events were
+now looming which were destined to justify such an assertion.
+It is not possible to enter at length into the complicated
+problems with which he had to deal during his tenure
+of the Foreign Office, but the broad principles which animated
+his policy can, in rough outline at least, be stated. It
+is well in this connection to fall back upon his own words:
+&lsquo;In my time very difficult questions arose. During the
+period I held the seals of the Foreign Office I had to discuss
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_300" id="Page_300">[300]</a></span>
+the question of the independence of Italy, of a treaty regarding
+Poland made by Lord Castlereagh, the treaty regarding
+Denmark made by Lord Malmesbury, the injuries done to
+England by the republic of Mexico, and, not to mention
+minor questions, the whole of the transactions arising out of
+the civil war in America, embittered as they were by the
+desire of a party in the United States to lay upon England
+the whole blame of the insurrection, the &ldquo;irrepressible conflict&rdquo;
+of their own fellow-citizens.&rsquo; Both of these questions
+were far-reaching and crucial, and in his attitude towards
+Italy and America, when they were in the throes of revolution,
+Lord Russell&rsquo;s generous love of liberty and vigour of
+judgment alike stand revealed.</p>
+
+<p>Prince Metternich declared soon after the peace of 1815
+that Italy was &lsquo;only a geographical expression.&rsquo; The taunt
+was true at the time, but even then there was a young
+dreamer living who was destined to render it false. &lsquo;Great
+ideas,&rsquo; declared Mazzini, &lsquo;create great nations,&rsquo; and his
+whole career was devoted to the attempt to bring about a
+united Italy. The statesmanship of Cavour and the sword
+of Garibaldi were enlisted in the same sacred cause. The
+petty governments of the Peninsula grew suddenly impossible,
+and Italy was freed from native tyranny and foreign domination.
+Austria, not content with the possession of
+Lombardy, which was ceded to her by the treaty of 1815,
+had made her power felt in almost every direction, and
+even at Naples her authority prevailed. The Austrians
+were not merely an alien but a hated race, for they stood
+between the Italian people and their dream of national
+independence and unity, and native despotism could
+always count on their aid in quelling any outbreak of
+the revolutionary spirit. The governments of the country,
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_301" id="Page_301">[301]</a></span>
+Austria and the Vatican apart, were rendered contemptible
+by the character of its tyrannical, incapable, and superstitious
+rulers, but with the sway of such powers of darkness Sardinia
+presented a bright contrast. The hopes of patriotic Italians
+gathered around Victor Emmanuel II., who had fought
+gallantly at Novara in 1849, and who possessed more public
+spirit and common-sense than the majority of crowned
+heads. Victor Emmanuel ascended the throne of Sardinia
+at the age of twenty-eight, immediately after the crushing
+disaster which seemed hopelessly to have wrecked the cause
+of Italian independence. Although he believed, with Mazzini,
+that there was only room for two kinds of Italians in
+Italy, the friends and the enemies of Austria, he showed
+remarkable self-restraint, and adopted a policy of conciliation
+towards foreign Powers, whilst widening the liberties of
+his own subjects until all over the land Italians came to
+regard Sardinia with admiration, and to covet &lsquo;liberty as it
+was in Piedmont.&rsquo;</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">COUNT CAVOUR</div>
+
+<p>He gathered around him men who were in sympathy
+with modern ideas of liberty and progress. Amongst
+them was Count Cavour, a statesman destined to
+impress not Italy alone, but Europe, by his honesty of
+purpose, force of character, and practical sagacity. From
+1852 to 1859, when he retired, rather than agree to the
+humiliating terms of the Treaty of Villafranca, Cavour was
+supreme in Sardinia. He found Sardinia crippled by defeat,
+and crushed with debt, the bitter bequest of the Austrian
+War; but his courage never faltered, and his capacity was
+equal to the strain. Victor Emmanuel gave him a free
+hand, and he used it for the consolidation of the kingdom.
+He repealed the duties on corn, reformed the tariff, and
+introduced measures of free trade. He encouraged public
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_302" id="Page_302">[302]</a></span>
+works, brought about the construction of railways and
+telegraphs, and advanced perceptibly popular education.
+He saw that if the nation was to gain her independence, and
+his sovereign become ruler of a united Italy, it was necessary
+to propitiate the Western Powers. In pursuance of such a
+policy, Cavour induced Piedmont to join the Allies in the
+Crimean War, and the Italian soldiers behaved with conspicuous
+bravery at the battle of Tchernaya. When the war
+closed Sardinia was becoming a power in Europe, and
+Cavour established his right to a seat at the Congress of
+Paris, where he made known the growing discontent
+in Italy with the temporal power of the Papacy.</p>
+
+<p>In the summer of 1858 Napoleon III. was taking the
+waters at Plombières, where also Count Cavour was on a
+visit. The Emperor&rsquo;s mood was leisured and cordial, and
+Cavour took the opportunity of bringing the Court of
+Turin into intimate but secret relations with that of the
+Tuileries. France was to come to the aid of Sardinia under
+certain conditions in the event of a war with Austria.
+Napoleon was not, of course, inclined to serve Victor
+Emmanuel for naught, and he therefore stipulated for
+Savoy and Nice. Cavour also strengthened the position
+of Sardinia by arranging a marriage between the Princess
+Clotilde, daughter of Victor Emmanuel, and the Emperor&rsquo;s
+cousin, Prince Napoleon. Alarmed at the military preparations
+in Sardinia, and the growth of the kingdom as a
+political power in Europe, Austria at the beginning of 1859
+addressed an imperious demand for disarmament, which was
+met by Cavour by a curt refusal. The match had been
+put to the gunpowder and a fight for liberty took place.
+The campaign was short but decisive. The Austrian
+army crossed in force the Ticino, then hesitated and
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_303" id="Page_303">[303]</a></span>
+was lost. If they had acted promptly they might have
+crushed the troops of Piedmont, whom they greatly outnumbered,
+before the soldiers of France could cross the
+Alps. The battle of Magenta, and the still more deadly
+struggle at Solferino between Austria and the Allies, decided
+the issue, and by the beginning of July Napoleon, for the
+moment, was master of the situation.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">VILLAFRANCA</div>
+
+<p>The French Emperor, with characteristic duplicity,
+had only half revealed his hand in those confidential
+talks at Plombières. Italy was the cradle of his race,
+and he too wished to create, if not a King of Rome, a
+federation of small States ruled by princes of his own
+blood. The public rejoicings at Florence, Parma, Modena,
+and Bologna, and the ardent expression of the populace
+at such centres for union with Sardinia, made the Emperor
+wince, and showed him that it was impossible, even
+with French bayonets, to crush the aspirations of a
+nation. Napoleon met Francis Joseph at Villafranca, and
+the preliminaries of peace were arranged on July 11 in a
+high-handed fashion, and without even the presence of
+Victor Emmanuel. Lombardy was ceded to Sardinia, though
+Austria was allowed to keep Venetia and the fortress of
+Mantua. France afterwards took Nice and Savoy; and the
+Grand Duke of Tuscany and the Duke of Modena were
+restored to power. The Treaty of Zürich ratified these
+terms in the month of November. Meanwhile it was officially
+announced that the Emperor of Austria and the Emperor of
+the French would &lsquo;favour the creation of an Italian Confederation
+under the honorary presidency of the Holy
+Father.&rsquo;</p>
+
+<p>The Countess Martinengo Cesaresco, in a brilliant book
+published within the last few months on &lsquo;The Liberation
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_304" id="Page_304">[304]</a></span>
+of Italy,&rsquo; in describing Lord John Russell&rsquo;s opposition
+to the terms of peace at Villafranca, and the vigorous
+protest which, as Foreign Minister, he made on behalf
+of England, says: &lsquo;It was a happy circumstance for Italy
+that her unity had no better friends than in the English
+Government during those difficult years. Cavour&rsquo;s words,
+soon after Villafranca, &ldquo;It is England&rsquo;s turn now,&rdquo;
+were not belied.&rsquo;<a name="FNanchor_39_39" id="FNanchor_39_39"></a><a href="#Footnote_39_39" class="fnanchor">[39]</a> With Lord John at the Foreign
+Office, England rose to the occasion. Napoleon III.
+wished to make a cat&rsquo;s-paw of this country, and was
+sanguine enough to believe that Her Majesty&rsquo;s Government
+would take the proposed Italian Confederation
+under its wing. Lord Palmerston, Mr. Gladstone, and Lord
+John Russell, were not, however, the men to bow to his
+behests, and the latter in particular could scarcely conceal
+his contempt for the scheme of the two emperors. &lsquo;We
+are asked to propose a partition of the peoples of Italy,&rsquo; he
+exclaimed, &lsquo;as if we had the right to dispose of them.&rsquo;</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">FRANCE AND AUSTRIA</div>
+
+<p>Lord John contended that if Austria, by virtue of her
+presence on Italian soil, was a member of the suggested confederation,
+she, because of the Vatican, the King of Naples,
+and the two dukes, would virtually rule the roost. He wrote to
+the British Minister at Florence in favour of a frank expression
+on the part of the people of Tuscany of their own
+wishes in the matter, and declared in the House of
+Commons that he could have neither part nor lot with any
+attempt to deprive the people of Italy of their right to choose
+their own ruler. He protested against the presence in Italy
+of foreign troops, whether French or Austrian, and in despatches
+to Paris and Vienna he made the French and
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_305" id="Page_305">[305]</a></span>
+Austrian Governments aware that England was altogether
+opposed to any return to that &lsquo;system of foreign interference
+which for upwards of forty years has been the misfortune
+of Italy and the danger of Europe.&rsquo; Lord John urged
+that France and Austria should agree not to employ armed
+intervention for the future in the affairs of Italy, unless called
+upon to do so by the unanimous voice of the five Great
+Powers of Europe. He further contended that Napoleon III.
+should arrange with Pius IX. for the evacuation of
+Rome by the troops of France. He protested in vain against
+the annexation of Savoy and Nice by France, which he
+regarded as altogether a retrograde movement. In March
+1860, in a speech in the House of Commons, he declared
+that the course which the Emperor Napoleon had taken was
+of a kind to produce great distrust all over Europe. He
+regarded the annexation of Savoy, not merely as in itself an
+act of aggression, but as one which was likely to &lsquo;lead a
+nation so warlike as the French to call upon its Government
+from time to time to commit other acts of aggression.&rsquo;
+England wished to live on the most friendly terms with
+France. It was necessary, however, for the nations of
+Europe to maintain peace, to respect not merely each others&rsquo;
+rights, but each others&rsquo; boundaries, and, above all, to restore,
+and not to disturb that &lsquo;commercial confidence which is
+the result of peace, which tends to peace, and which ultimately
+forms the happiness of nations.&rsquo; When Napoleon
+patched up a peace with Francis Joseph, which practically
+ignored the aspirations of the Italian people, their indignation
+knew no bounds, and they determined to work out
+their own redemption.</p>
+
+<p>Garibaldi had already distinguished himself in the
+campaign which had culminated at Solferino, and he now
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_306" id="Page_306">[306]</a></span>
+took the field against the Bourbons in Naples and Sicily,
+whilst insurrections broke out in other parts of Italy.
+France suggested that England should help her in arresting
+Garibaldi&rsquo;s victorious march, but Lord John was too
+old a friend of freedom to respond to such a proposal.
+He held that the Neapolitan Government&mdash;the iniquities of
+which Mr. Gladstone had exposed in an outburst of righteous
+indignation in 1851&mdash;must be left to reap the consequences
+of &lsquo;misgovernment which had no parallel in all Europe.&rsquo;
+Garibaldi, carried thither by the enthusiasm of humanity
+and the justice of his cause, entered Naples in triumph on
+September 7, 1860, the day after the ignominious flight of
+Francis II. Victor Emmanuel was proclaimed King of
+Italy two days later, and when he met the new Parliament
+of his widened realm at Turin he was able to declare:
+&lsquo;Our country is no more the Italy of the Romans, nor the
+Italy of the Middle Ages: it is no longer the field for every
+foreign ambition, it becomes henceforth the Italy of the
+Italians.&rsquo;</p>
+
+<p>Lord John&rsquo;s part in the struggle did him infinite credit.
+He held resolutely to the view all through the crisis, and
+in the face of the censure of Austria, France, Prussia, and
+Russia, that the Italians were the best judges of their own
+interests, and that the Italian revolution was as justifiable
+as the English revolution of 1688. He declared that, far
+from censuring Victor Emmanuel and Count Cavour, her
+Majesty&rsquo;s Government preferred to turn its eyes to the
+&lsquo;gratifying prospect of a people building up the edifice of
+their liberties, and consolidating the work of their independence,
+amid the sympathies and good wishes of Europe.&rsquo;
+Foreign Courts might bluster, protest, or sneer, but England
+was with her Foreign Minister; and &lsquo;Punch&rsquo; summed up
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_307" id="Page_307">[307]</a></span>
+the verdict of the nation in generous words of doggerel
+verse:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">&lsquo;Well said, Johnny Russell! That latest despatch<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">You have sent to Turin is exactly the thing;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And again, my dear John, you come up to the scratch<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">With a pluck that does credit to you and the Ring.&rsquo;<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<div class="sidenote">ITALY&rsquo;S GRATITUDE</div>
+
+<p>The utmost enthusiasm prevailed in Italy when the
+terms of Lord John&rsquo;s despatch became known. Count
+Cavour and General Garibaldi vied with each other in
+emphatic acknowledgments, and Lord John was assured
+that he was &lsquo;blessed night and morning by twenty millions
+of Italians.&rsquo; In the summer of 1864 Garibaldi visited
+England, and received a greater popular ovation in the
+streets of the metropolis than that which has been accorded
+to any crowned head in the Queen&rsquo;s reign. He went down
+to Pembroke Lodge to thank Lord John in person for the
+help which he had given to Italy in the hour of her greatest
+need. Lord John received a beautiful expression of the
+gratitude of the nation, in the shape of an exquisite marble
+statue by Carlo Romano, representing Young Italy holding
+in her outstretched arms a diadem, inscribed with the arms
+of its united States. During subsequent visits to Florence and
+San Remo he was received with demonstrations of popular
+respect, and at the latter place, shortly after his final retirement
+from office in 1866, he said, in reply to an address: &lsquo;I
+thank you with all my heart for the honour you have done
+me. I rejoice with you in seeing Italy free and independent,
+with a monarchical government and under a patriotic king.
+The Italian nation has all the elements of a prosperous
+political life, which had been wanting for many centuries.
+The union of religion, liberty, and civil order will increase
+the prosperity of this beautiful country.
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_308" id="Page_308">[308]</a></span>&rsquo;</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">THE PRINCE CONSORT</div>
+
+<p>A still more delicate problem of international policy,
+and one which naturally came much nearer home to English
+susceptibilities, arose in the autumn of 1861&mdash;a year which
+was rendered memorable on one side of the Atlantic by the
+outbreak of the Civil War, and on the other by the national
+sorrow over the unexpected death, at the early age of forty-two,
+of the Prince Consort. The latter event was not
+merely an overwhelming and irrevocable loss to the Queen,
+but in an emphatic sense a misfortune&mdash;it might almost be
+said a disaster&mdash;to the nation. It was not until the closing
+years of his life that the personal nobility and political
+sagacity of Prince Albert were fully recognised by the English
+people. Brought up in a small and narrow German Court,
+the Prince Consort in the early years of her Majesty&rsquo;s
+reign was somewhat formal in his manners and punctilious
+in his demands. The published records of the reign show
+that he was inclined to lean too much to the wisdom, which
+was not always &lsquo;profitable to direct,&rsquo; of Baron Stockmar, a
+trusted adviser of the Court, of autocratic instincts and strong
+prejudices, who failed to understand either the genius of the
+English constitution or the temper of the English race.
+It is an open secret that the Prince Consort during the first
+decade of the reign was by no means popular, either with the
+classes or the masses. His position was a difficult one, for
+he was, in the words of one of the chief statesmen of the
+reign, at once the &lsquo;permanent Secretary and the permanent
+Prime Minister&rsquo; of the Crown; and there were undoubtedly
+occasions when in both capacities he magnified his office.
+Even if the Great Exhibition of 1851 had been memorable
+for nothing else, it would have been noteworthy as the
+period which marked a new departure in the Prince&rsquo;s
+relations with all grades of her Majesty&rsquo;s subjects. It not
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_309" id="Page_309">[309]</a></span>
+only brought him into touch with the people, but it brought
+into view, as well as into play, his practical mastery of
+affairs, and also his enlightened sympathy with the progress
+in art and science, no less than in the commercial activities,
+of the nation. It was not, however, until the closing years
+of his life, when the dreary escapades of the Coalition
+Ministry were beginning to be forgotten, that the great
+qualities of the Prince Consort were appreciated to any
+adequate degree. From the close of the Crimean War
+to his untimely death, at the beginning of the Civil War
+in America, was unquestionably the happiest as well as
+the most influential period in a life which was at once
+sensitive and upright.</p>
+
+<p>It ought in common fairness to be added that the
+character of the Prince mellowed visibly during his later
+years, and that the formality of his earlier manner was
+exchanged for a more genial attitude towards those with
+whom he came in contact in the duties and society of the
+Court. Mr. Disraeli told Count Vitzthum that if the Prince
+Consort had outlived the &lsquo;old stagers&rsquo; of political life with
+whom he was surrounded, he would have given to England&mdash;though
+with constitutional guarantees&mdash;the &lsquo;blessing of
+absolute government.&rsquo; Although such a verdict palpably
+overshot the mark, it is significant in itself and worthy of
+record, since it points both to the strength and the limitations
+of an illustrious life. There are passages in Lady
+Russell&rsquo;s diary, of too personal and too sacred a character to
+quote, which reveal not only the poignant grief of the Queen,
+but the manner in which she turned instinctively in her
+burst of need to an old and trusted adviser of the Crown.
+High but artless tribute is paid in the same pages to the
+Queen&rsquo;s devotion to duty under the heart-breaking strain of
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_310" id="Page_310">[310]</a></span>
+a loss which overshadowed with sorrow every home in England,
+as well as the Palace at Windsor, at Christmas, 1861.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">THE &lsquo;TRENT&rsquo; AFFAIR</div>
+
+<p>The last act of the Prince Consort of an official kind
+was to soften certain expressions in the interests of international
+peace and goodwill in the famous despatch which
+was sent by the English Government, at the beginning of
+December, to the British Ambassador at Washington, when
+a deadlock suddenly arose between England and the
+United States over the &lsquo;Trent&rsquo; affair, and war seemed
+imminent. Hostilities had broken out between the North
+and the South in the previous July, and the opinion of
+England was sharply divided on the merits of the struggle.
+The bone of contention, to put the matter concisely, was the
+refusal of South Carolina and ten other States to submit to
+the authority of the Central Government of the Union. It
+was an old quarrel which had existed from the foundation
+of the American Commonwealth, for the individual States
+of the Union had always been jealous of any infringement
+of the right of self-government; but slavery was now the
+ostensible root of bitterness, and matters were complicated
+by radical divergences on the subject of tariffs. The Southern
+States took a high hand against the Federal Government.
+They seceded from the Union, and announced their independence
+to the world at large, under the style and title of
+the Confederate States of America. Flushed by the opening
+victory which followed the first appeal to the sword, the
+Confederate Government determined to send envoys to
+Europe. Messrs. Mason and Slidell embarked at Havana,
+at the beginning of November, on board the British mail-steamer
+&lsquo;Trent,&rsquo; as representatives to the English and French
+Governments respectively. The &lsquo;Trent&rsquo; was stopped on
+her voyage by the American man-of-war &lsquo;San Jacinto,&rsquo; and
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_311" id="Page_311">[311]</a></span>
+Captain Wilkes, her commander, demanded that the Confederate
+envoys and their secretaries should be handed over
+to his charge. The captain of the &lsquo;Trent&rsquo; made a vigorous
+protest against this sort of armed intervention, but he had
+no alternative except to yield, and Messrs. Mason and Slidell
+were carried back to America and lodged in a military fortress.</p>
+
+<p>The &lsquo;Trent&rsquo; arrived at Southampton on November 27,
+and when her captain told his story indignation knew no
+bounds. The law of nations had been set at defiance, and
+the right of asylum under the British flag had been violated.
+The clamour of the Press and of the streets grew suddenly
+fierce and strong, and the universal feeling of the moment
+found expression in the phrase, &lsquo;Bear this, bear all.&rsquo; Lord
+John Russell at once addressed a vigorous remonstrance to
+the American Government on an &lsquo;act of violence which was
+an affront to the British flag and a violation of international
+law.&rsquo; He made it plain that her Majesty&rsquo;s Ministers were not
+prepared to allow such an insult to pass without &lsquo;full reparation;&rsquo;
+but, at the same time, he refused to believe that it
+could be the &lsquo;deliberate intention&rsquo; of the Government of
+the United States to force upon them so grave a question.
+He therefore expressed the hope that the United States of
+its own accord would at once &lsquo;offer to the British Government
+such redress as alone could satisfy the British nation.&rsquo;
+He added that this must take the form of the liberation of
+the envoys and their secretaries, in order that they might
+again be placed under British protection, and that such an
+act must be accompanied by a suitable apology. President
+Lincoln and Mr. Seward reluctantly gave way; but their
+decision was hastened by the war preparations in England,
+and the protests which France, Austria, Prussia, Russia, and
+Italy made against so wanton an outrage.
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_312" id="Page_312">[312]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The war took its course, and it seemed on more than one
+occasion as if England must take sides in a struggle which, it
+soon became apparent, was to be fought out to the bitter end.
+Thoughts of mediation had occurred, both to Lord Palmerston
+and Lord Russell, and in 1862 they contemplated the
+thankless task of mediation, but the project was abandoned
+as at least premature. Feeling ran high in England over the
+discussion as to whether the &lsquo;great domestic institution&rsquo; of
+Negro slavery really lay at the basis of the struggle or not, and
+public opinion was split into hostile camps. Sympathy with
+the North was alienated by the marked honours which were
+paid to the commander of the &lsquo;San Jacinto;&rsquo; and the bravery
+with which the South fought, for what many people persisted
+in declaring was merely the right of self-government, kindled
+enthusiasm for those who struggled against overwhelming
+odds. In the summer of 1862 a new difficulty arose, and
+the maintenance of international peace was once more imperilled.
+The blockade of the Southern ports crippled the
+Confederate Government, and an armed cruiser was built on
+the Mersey to wage a war of retaliation on the high seas
+against the merchant ships of the North. When the &lsquo;Alabama&rsquo;
+was almost ready the Federal Government got
+wind of the matter, and formally protested against the ship
+being allowed to put to sea.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">THE &lsquo;ALABAMA&rsquo; DIFFICULTY</div>
+
+<p>The Cabinet submitted the question to the law officers
+of the Crown; delay followed, and whilst the matter was
+still under deliberation the &lsquo;Alabama,&rsquo; on the pretext of a
+trial trip, escaped, and began at once her remarkable career
+of destruction. The late Lord Selborne, who at that
+time was Solicitor-General, wrote for these pages the
+following detailed and, of course, authoritative statement
+of what transpired, and the facts which he recounts show
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_313" id="Page_313">[313]</a></span>
+that Lord Russell, in spite of the generous admission which
+he himself made in his &lsquo;Recollections,&rsquo; was in reality not
+responsible for a blunder which almost led to war, and which
+when submitted to arbitration at Geneva cost England&mdash;besides
+much irritation&mdash;the sum of 3,000,000<i>l.</i></p>
+
+<p>&lsquo;It was when Lord Russell was Secretary of State for
+Foreign Affairs, during the American Civil War, and when I
+was one of the Law Officers of the Crown, that I first became
+personally well acquainted with him; and from that
+time he honoured me with his friendship. In this way
+I had good opportunities of knowledge on some subjects
+as to which he has been at times misrepresented or misunderstood;
+and perhaps I may best do honour to his
+memory by referring to those subjects.</p>
+
+<p>&lsquo;There can be no idea more unfounded than that which
+would call in question his friendliness towards the United
+States during their contest with the Confederates. But he
+had a strong sense, both of the duty of strictly observing all
+obligations incumbent on this country as a neutral Power
+by the law of nations, and of the danger of innovating
+upon them by the admission of claims on either side, not
+warranted by that law as generally understood, and with
+which, in the then state both of our own and of the
+American Neutrality Laws, it would have been practically
+impossible for the Government of a free country to comply.
+As a general principle, the freedom of commercial dealings
+between the citizens of a neutral State and belligerents,
+subject to the right of belligerents to protect themselves
+against breach of blockade or carriage of contraband, had
+been universally allowed, and by no nation more insisted on
+than by the United States. Lord Russell did not think it
+safe or expedient to endeavour to restrict that liberty.
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_314" id="Page_314">[314]</a></span>
+When asked to put in force Acts of Parliament made for the
+better protection of our neutrality, he took, with promptitude
+and with absolute good faith, such measures as it would
+have been proper to take in any case in which our own
+public interests were concerned; but he thought (and in
+my judgment he was entirely right in thinking) that it was
+not the duty of a British Minister, seeking to enforce British
+statute law, to add to other risks of failure that of unconstitutional
+disregard of the securities for the liberty of the
+subject, provided by the system on which British laws
+generally are administered and enforced.</p>
+
+<p>&lsquo;It was not through any fault or negligence of Lord
+Russell that the ship &ldquo;Alabama,&rdquo; or any other vessel
+equipped for the war service of the Confederate States, left
+the ports of this country. The course taken by him in all
+those cases was the same. He considered that some <i>prima
+facie</i> evidence of an actual or intended violation either of
+our own law or of the law of nations (such as might be
+produced in a court of justice) was necessary, and that in
+judging whether there was such evidence he ought to be
+guided by the advice of the Law Officers of the Crown.
+To obtain such evidence, he did not neglect any means
+which the law placed in his power. If in any case the Board
+of Customs may have been ill-advised, and omitted (as Sir
+Alexander Cockburn thought) to take precautions which they
+ought otherwise to have taken, this was no fault of Lord
+Russell; still less was he chargeable with the delay of three
+or four days which took place in the case of the &ldquo;Alabama,&rdquo;
+in consequence of the illness of the Queen&rsquo;s Advocate, Sir
+John Harding; without which that vessel might never have
+gone to sea.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">LORD SELBORNE&rsquo;S EXPLANATION</div>
+
+<p>&lsquo;Lord Russell stated to Mr. Adams, immediately
+after<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_315" id="Page_315">[315]</a></span>wards,
+that Sir John Harding&rsquo;s illness was the cause
+of that delay. No one then called that statement in
+question, which could not have been made without
+good foundation. But after a lapse of many years, when
+almost everybody who had known the exact circumstances
+was dead, stories inconsistent with it obtained currency.
+Of these, the most remarkable was published in 1881, in a
+book widely read, the &ldquo;Reminiscences&rdquo; of the late Thomas
+Mozley. The writer appears to have persuaded himself
+(certainly without any foundation in fact) that &ldquo;there was
+not one of her Majesty&rsquo;s Ministers who was not ready to
+jump out of his skin for joy when he heard of the escape of
+the &lsquo;Alabama.&rsquo;&rdquo;<a name="FNanchor_40_40" id="FNanchor_40_40"></a><a href="#Footnote_40_40" class="fnanchor">[40]</a> He said that he met Sir John Harding
+&ldquo;shortly after the &lsquo;Alabama&rsquo; had got away,&rdquo; and was told
+by him that he (Sir John) had been expecting a communication
+from Government anxiously the whole week before,
+that the expectation had unsettled and unnerved him for
+other business, and that he had stayed in chambers rather
+later than usual on Saturday for the chance of hearing at
+last from them. He had then gone to his house in the
+country. Returning on Monday, when he was engaged to
+appear in court, he found a large bundle of documents in a
+big envelope, without even an accompanying note, that had
+been dropped into the letter-box on Saturday evening. To
+all appearance, every letter and every remonstrance and
+every affidavit, as fast as it arrived from Liverpool, had been
+piled in a pigeon-hole till four or five o&rsquo;clock on Saturday,
+when the Minister, on taking his own departure for the
+country, had directed a clerk to tie up the whole heap and
+carry it to Doctors&rsquo; Commons.</p>
+
+<p>&lsquo;The facts are, that in the earlier stage of that business,
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_316" id="Page_316">[316]</a></span>
+before July 23, the Attorney- and Solicitor-General only were
+consulted, and Sir John Harding knew nothing at all about
+it. No part of the statement said by Mr. Mozley to have
+been made to him could possibly be true; because during
+the whole time in question Sir John Harding was under care
+for unsoundness of mind, from which he never even partially
+recovered, and which prevented him from attending to any
+kind of business, or going into court, or to his chambers, or
+to his country house. He was in that condition on July 23,
+1862 (Wednesday, not Saturday) when the depositions on
+which the question of the detention of the &ldquo;Alabama&rdquo;
+turned were received at the Foreign Office. Lord Russell,
+not knowing that he was ill, and thinking it desirable, from
+the importance of the matter, to have the opinion of all
+the three Law Officers (of whom the Queen&rsquo;s Advocate was
+then senior in rank), sent them on the same day, with the
+usual covering letter, for that opinion; and they must have
+been delivered by the messenger, in the ordinary course,
+at Sir John Harding&rsquo;s house or chambers. There they
+remained till, the delay causing inquiry, they were recovered
+and sent to the Attorney-General, who received
+them on Monday, the 28th, and lost no time in holding a consultation
+with the Solicitor-General. Their opinion, advising
+that the ship should be stopped, was in Lord Russell&rsquo;s hands
+early the next morning; and he sent an order by telegraph
+to Liverpool to stop her; but before it could be executed
+she had gone to sea.</p>
+
+<p>&lsquo;Some of the facts relating to Sir John Harding&rsquo;s illness
+remained, until lately, in more or less obscurity, and Mr.
+Mozley&rsquo;s was not the only erroneous version of them which
+got abroad. One such version having been mentioned,
+as if authentic, in a debate in the House of Commons on
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_317" id="Page_317">[317]</a></span>
+March 17, 1893, I wrote to the &ldquo;Times&rdquo; to correct it; and
+in confirmation of my statement the gentleman who had
+been Sir John Harding&rsquo;s medical attendant in July 1862 came
+forward, and by reference to his diary, kept at the time,
+placed the facts and dates beyond future controversy.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">THE QUESTION OF ARBITRATION</div>
+
+<p>&lsquo;In the diplomatic correspondence, as to the &ldquo;Alabama&rdquo;
+and other subjects of complaint by the United States, Lord
+Russell stood firmly upon the ground that Great Britain had
+not failed in any duty of neutrality; and Lord Lyons, the
+sagacious Minister who then represented this country at
+Washington, thought there would be much more danger to
+our future relations with the United States in any departure
+from that position than in strict and steady adherence
+to it. But no sooner was the war ended than new currents
+of opinion set in. In a debate on the subject in the House
+of Commons on March 6, 1868, Lord Stanley (then Foreign
+Secretary), who had never been of the same mind about it with
+his less cautious friends, said that a &ldquo;tendency might be detected
+to be almost too ready to accuse ourselves of faults we
+had not committed, and to assume that on every doubtful
+point the decision ought to be against us.&rdquo; The sequel is well
+known. The Conservative Government consented to refer
+to arbitration, not all the questions raised by the Government
+of the United States, but those arising out of the ships alleged
+to have been equipped or to have received augmentation of
+force within the British dominions for the war service of the
+Confederate States; and from that concession no other
+Government could recede. For a long time the Government
+or the Senate of the United States objected to any reference
+so limited, and to the last they refused to go into an
+open arbitration. They made it a condition, that new Rules
+should be formulated, not only for future observance, but for
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_318" id="Page_318">[318]</a></span>
+retrospective application to their own claims. This condition,
+unprecedented and open in principle to the gravest
+objections, was accepted for the sake of peace with a
+nation so nearly allied to us; not, however, without an
+express declaration, on the face of the Treaty of Washington,
+that the British Government could not assent to those new
+Rules as a statement of principles of international law which
+were in force when the claims arose.</p>
+
+<p>&lsquo;While the Commissioners at Washington were engaged
+in their deliberations, I was in frequent communication both
+with Lord Granville and other members of the Cabinet, and
+also with Lord Russell, who could not be brought to
+approve of that way of settling the controversy. He had an
+invincible repugnance to the reference of any questions
+affecting the honour and good faith of this country, or its
+internal administration, to foreign arbitrators; and he thought
+those questions would not be excluded by the proposed
+arrangement. He felt no confidence that any reciprocal
+advantages to this country would be obtained from the new
+Rules. Their only effect, in his view, would be to send us
+handicapped into the arbitration. He did not believe that
+the United States would follow the example which we
+had set, by strengthening their Neutrality Laws; or that
+they would be able, unless they did so, to prevent violations
+of the Rules by their citizens in any future war in which
+we might be belligerent and they neutral, any more than
+they had been able in former times to prevent the equipment
+of ships within their territory against Spain and
+Portugal. It was not without difficulty that he restrained
+himself from giving public expression to those views; but,
+from generous and patriotic motives, he did so. The sequel
+is not likely to have convinced him that his apprehensions
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_319" id="Page_319">[319]</a></span>
+were groundless. The character of the &ldquo;Case&rdquo; presented
+on the part of the United States, with the &ldquo;indirect
+claims,&rdquo; and the arguments used to support them, would
+have prevented the arbitration from proceeding at all, but
+for action of an unusual kind taken by the arbitrators.
+In such of their decisions as were adverse to this country,
+the arbitrators founded themselves entirely upon the new
+Rules, without any reference to general international law or
+historical precedents; and the United States have done
+nothing, down to this day, to strengthen their Neutrality
+Laws, though certainly requiring it, at least as much as ours
+did before 1870.&rsquo;</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">THE COTTON FAMINE</div>
+
+<p>Lord Russell then held resolutely to the view that her
+Majesty&rsquo;s Government had steadily endeavoured to maintain
+a policy of strict neutrality, and so long as he was in power
+at the Foreign Office, or at the Treasury, the demands of
+the United States for compensation were ignored. Meanwhile,
+there arose a mighty famine in Lancashire through
+the failure of the cotton supply, and 800,000 operatives were
+thrown, through no fault of their own, on the charity of
+the nation, which rose splendidly to meet the occasion.
+All classes of the community were bound more closely together
+in the gentle task of philanthropy, as well as in
+admiration of the uncomplaining heroism with which
+privation was met by the suffering workpeople.</p>
+
+<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_39_39" id="Footnote_39_39"></a><a href="#FNanchor_39_39"><span class="label">[39]</span></a> <i>The Liberation of Italy</i>, 1815-1870, by the Countess Evelyn
+Martinengo Cesaresco (Seeley and Co. 1895), p. 252.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_40_40" id="Footnote_40_40"></a><a href="#FNanchor_40_40"><span class="label">[40]</span></a> Second edition, 1892, chap. xcii.</p></div>
+</div>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_320" id="Page_320">[320]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVI" id="CHAPTER_XVI"></a>CHAPTER XVI</h2>
+
+<p class="title">SECOND PREMIERSHIP<br /><br />
+
+1865-1866</p>
+
+<p class="desc">The Polish Revolt&mdash;Bismarck&rsquo;s bid for power&mdash;The Schleswig-Holstein
+difficulty&mdash;Death of Lord Palmerston&mdash;The Queen summons Lord
+John&mdash;The second Russell Administration&mdash;Lord John&rsquo;s tribute to
+Palmerston&mdash;Mr. Gladstone introduces Reform&mdash;The &lsquo;Cave of
+Adullam&rsquo;&mdash;Defeat of the Russell Government&mdash;The people accept
+Lowe&rsquo;s challenge&mdash;The feeling in the country.</p>
+
+
+<p class="noi"><span class="smcap">Lord John</span>, in his conduct of foreign affairs, acted with
+generosity towards Italy and with mingled firmness and
+patience towards America. It was a fortunate circumstance,
+for the great interests at stake on both sides of the Atlantic,
+that a man of so much judgment and right feeling was in
+power at a moment when prejudice was strong and passion
+ran high. Grote, who was by no means consumed with enthusiasm
+for the Palmerston Government, did not conceal
+his admiration of Lord John&rsquo;s sagacity at this crisis. &lsquo;The
+perfect neutrality of England in the destructive civil war
+now raging in America appears to me almost a phenomenon
+in political history. No such forbearance has been shown
+during the political history of the last two centuries. It is
+the single case in which the English Government and
+public, generally so meddlesome, have displayed most
+prudent and commendable forbearance in spite of great
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_321" id="Page_321">[321]</a></span>
+temptations to the contrary.&rsquo; Lord John had opinions,
+and the courage of them; but at the same time he showed
+himself fully alive to the fact that no greater calamity
+could possibly overtake the English-speaking race than a
+war between England and the United States.</p>
+
+<p>Europe was filled at the beginning of 1863 with tidings
+of a renewed Polish revolt. Russia provoked the outbreak
+by the stern measures which had been taken in the previous
+year to repress the growing discontent of the people. The
+conspiracy was too widespread and too deep-rooted for
+Alexander II. to deal with, except by concessions to national
+sentiment, which he was not prepared to make, and, therefore,
+he fell back on despotic use of power. All able-bodied
+men suspected of revolutionary tendencies were marked
+out for service in the Russian army, and in this way, in
+Lord John&rsquo;s words, the &lsquo;so-called conscription was turned
+into a proscription.&rsquo; The lot was made to fall on all
+political suspects, who were to be condemned for life
+to follow the hated Russian flag. The result was not
+merely armed resistance, but civil war. Poland, in her
+struggle for liberty, was joined by Lithuania; but Prussia
+came to the help of the Czar, and the protests of England,
+France, and Austria were of no avail. Before the year
+ended the dreams of self-government in Poland, after
+months of bloodshed and cruelty, were again ruthlessly
+dispelled.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">BISMARCK SHOWS HIS HAND</div>
+
+<p>One diplomatic difficulty followed another in quick
+succession. Bismarck was beginning to move the pawns
+on the chess-board of Europe. He had conciliated
+Russia by taking sides with her against the Poles in spite
+of the attitude of London, Paris, and Vienna. He feared
+the spirit of insurrection would spread to the Poles in
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_322" id="Page_322">[322]</a></span>
+Prussia, and had no sympathy with the aspirations of
+oppressed nationalities. His policy was to make Prussia
+strong&mdash;if need be by &lsquo;blood and iron&rsquo;&mdash;so that she might
+become mistress of Germany. The death of Frederick VII.
+of Denmark provoked a fresh crisis and revived in an
+acute form the question of succession to the duchies of
+Schleswig-Holstein. The Treaty of London in 1852 was
+supposed to have settled the question, and its terms had been
+accepted by Austria and Prussia. The integrity of Denmark
+was recognised, and Prince Christian of Glucksburg was
+accepted as heir-presumptive of the reigning king. The
+German Diet did not regard this arrangement as binding,
+and the feeling in the duchies themselves, especially in
+Holstein, was against the claims of Denmark. But the
+Hereditary Prince Frederick of Augustenburg disputed the
+right of Christian IX. to the Duchies, and Bismarck induced
+Austria to join Prussia in the occupation of the disputed
+territory.</p>
+
+<p>It is impossible to enter here into the merits of
+the quarrel, much less to describe the course of the
+struggle or the complicated diplomatic negotiations which
+grew out of it. Denmark undoubtedly imagined that
+the energetic protest of the English Government against
+her dismemberment would not end in mere words. The
+language used by both Lord Palmerston and Lord John
+Russell was of a kind to encourage the idea of the
+adoption, in the last extremity, of another policy than
+that of non-intervention. Bismarck, on the other hand, it
+has been said with truth, had taken up the cause of Schleswig-Holstein,
+not in the interest of its inhabitants, but in
+the interests of Germany, and by Germany he meant the
+Government of Berlin and the House of Hohenzollern. He
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_323" id="Page_323">[323]</a></span>
+represented not merely other ideas, but other methods than
+those which prevailed with statesmen who were old enough
+to recall the wars of Napoleon and the partition of Europe
+to which they gave rise. It must be admitted that England
+did not show to advantage in the Schleswig-Holstein
+difficulty, in spite of the soundness of her counsels; and
+Bismarck&rsquo;s triumph in the affair was as complete as the
+policy on which it was based was bold and adroit. Lord
+Palmerston and Lord John were embarrassed on the one
+hand by the apathy of Russia and France and on the
+other by the cautious, not to say timid, attitude of their
+own colleagues. &lsquo;As to Cabinets,&rsquo; wrote Lord Palmerston,
+with dry humour, in reply to a note in which Lord John
+hinted that if the Prime Minister and himself had been
+given a free hand they could have kept Austria from war
+with Denmark, &lsquo;if we had had colleagues like those who
+sat in Pitt&rsquo;s Cabinet, such as Westmoreland and others,
+or such men as those who were with Peel, like Goulburn
+and Hardinge, you and I might have had our own way in
+most things. But when, as is now the case, able men
+fill every department, such men will have opinions and
+hold to them. Unfortunately, they are often too busy
+with their own department to follow up foreign questions
+so as to be fully masters of them, and their conclusions
+are generally on the timid side of what might be the
+best.&rsquo;<a name="FNanchor_41_41" id="FNanchor_41_41"></a><a href="#Footnote_41_41" class="fnanchor">[41]</a></p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">AS SCHOOLMASTER ABROAD</div>
+
+<p>Lord John wrote to Foreign Courts&mdash;was Mr. Bagehot&rsquo;s
+shrewd criticism&mdash;much in the same manner as
+he was accustomed to speak in the House of Commons.
+In other words, he used great plainness of speech, and,
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_324" id="Page_324">[324]</a></span>
+because of the very desire to make his meaning clear, he,
+was occasionally indiscreetly explicit and even brusque.
+Sometimes it happened that the intelligent foreigner grew
+critical at Lord John&rsquo;s expense. Count Vitzthum, for example,
+laid stress on the fact that Lord John &lsquo;looked on the
+British Constitution as an inimitable masterpiece,&rsquo; which
+less-favoured nations ought not only to admire but adopt,
+if they wished to advance and go forward in the direction
+of liberty, prosperity, and peace. There was just enough
+truth in such assertions to render them amusing, though
+not enough to give them a sting. There were times when
+Lord John was the &lsquo;stormy petrel&rsquo; of foreign politics, but
+there never was a time when he ceased to labour in season
+and out for what he believed to be the honour of England.
+&lsquo;I do not believe that any English foreign statesman, who
+does his duty faithfully by his own countrymen in difficult
+circumstances, can escape the blame of foreign statesmen,&rsquo;
+were his own words, and he assuredly came in for his full
+share of abuse in Europe. One of Lord John Russell&rsquo;s
+subordinates at the Foreign Office, well known and distinguished
+in the political life of to-day, declares that Lord
+John, like Lord Clarendon, was accustomed to write many
+drafts of despatches with his own hand, but as a rule did not
+go with equal minuteness into the detail of the work. It
+sometimes happened that he would take sudden resolutions
+without adequate consideration of the points involved; but
+he would always listen patiently to objections, and when
+convinced that he was wrong was perfectly willing to
+modify his opinion. In most cases, however, Lord John
+did not make up his mind without due reflection, and
+under such circumstances he showed no vacillation. No
+tidings from abroad, however startling or unpleasant, seemed
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_325" id="Page_325">[325]</a></span>
+able to disturb his equanimity. He was an extremely
+considerate chief, but, though always willing to listen to
+his subordinates, kept his own counsel and seldom took
+them much into his confidence.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">COBDEN AND PALMERSTON</div>
+
+<p>The year 1865 was rendered memorable both in England
+and America by the death of statesmen of the first rank.
+In the spring, that great master of reason and economic
+reform, Richard Cobden, died in London, after a few
+days&rsquo; illness, in the prime of life; and almost before the
+nation realised the greatness of such a loss, tidings came
+across the Atlantic that President Abraham Lincoln
+had been assassinated at Washington, in the hour of
+triumph, by a cowardly fanatic. The summer in England
+was made restless by a General Election. Though Bright
+denounced Lord Palmerston, and Mr. Gladstone lost his
+seat at Oxford, to stand &lsquo;unmuzzled&rsquo; a few days later
+before the electors of South-West Lancashire, the predicted
+Conservative reaction was not an accomplished
+fact. Lord Palmerston&rsquo;s ascendency in the country, though
+diminished, was still great, and the magic of his name
+carried the election. &lsquo;It is clear,&rsquo; wrote Lord John to the
+plucky octogenarian Premier, when the latter, some time
+before the contest, made a fighting speech in the country,
+&lsquo;that your popularity is a plant of hardy growth and deep
+roots.&rsquo; Quite suddenly, in the spring of 1865, Lord Palmerston
+began to look as old as his years, and as the summer
+slipped past, it became apparent that the buoyant elasticity
+of temperament had vanished. On October 18 the great
+Minister died in harness, and Lord John Russell, who was
+only eight years younger, was called to the helm.</p>
+
+<p>The two men, more than once in mid-career, had
+serious misunderstandings, and envious lips had done their
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_326" id="Page_326">[326]</a></span>
+best to widen their differences. It is pleasant to think
+now that Palmerston and Russell were on cordial and
+intimate terms during the critical six years, when the former
+held for the last time the post of First Minister of the Crown,
+and the latter was responsible for Foreign Affairs. It is true
+that they were not of one mind on the question of Parliamentary
+Reform; but Lord John, after 1860 at least, was
+content to waive that question, for he saw that the nation, as
+well as the Prime Minister, was opposed to a forward movement
+in that direction, and the strain of war abroad and
+famine at home hindered the calm discussion of constitutional
+problems. Lord Lyttelton used to say that
+Palmerston was regarded as a Whig because he belonged
+to Lord Grey&rsquo;s Government, and had always thrown in his
+lot with that statesman&rsquo;s political posterity. At the same
+time, Lord Lyttelton held&mdash;even as late as 1865&mdash;that
+a &lsquo;more genuine Conservative, especially in home affairs,
+it would not be easy to find.&rsquo; Palmerston gave Lord John
+Russell his active support in the attitude which the latter took
+up at the Foreign Office on all the great questions which
+arose, sometimes in a sudden and dramatic form, at a period
+when the power of Napoleon III., in spite of theatrical
+display, was declining, and Bismarck was shaping with consummate
+skill the fortunes of Germany.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">PRIME MINISTER</div>
+
+<p>The day after Palmerston&rsquo;s death her Majesty wrote in the
+following terms to Lord John: &lsquo;The melancholy news of
+Lord Palmerston&rsquo;s death reached the Queen last night.
+This is another link with the past that is broken, and
+the Queen feels deeply in her desolate and isolated condition
+how, one by one, tried servants and advisers are
+taken from her.... The Queen can turn to no other
+than Lord Russell, an old and tried friend of hers, to
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_327" id="Page_327">[327]</a></span>
+undertake the arduous duties of Prime Minister, and to
+carry on the Government.&rsquo; Such a command was met
+by Lord John with the response that he was willing to
+act if his colleagues were prepared to serve under him.
+Mr. Gladstone&rsquo;s position in the country and in the councils
+of the Liberal Party had been greatly strengthened by his
+rejection at Oxford, and by the subsequent boldness and
+fervour of his speeches in Lancashire. He forestalled Lord
+John&rsquo;s letter by offering, in a frank and generous spirit, to
+serve under the old Liberal leader. Mr. Gladstone declared
+that he was quite willing to take his chance under Lord
+John&rsquo;s &lsquo;banner,&rsquo; and to continue his services as Chancellor
+of the Exchequer. This offer was of course accepted, and
+Mr. Gladstone also took Lord Palmerston&rsquo;s place as Leader
+of the House of Commons. Lord Cranworth became Lord
+Chancellor, Lord Clarendon took Lord John&rsquo;s place at the
+Foreign Office, the Duke of Argyll and Sir George Grey
+resumed their old positions as Lord Privy Seal and Home
+Secretary. After a short interval, Mr. Goschen and Lord
+Hartington were raised to Cabinet rank; while Mr. Forster,
+Lord Dufferin, and Mr. Stansfeld became respectively
+Under-Secretaries for the Colonies, War, and India; but
+Lord John, in spite of strong pressure, refused to admit
+Mr. Lowe to his Cabinet.</p>
+
+<p>At the Lord Mayor&rsquo;s banquet in November, Lord John
+took occasion to pay a warm tribute to Palmerston: &lsquo;It is a
+great loss indeed, because he was a man qualified to conduct
+the country successfully through all the vicissitudes of war
+and peace.&rsquo; He declared that Lord Palmerston displayed
+resolution, resource, promptitude, and vigour in the conduct
+of foreign affairs, showed himself also able to maintain
+internal tranquillity, and, by extending commercial
+relation<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_328" id="Page_328">[328]</a></span>ships,
+to give to the country the &lsquo;whole fruits of the blessings
+of peace.&rsquo; He added that Lord Palmerston&rsquo;s heart never
+ceased to beat for the honour of England, and that his mind
+comprehended and his experience embraced the whole field
+which is covered by the interests of the nation.</p>
+
+<p>The new Premier made no secret of his conviction that, if
+the Ministry was to last, it must be either frankly Liberal or
+frankly Conservative. As he had the chief voice in the
+matter, and was bent on a new Reform Bill, it became, after
+certain changes had been effected, much more progressive
+than was possible under Palmerston. Parliament was
+opened on February 1, 1866, by the Queen in person, for
+the first time since the death of the Prince Consort, and
+the chief point of interest in the Speech from the Throne
+was the guarded promise of a Reform Bill. The attention
+of Parliament was to be called to information concerning the
+right of voting with a view to such improvements as might
+tend to strengthen our free institutions and conduce to
+the public welfare. Lord John determined to make haste
+slowly, for some of his colleagues were hardly inclined to
+make haste at all, since they shared Lord Palmerston&rsquo;s
+views on the subject and distrusted the Radical cry which
+had arisen since the industrial revolution. The Premier
+and Mr. Gladstone&mdash;for they were a kind of Committee
+of Two&mdash;were content for the moment to propose a
+revision of the franchise, and to leave in ambush for another
+session the vexed question involved in a redistribution of
+seats. &lsquo;It was decided,&rsquo; states Lord John, &lsquo;that it would
+be best to separate the question of the franchise from that
+of the disfranchisement of boroughs. After much inquiry,
+we agreed to fix the suffrages of boroughs at an occupation
+of 7<i>l.</i> value.
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_329" id="Page_329">[329]</a></span>&rsquo;</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">THE CAVE OF ADULLAM</div>
+
+<p>The House of Commons was densely packed when
+Mr. Gladstone introduced the measure on March 12,
+but, in spite of his powers of exposition and infectious
+enthusiasm, the Government proposals fell undeniably flat.
+Broadly stated, they were as follows. The county franchise
+was to be dropped to 14<i>l.</i>, and that of the borough, as already
+stated, to half that amount, whilst compound householders
+and lodgers paying 10<i>l.</i> a year were to possess votes. It
+was computed at the time that the measure would add four
+hundred thousand new voters to the existing lists, and that
+two hundred thousand of these would belong to what Lord
+John termed the &lsquo;best of the working classes.&rsquo; Mr. Bright,
+and those whom he represented, not only in Birmingham,
+but also in every great city and town in the land, gave their
+support to the Government, on the principle that this was
+at least an &lsquo;honest&rsquo; measure, and that half a loaf, moreover,
+was better than no bread. At the same time the country
+was not greatly stirred one way or another by the scheme,
+though it stirred to panic-stricken indignation men of the
+stamp of Mr. Lowe, Mr. Horsman, Lord Elcho, Earl Grosvenor,
+Lord Dunkellin, and other so-called, but very indifferent,
+Liberals, who had attached themselves to the party
+under Lord Palmerston&rsquo;s happy-go-lucky and easy auspices.
+These were the men who presently distinguished themselves,
+and extinguished the Russell Administration by their ridiculous
+fear of the democracy. They retired into what Mr.
+Bright termed the &lsquo;political cave of Adullam,&rsquo; and, as Lord
+John said, the &lsquo;timid, the selfish, and those who were
+both selfish and timid&rsquo; joined the sorry company.</p>
+
+<p>The Conservatives saw their opportunity, and, being
+human, took it. Lord Grosvenor brought forward an
+amendment calling attention to the omission of a
+redis<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_330" id="Page_330">[330]</a></span>tribution
+scheme. A debate, which occupied eight nights,
+followed, and when it was in progress, Mr. Gladstone,
+in defending his own conduct as Leader of the House,
+incidentally paid an impressive tribute to the memorable
+and protracted services in the Commons of Lord John:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>&lsquo;If, sir, I had been the man who, at the very outset of
+his career, wellnigh half a century ago, had with an almost
+prophetic foresight fastened upon two great groups of
+questions, those great historic questions relating to the
+removal of civil disabilities for religious opinions and to
+Parliamentary Reform; if I had been the man who, having
+thus in his early youth, in the very first stage of his political
+career, fixed upon those questions and made them his own,
+then went on to prosecute them with sure and unflagging
+instinct until the triumph in each case had been achieved; if
+I had been the man whose name had been associated for
+forty years, and often in the very first place of eminence, with
+every element of beneficent legislation&mdash;in other words, had
+I been Earl Russell, then there might have been some temptation
+to pass into excess on the exercise of authority, and
+some excuse for the endeavour to apply to this House a pressure
+in itself unjustifiable. But, sir, I am not Earl Russell.&rsquo;</p>
+
+<p>In the end, Lord Grosvenor&rsquo;s amendment was lost by a
+majority equal only to the fingers of one hand. Such an unmistakeable
+expression of opinion could not be disregarded,
+and the Government brought in a Redistribution of Seats
+Bill at the beginning of May. They proposed that thirty
+boroughs having a population of less than eight thousand
+should be deprived of one member, whilst nineteen other
+seats were obtained by joint representation in smaller
+boroughs. After running the gauntlet of much hostile
+criticism, the bill was read a second time, but the
+Govern<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_331" id="Page_331">[331]</a></span>ment
+were forced to refer it and the franchise scheme to a
+committee, which was empowered to deal with both schemes.
+Lord Stanley, Mr. Ward Hunt, and Mr. Walpole assailed
+with successive motions, which were more or less narrowly
+rejected, various points in the Government proposals, and
+the opposition grew more and more stubborn. At length
+Lord Dunkellin (son of the Earl of Clanricarde) moved to
+substitute rating for rental in the boroughs; and the Government,
+in a House of six hundred and nineteen members,
+were defeated on June 18 by a majority of eleven. The
+excitement which met this announcement was extraordinary,
+and when it was followed next day by tidings that the Russell
+Administration was at an end, those who thought that the
+country cared little about the question found themselves
+suddenly disillusioned.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">FALL OF THE RUSSELL GOVERNMENT</div>
+
+<p>Burke declared that there were moments when it
+became necessary for the people themselves to interpose on
+behalf of their rights. The overthrow of the Russell
+Administration took the nation by surprise. Three days
+after Lord John&rsquo;s resignation there was a historic gathering
+in Trafalgar Square. In his speech announcing the resignation
+of his Ministry, Lord John warned Parliament about
+the danger of alienating the sympathy of the people from
+the Crown and the aristocracy. He reminded the Peers
+that universal suffrage prevailed not only in the United
+States but in our own Colonies; and he took his stand in
+the light of the larger needs of the new era, on the
+assertion of Lord Grey at the time of the Reform Bill
+that only a large measure was a safe measure. &lsquo;We have
+made the attempt,&rsquo; added Lord John, &lsquo;sincerely and
+anxiously to perform the duties of reconciling that which
+is due to the Constitution of the country with that which
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_332" id="Page_332">[332]</a></span>
+is due to the growing intelligence, the increasing wealth,
+and the manifest forbearance, virtue, and order of the
+people.&rsquo; He protested against a niggardly and ungenerous
+treatment of so momentous a question.</p>
+
+<p>Lord Russell&rsquo;s words were not lost on Mr. Bradlaugh. He
+made them the text of his speech to the twenty thousand
+people who assembled in Trafalgar Square, and afterwards
+walked in procession to give Mr. Gladstone an ovation in Carlton
+House Terrace. About three weeks later another great
+demonstration was announced to take place in Hyde Park,
+under the auspices of the Reform League. The authorities
+refused to allow the gathering, and, after a formal protest,
+the meeting was held at the former rendezvous. The
+mixed multitude who had followed the procession to the
+Park gates took the repulse less calmly, with the result that,
+as much by accident as by design, the Park railings for the
+space of half a mile were thrown down. Force is no remedy,
+but a little of it is sometimes a good object-lesson, and
+the panic which this unpremeditated display occasioned
+amongst the valiant defenders of law and order was unmistakeable.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">&lsquo;DISHING THE WHIGS&rsquo;</div>
+
+<p>Mr. Lowe had flouted the people, and had publicly
+asserted that those who were without the franchise did not
+really care to possess it. Forty-three other so-called
+Liberals in the House of Commons were apparently of the
+same way of thinking, for the Russell Administration was
+defeated by forty-four &lsquo;Liberal&rsquo; votes. This in itself shows
+that Lord John, up to the hour in which he was driven from
+power, was far in advance of one section of his followers.
+The great towns, and more particularly Birmingham, Manchester,
+and Leeds, promptly took up the challenge; and in
+those three centres alone half a million of people assembled
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_333" id="Page_333">[333]</a></span>
+to make energetic protest against the contemptuous dismissal
+of their claims. The fall of the Park railings appealed to
+the fear of the classes, and aroused the enthusiasm of the
+masses. It is scarcely too much to say that if they had been
+demolished a month earlier the Russell Government would
+have carried its Reform proposals, and Disraeli would have
+lost his chance of &lsquo;dishing the Whigs.&rsquo; The defeat of
+Lord John Russell was a virtual triumph. He was driven
+from power by a rally of reactionary forces at the very
+moment when he was fighting the battle of the people.<a name="FNanchor_42_42" id="FNanchor_42_42"></a><a href="#Footnote_42_42" class="fnanchor">[42]</a> The
+Tories were only able to hold their own by borrowing a leaf
+from his book, and bringing in a more drastic measure of
+reform.</p>
+
+<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_41_41" id="Footnote_41_41"></a><a href="#FNanchor_41_41"><span class="label">[41]</span></a> <i>Life and Correspondence of Viscount Palmerston</i>, by the Hon.
+Evelyn Ashley, vol. ii. p. 438.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_42_42" id="Footnote_42_42"></a><a href="#FNanchor_42_42"><span class="label">[42]</span></a> In a letter written in the spring of 1867, Lord Houghton refers to
+Mr. Gladstone as being &lsquo;quite awed&rsquo; for the moment by the &lsquo;diabolical
+cleverness of Dizzy.&rsquo; He adds: &lsquo;Delane says the extreme party for
+Reform are now the grandees, and that the Dukes are quite ready to
+follow Beale into Hyde Park.&rsquo;&mdash;<i>The Life, Letters, and Friendships of
+Lord Houghton</i>, by Sir Wemyss Reid, vol. ii. pp. 174-5.</p></div>
+</div>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_334" id="Page_334">[334]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVII" id="CHAPTER_XVII"></a>CHAPTER XVII</h2>
+
+<p class="title">OUT OF HARNESS<br /><br />
+
+1867-1874</p>
+
+<p class="desc">Speeches in the House of Lords&mdash;Leisured years&mdash;Mr. Lecky&rsquo;s reminiscences&mdash;The
+question of the Irish Church&mdash;The Independence
+of Belgium&mdash;Lord John on the claims of the Vatican&mdash;Letters to
+Mr. Chichester Fortescue&mdash;His scheme for the better government
+of Ireland&mdash;Lord Selborne&rsquo;s estimate of Lord John&rsquo;s public career&mdash;Frank
+admissions&mdash;As his private secretaries saw him.</p>
+
+
+<p class="noi"><span class="smcap">Lord John</span> never relinquished that high sense of responsibility
+which was conspicuous in his attitude as a
+Minister of the Crown. Although out of harness from the
+summer of 1866 to his death, twelve years later, he retained
+to the last, undiminished, the sense of public duty. He
+took, not merely a keen interest, but an appreciable share in
+public affairs; and some of the speeches which he delivered
+in the House of Lords after his retirement from office show
+how vigorous and acute his intellect remained, and how wide
+and generous were his sympathies. The leisured years
+which came to Lord John after the fall of the second Russell
+Administration enabled him to renew old friendships,
+and gave him the opportunity for making the acquaintance
+of distinguished men of a younger generation. His own
+historical studies&mdash;the literary passion of a lifetime&mdash;made
+him keenly appreciative of the work of others in that direction,
+and kindred tastes drew him into intimate relations with
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_335" id="Page_335">[335]</a></span>
+Mr. W. E. H. Lecky. Few of the reminiscences, great or
+small, which have been written for these pages, can compare
+in interest with the following statement by so philosophic
+a critic of public affairs and so acute a judge of men:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">MR. LECKY&rsquo;S REMINISCENCES</div>
+
+<p>&lsquo;It was, I think, in 1866, and in the house of Dean
+Milman, that I had the privilege of being introduced to Lord
+Russell. He at once received me with a warmth and kindness
+I can never forget, and from this time till near the
+end of his life I saw him very frequently. His Ministerial
+career had just terminated, but I could trace no failure in
+his powers, and, whatever difference of opinion there might
+be about his public career, no one, I believe, who ever came
+in contact with him failed to recognise his singular charm in
+private life. His conversation differed from that of some of
+the more illustrious of his contemporaries. It was not a
+copious and brilliant stream of words, dazzling, astonishing,
+or overpowering. It had no tendency to monologue, and it
+was not remarkable for any striking originalities either of
+language, metaphor, or thought. Few men steered more
+clear of paradox, and the charm of his talk lay mainly in his
+admirable terseness and clearness of expression, in the skill
+with which, by a few happy words, he could tell a story, or
+etch out a character, or condense an argument or statement.
+Beyond all men I have ever known, he had the gift of seizing
+rapidly in every question the central argument, the essential
+fact or distinction; and of all his mental characteristics,
+quickness and soundness of judgment seemed to me the
+most conspicuous. I have never met with anyone with
+whom it was so possible to discuss with profit many great
+questions in a short time. No one, too, could know him
+intimately without being impressed with his high sense of
+honour, with his transparent purity of motive, with the
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_336" id="Page_336">[336]</a></span>
+fundamental kindliness of his disposition, with the remarkable
+modesty of his estimate of his own past. He was
+eminently tolerant of difference of opinion, and he had in
+private life an imperturbable sweetness of temper that set
+those about him completely at their ease, and helped much
+to make them talk their best. Few men had more anecdotes,
+and no one told them better&mdash;tersely, accurately, with a
+quiet, subdued humour, with a lightness of touch which I
+should not have expected from his writings. In addition to
+the experiences of a long and eventful life, his mind was
+stored with the anecdotes of the brilliant Whig society of
+Holland House, of which he was one of the last repositories.
+It is much to be regretted that he did not write down his
+&ldquo;Recollections&rdquo; till a period of life when his once admirable
+memory was manifestly failing. He was himself sadly
+conscious of the failure. &ldquo;I used never to confuse my facts,&rdquo;
+he once said to me; &ldquo;I now find that I am beginning to do
+so.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&lsquo;He has mentioned in his &ldquo;Recollections&rdquo; as one of the
+great felicities of his life that he retained the friendship of
+his leading opponents, and his private conversation fully
+supported this view. Of Sir Robert Peel he always spoke
+with a special respect, and it was, I think, a matter of
+peculiar pleasure to him that in his old age his family was
+closely connected by marriage with that of his illustrious
+rival. His friendship with Lord Derby, which began when
+they were colleagues, was unbroken by many contests. He
+spoke of him, however, as a man of brilliant talent, who had
+not the judgment or the character suited for the first place;
+and he maintained that he had done much better both
+under Lord Grey and under Sir Robert Peel than as Prime
+Minister. Between Lord Russell and Disraeli there was, I
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_337" id="Page_337">[337]</a></span>
+believe, on both sides much kindly feeling, though no two
+men could be less like, and though there was much in
+Disraeli&rsquo;s ways of looking at things that must have been
+peculiarly trying to the Whig mind. Lord Russell told me
+that he once described him in Parliament by quoting the
+lines of Dryden:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">&lsquo;He was not one on picking work to dwell.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">He fagotted his notions as they fell;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And if they rhymed and rattled, all was well.&rsquo;<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<div class="sidenote">HIS EARLY CHIEFS</div>
+
+<p>&lsquo;Of his early chiefs, he used to speak with most
+reverence of Lord Grey. Lord Melbourne, he said, greatly
+injured his Government by the manner in which he treated
+deputations. He never could resist the temptation of bantering
+and snubbing them. Two men who flourished in his
+youth surpassed, Lord Russell thought, in eloquence any
+of the later generation. They were Canning and Plunket,
+and as an orator the greater of these was Plunket. Among
+the statesmen of a former generation, he had an especial
+admiration for Walpole, and was accustomed to maintain
+that he was a much greater statesman than Pitt. His judgment,
+indeed, of Pitt always seemed to me much warped by
+that adoration of Fox which in the early years of the century
+was almost an article of religion in Whig circles. Lord
+Russell had also the true Whig reverence for William III.,
+and, I am afraid, he was by no means satisfied with some
+pages I wrote about that sovereign.</p>
+
+<p>&lsquo;Speaking of Lord Palmerston, I once said to him that I
+was struck with the small net result in legislation which he
+accomplished considering the many years he was in power.
+&ldquo;But during all these years,&rdquo; Lord Russell replied, &ldquo;he kept
+the honour of England very high; and I think that a great
+thing.
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_338" id="Page_338">[338]</a></span>&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&lsquo;The Imperialist sentiment was one of the deepest in
+his nature, and few things exasperated him more than the
+school which was advocating the surrender of India and
+the Colonies. &ldquo;When I was young,&rdquo; he once said to me,
+&ldquo;it was thought the work of a wise statesman that he had
+turned a small kingdom into a great empire. In my old age
+it seems to be thought the object of a statesman to turn a
+great empire into a small kingdom.&rdquo; He thought we
+had made a grave mistake, when conceding self-government
+to the Colonies, in not reserving the waste lands and free
+trade with the Mother Country; and he considered that
+the right of veto on legislation, which had been reserved,
+ought to have been always exercised (as he said it was
+under Lord Grey) when duties were imposed on English
+goods. In Irish politics he greatly blamed Canning, who
+agreed with the Whigs about Catholic Emancipation, though
+he differed from them about Reform. The former question,
+he said, was then by far the more pressing, and if Canning
+had insisted on making it a first-class ministerial question he
+would have carried it in conjunction with the Whigs. &ldquo;My
+pride in Irish measures,&rdquo; he once wrote to me, &ldquo;is in the
+Poor Law, which I designed, framed, and twice carried.&rdquo;
+Like Peel, he strongly maintained that the priests ought to
+have been paid. He would gladly have seen the principle
+of religious equality in Ireland carried to its furthest consequences,
+and local government considerably extended;
+but he told me that any statesman who proposed to repeal
+the Union ought to be impeached, and in his &ldquo;Recollections,&rdquo;
+and in one of his published letters to the present Lord
+Carlingford, he has expressed in the strongest terms his
+inflexible hostility to Home Rule.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">POLITICAL APPREHENSIONS</div>
+
+<p>&lsquo;Though the steadiest of Whigs, Lord Russell was by no
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_339" id="Page_339">[339]</a></span>
+means an uncompromising democrat. The great misfortune,
+he said, of America was that the influence of Jefferson
+had eclipsed that of Washington. One of her chief advantages
+was that the Western States furnished a wide
+and harmless field for restless energy and ambition. In
+England he was very anxious that progress should move
+on the lines of the past, and he was under the impression
+that statesmen of the present generation studied English
+history less than their predecessors. He was one of the
+earliest advocates of the Minority Vote, and he certainly
+looked with very considerable apprehension to the effects of
+the Democratic Reform Bill of 1867. He said to me that
+he feared there was too much truth in the saying of one of
+his friends that &ldquo;the concessions of the Whigs were once
+concessions to intelligence, but now concessions to ignorance.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&lsquo;When the Education Act was carried, he was strongly in
+favour of the introduction of the Bible, accompanied by
+purely undenominational teaching. This was, I think, one
+of his last important declarations on public policy. I
+recollect a scathing article in the &ldquo;Saturday Review,&rdquo; demonstrating
+the absurdity of supposing that such teaching
+was possible. But the people of England took a different
+view. The great majority of the School Boards adopted the
+system which Lord Russell recommended, and it prevailed
+with almost perfect harmony for more than twenty years.</p>
+
+<p>&lsquo;In foreign politics he looked with peculiar pleasure to
+the services he had rendered to the Italian cause. Italy
+was always very dear to him. He had many valued friends
+there, and he spoke Italian (as he also did Spanish) with
+much fluency. Among my most vivid recollections are
+those of some happy days I spent with him at San Remo.
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_340" id="Page_340">[340]</a></span>&rsquo;</p>
+
+<p>Two years before the disestablishment of the Irish
+Church, Lord John Russell, knowing how great a stumbling-block
+its privileges were to the progress of the people,
+moved for a Commission to inquire into the expenditure of
+its revenues. The investigation was, however, staved off,
+and the larger question was, in consequence, hastened. He
+supported Mr. Gladstone in a powerful speech in 1870, and
+showed himself in substantial agreement with Mr. Forster
+over his great scheme of education, though he thought that
+some of its provisions bore heavily upon Nonconformists.
+The outbreak of war between France and Germany seemed
+at first to threaten the interests of England, and Lord John
+introduced a Militia Bill, which was only withdrawn when
+the Government promised to take action. The interests of
+Belgium were threatened by the struggle on the Continent,
+and Lord John took occasion to remind the nation that we
+were bound to defend that country, and had guaranteed by
+treaty to uphold its independence:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>&lsquo;... I am persuaded that if it is once manfully declared
+that England means to stand by her treaties, to perform her
+engagements&mdash;that her honour and her interest would allow
+nothing else&mdash;such a declaration would check the greater
+part of these intrigues, and that neither France nor Prussia
+would wish to add a second enemy to the formidable foe
+which each has to meet.... When the choice is between
+honour and infamy, I cannot doubt that her Majesty&rsquo;s
+Government will pursue the course of honour, the only one
+worthy of the British people.... I consider that if
+England shrank from the performance of her engagements&mdash;if
+she acted in a faithless manner with respect to this matter&mdash;her
+extinction as a Great Power must very soon follow.&rsquo;</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">ATTACKS THE CLAIMS OF PIUS IX.</div>
+
+<p>Lord John&rsquo;s vigorous protest did not go unheeded, and
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_341" id="Page_341">[341]</a></span>
+the King of the Belgians sent him an autograph letter in
+acknowledgment of his generous and opportune words. On
+the other hand, Lord John Russell resented the determination
+of Mr. Gladstone to submit the &lsquo;Alabama&rsquo; claims to arbitration,
+and also opposed the adoption of the Ballot and the
+abolition of purchase in the Army. The conflict which arose
+in the autumn of 1872 between the Emperor of Germany
+and Pius IX. was a matter which appealed to all lovers of
+liberty of conscience. Lord John, though now in his eighty
+second year, rose promptly to the occasion, and promised to
+preside at a great public meeting in London, called to protest
+against the claims of the Vatican. At the last moment,
+though the spirit was willing, the flesh was weak, and
+yielding to medical advice, he contented himself with a
+written expression of sympathy. This was read to the
+meeting, and brought him the thanks of the Kaiser and
+Prince Bismarck. Lord John&rsquo;s letters, declared Mr. Kinglake
+seem to carry with them the very ring of his voice;
+and the one which was written from Pembroke Lodge on
+January 19, 1874, was full of the old fire of enthusiasm and
+the resolution which springs from clean-cut convictions:&mdash;&lsquo;I
+hasten to declare with all friends of freedom, and I trust
+with the great majority of the English nation, that I could no
+longer call myself a lover of civil and religious liberty were
+I not to proclaim my sympathy with the Emperor of
+Germany in the noble struggle in which he is engaged.&rsquo;</p>
+
+<p>Lord John Russell&rsquo;s pamphlets, published in 1868-9&mdash;in
+the shape of letters to Mr. Chichester Fortescue&mdash;show that
+in old age and out of office he was still anxious to see
+justice done to the legitimate demands of Ireland. He
+declared that he witnessed with alarm the attempt to involve
+the whole Irish nation in a charge of disaffection, conspiracy,
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_342" id="Page_342">[342]</a></span>
+and treason. He contended that Englishmen ought to seek
+to rid their minds of exaggerated fears and national
+animosities, so that they might be in a position to consider
+patiently all the facts of the case. &lsquo;We ought to weigh with
+care the complaints that are made, and examine with still
+more care and circumspection the remedies that are proposed,
+lest in our attempts to cure the disease we give the
+patient a new and more dangerous disorder.&rsquo; In his &lsquo;Life
+of Fox&rsquo; Lord John Russell maintained that the wisest system
+that could be devised for the conciliation of Ireland had yet
+to be discovered; and in his third letter to Mr. Chichester
+Fortescue, published in January 1869, he made a remarkable
+allusion to Mr. Gladstone as a statesman who might
+yet seek to &lsquo;perform a permanent and immortal service to
+his country&rsquo; by endeavouring to reconcile England and
+Ireland. If, added Lord John, Mr. Gladstone should &lsquo;undertake
+the heroic task of riveting the union of the three kingdoms
+by affection, even more than by statute; if he should
+endeavour to efface the stains which proscription and prejudice
+have affixed on the fair fame of Great Britain, then,
+though he may not reunite his party ... he will be enrolled
+among the noblest of England&rsquo;s statesmen, and will have
+laid the foundations of a great work, which either he or a
+younger generation will not fail to accomplish.&rsquo;</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">IRISH PROPOSALS</div>
+
+<p>The proposals Lord John Russell made in the columns of
+the &lsquo;Times,&rsquo; on August 9, 1872, for the better government
+of Ireland have been claimed as a tentative scheme of Home
+Rule. &lsquo;It appears to me, that if Ireland were to be allowed to
+elect a representative assembly for each of its four provinces
+of Leinster, Ulster, Munster, and Connaught, and if Scotland
+in a similar manner were to be divided into Lowlands
+and Highlands, having for each province a representative
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_343" id="Page_343">[343]</a></span>
+assembly, the local wants of Ireland and Scotland might be
+better provided for than they are at present.&rsquo; Lord John
+went on to say that the Imperial Parliament might still
+retain its hold over local legislation, and added that it was
+his purpose to explain in a pamphlet a policy which he
+thought might be adopted to the &lsquo;satisfaction of the nation
+at large.&rsquo; The pamphlet, however, remained unwritten, and
+the scheme in its fulness, therefore, was never explained.
+Evidently Lord Russell&rsquo;s mind was changing in its attitude
+towards the Irish problem; but, as Mr. Lecky points out in
+the personal reminiscences with which he has enriched
+these pages, though in advance of the opinion of the hour
+he was not prepared to accept the principle of Home
+Rule. Although Mr. Lecky does not mention the year
+in which Lord John declared that any statesman who &lsquo;proposed
+to repeal the Union ought to be impeached,&rsquo; Lord
+Russell himself in his published &lsquo;Recollections&rsquo; admits that
+he saw no hope that Ireland would be well and quietly
+governed by the adoption of Home Rule. In fact, he makes
+it quite clear that he was in sympathy with the view which
+Lord Althorp expressed when O&rsquo;Connell demanded the
+repeal of the Union&mdash;namely, that such a request amounted
+to a dismemberment of the Empire. On the other hand,
+Lord John was wont in his latest years to discuss the
+question in all its bearings with an Irish representative who
+held opposite views. There can be no doubt that he
+was feeling his way to a more generous interpretation
+of the problem than that which is commonly attributed
+to him. His own words on this point are: &lsquo;I should have
+been very glad if the leaders of popular opinion in Ireland
+had so modified and mollified their demand for Home Rule
+as to make it consistent with the unity of the Empire.&rsquo; His
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_344" id="Page_344">[344]</a></span>
+mind, till within a few years of his death, was clear, and
+did not stand still. Whether he would have gradually
+become a Home Ruler is open to question, but in 1874
+he had gone quite as far in that direction as Mr. Gladstone.</p>
+
+<p>Lord John, though the most loyal of subjects, made it
+plain throughout his career that he was not in the least
+degree a courtier. His nephew, Mr. George Russell, after
+stating that Lord John supported, with voice and vote, Mr.
+Hume&rsquo;s motion for the revision of the Civil List under
+George IV., and urged in vigorous terms the restoration of
+Queen Caroline&rsquo;s name to the Liturgy, as well as subscribing
+to compensate an officer, friendly to the Queen, whom the
+King&rsquo;s animosity had driven from the army, adds: &lsquo;It may
+well be that some tradition of this early independence, or
+some playful desire to test the fibre of Whiggery by putting
+an extreme case, led in much later years to an embarrassing
+question by an illustrious personage, and gave the opportunity
+for an apt reply. &ldquo;Is it true, Lord John, that you
+hold that a subject is justified, under certain circumstances, in
+disobeying his Sovereign&rsquo;s will?&rdquo; &ldquo;Well,&rdquo; I said, &ldquo;speaking
+to a Sovereign of the House of Hanover, I can only say
+that I suppose it is!&rdquo;&rsquo;<a name="FNanchor_43_43" id="FNanchor_43_43"></a><a href="#Footnote_43_43" class="fnanchor">[43]</a></p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">IMPULSIVE BUT CHIVALROUS</div>
+
+<p>Looking back in the autumn of last year on the length and
+breadth of Earl Russell&rsquo;s public career, the late Earl Selborne
+sent for these pages the following words, which gather up his
+general, and, alas! final impressions of his old friend and
+colleague: &lsquo;I have tried to imagine in what words an ancient
+Roman panegyrist might have summed up such a public
+and private character as that of Lord Russell. &ldquo;Animosa
+juventus,&rdquo; and &ldquo;jucunda senectus,&rdquo; would not inaptly have
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_345" id="Page_345">[345]</a></span>
+described his earlier and his latter days. But for the life of
+long and active public service which came between, it is
+difficult to find any phrase equally pointed and characteristic.
+Always patriotic, always faithful to the traditions associated
+with his name, there was, as Sydney Smith said, nothing
+which he had not courage to undertake. What he undertook
+he did energetically, and generally in a noble spirit;
+though sometimes yielding to too sudden impulses. As time
+went on, the generosity and sagacity of his nature gained
+strength; and, though he had not always been patient when
+the control of affairs was in other hands, a successful rival
+found in him the most loyal of colleagues. Any estimate
+of his character would be imperfect which omitted to recognise
+either his appreciative and sympathetic disposition
+towards those who differed from him, even on points of
+importance, when he believed their convictions to be sincere
+and their conduct upright, or the rare dignity and magnanimity
+with which, after 1866, he retired from a great position,
+of which he was neither unambitious nor unworthy,
+under no pressure from without, and before age or infirmity
+had made it necessary for him to do so.&rsquo;</p>
+
+<p>Lord Selborne&rsquo;s allusion to Lord John&rsquo;s sympathetic
+disposition to those who differed from him, even on points
+of importance, is borne out by the terms in which he referred
+to Lord Aberdeen in correspondence&mdash;which was published
+first in the &lsquo;Times,&rsquo; and afterwards in a pamphlet&mdash;between
+himself and Sir Arthur Gordon over statements in the first
+edition of &lsquo;Recollections and Suggestions.&rsquo; Lord John
+admitted that, through lapse of memory, he had fallen into
+error, and that his words conveyed a wrong impression concerning
+Lord Aberdeen. He added: &lsquo;I believe no man has
+entered public life in my time more pure in his personal
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_346" id="Page_346">[346]</a></span>
+views, and more free from grasping ambition or selfish consideration.
+I am much grieved that anything I have written
+should be liable to an interpretation injurious to Lord
+Aberdeen.&rsquo; It is pleasant in this connection to be able to
+cite a letter, written by Lord Aberdeen to the Duke of
+Bedford, when the Crimean War was happily only a memory.
+The Duke had told Lord Aberdeen that his brother admitted
+his mistake in leaving the Coalition Government in the way
+in which he did. Lord Aberdeen in his reply declared that
+he did not doubt that Lord John entered the Government
+on generous and high-minded motives, or that, in consequence
+of delay, he might have arrived at the conclusion that he
+was in a somewhat false position. Any appearance of lack
+of confidence in Lord John, Lord Aberdeen remarked, was
+&lsquo;entirely the effect of accident and never of intention.&rsquo; He
+hints that he sometimes thought Lord John over-sensitive
+and even rash or impracticable. He adds: &lsquo;But these are
+trifles. We parted with expressions of mutual regard, which
+on my side were perfectly sincere, as I have no doubt they
+were on his. These expressions I am happy in having this
+opportunity to renew; as well as with my admiration of his
+great powers and noble impulses to assure you that I shall
+always feel a warm interest in his reputation and honour.&rsquo;
+Lord Stanmore states that his father &lsquo;steadily maintained
+that Lord John was the proper head of the Liberal party,
+and never ceased to desire that he should succeed him as
+Prime Minister.&rsquo; Rashness and impatience are hard sayings
+to one who looks steadily at the annals of the Coalition
+Government. Lord Aberdeen and the majority of his
+Cabinet, were, to borrow a phrase from Swift, &lsquo;huge idolators
+of delay.&rsquo; Their policy of masterly inactivity was disastrous,
+and, though Lord John made a mistake in quitting the
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_347" id="Page_347">[347]</a></span>
+Ministry in face of a hostile vote of censure, his chief mistake
+arose from the &lsquo;generous and high-minded motives&rsquo; which
+Lord Aberdeen attributes to him, and which led him to join
+the Coalition Government.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">RELATIONS WITH POLITICAL OPPONENTS</div>
+
+<p>His personal relations with his political opponents, from
+the Duke of Wellington to Lord Salisbury, were cordial.
+His friendship with Lord Derby was intimate, and he visited
+him at Knowsley, and in his closing years he had much
+pleasant intercourse with Lord Salisbury at Dieppe. His
+association with Lord Beaconsfield was slight; but one of the
+kindest letters which Lady Russell received on the death of
+her husband was written by a statesman with whom Lord
+Russell had little in common. Sir Robert Peel, in spite
+of the encounters of party warfare, always maintained
+towards Lord John the most friendly attitude. &lsquo;The
+idea which the stranger or casual acquaintance,&rsquo; states his
+brother-in-law and former private secretary, Mr. George
+Elliot, &lsquo;conceived of Lord Russell was very unlike the
+real man as seen in his own home or among his intimates.
+There he was lively, playful, and uniformily good-humoured,
+full of anecdote, and a good teller of a story.... In
+conversation he was easy and pleasant, and the reverse of
+disputatious. Even in the worst of his political difficulties&mdash;and
+he had some pretty hard trials in this way&mdash;he had the
+power of throwing off public cares for the time, and in his
+house retained his cheerfulness and good-humour.... In
+matters of business he was an easy master to serve, and the
+duties of his private secretary were light as compared to
+others in the same position. He never made work and
+never was fussy, and even at the busiest times never seemed
+in a hurry.... Large matters he never neglected, but the
+difficulty of the private secretary was to get him to attend to
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_348" id="Page_348">[348]</a></span>
+the trifling and unimportant ones with which he had chiefly
+to deal.&rsquo;</p>
+
+<p>The Hon. Charles Gore, who was also private secretary to
+Lord John when the latter held the Home Office in the
+Melbourne Administration, gives in the following words his
+recollections: &lsquo;Often members of Parliament and others
+used to come into my room adjoining, after their interview
+with Lord John, looking, and seeming, much dissatisfied
+with their reception. His manner was cold and shy, and,
+even when he intended to comply with the request made, in
+his answer he rather implied no than yes. He often used to
+say to me that he liked to hear the laugh which came to him
+through the door which separated us, as proof that I had
+been able to soothe the disappointed feelings with which his
+interviewer had left him. As a companion, when not feeling
+shy, no one was more agreeable or full of anecdote than
+Lord John&mdash;simple in his manner, never assuming superiority,
+and always ready to listen to what others had to say.&rsquo;
+This impression is confirmed by Sir Villiers Lister, who
+served under Lord John at the Foreign Office. He states
+that his old chief, whilst always quick to seize great problems,
+was somewhat inclined to treat the humdrum details
+of official life with fitful attention.</p>
+
+<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_43_43" id="Footnote_43_43"></a><a href="#FNanchor_43_43"><span class="label">[43]</span></a> <i>Contemporary Review</i>, vol. 56, p. 814.</p></div>
+</div>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_349" id="Page_349">[349]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVIII" id="CHAPTER_XVIII"></a>CHAPTER XVIII</h2>
+
+<p class="title">PEMBROKE LODGE<br /><br />
+
+1847-1878</p>
+
+<p class="desc">Looking back&mdash;Society at Pembroke Lodge&mdash;Home life&mdash;The house
+and its memories&mdash;Charles Dickens&rsquo;s speech at Liverpool&mdash;Literary
+friendships&mdash;Lady Russell&rsquo;s description of her husband&mdash;A packet
+of letters&mdash;His children&rsquo;s recollections&mdash;A glimpse of Carlyle&mdash;A
+witty impromptu&mdash;Closing days&mdash;Mr. and Mrs. Gladstone&mdash;The
+jubilee of the Repeal of the Test and Corporation Acts&mdash;&lsquo;Punch&rsquo; on
+the &lsquo;Golden Wedding&rsquo;&mdash;Death&mdash;The Queen&rsquo;s letter&mdash;Lord Shaftesbury&rsquo;s
+estimate of Lord John&rsquo;s career&mdash;His great qualities.</p>
+
+
+<p class="noi"><span class="smcap">Peace</span> with honour&mdash;a phrase which Lord John used long
+before Lord Beaconsfield made it famous&mdash;sums up the
+settled tranquillity and simple dignity of the life at Pembroke
+Lodge. No man was more entitled to rest on his
+laurels than Lord John Russell. He was in the House of
+Commons, and made his first proposals for Parliamentary
+redress, in the reign of George III. His great victory
+on behalf of the rights of conscience was won by the
+repeal of the Test and Corporation Acts in the reign of
+George IV. He had piloted the first Reform Bill through
+the storms of prejudice and passion which had assailed
+that great measure in the reign of William IV. He was
+Home Secretary when Queen Victoria&rsquo;s reign began, and
+since then he had served her Majesty and the nation
+with unwearied devotion for almost the life-time of a generation.
+He was Secretary for the Colonies during a period
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_350" id="Page_350">[350]</a></span>
+when the expansion of England brought delicate constitutional
+questions to the front, and was Minister of Foreign
+Affairs when struggling nationalities looked to England,
+and did not seek her help in vain. Twice Prime Minister
+in periods of storm and stress, he had left his mark, directly
+or indirectly, on the statute-book in much progressive
+legislation, and, in spite of mistakes in policy, had at length
+quitted office with the reputation of an honest and enlightened
+statesman.</p>
+
+<p>Peel at the age of fifty-eight had judged himself worthy
+of retirement; but Russell was almost seventy-four, and
+only his indomitable spirit had enabled him to hold his
+own in public life against uncertain health during the whole
+course of his career. In this respect, at least, Lord John
+possessed that &lsquo;strong patience which outwearies fate.&rsquo; He
+was always delicate, and in his closing years he was accustomed
+to tell, with great glee, those about him an incident
+in his own experience, which happened when the century
+was entering its teens and he was just leaving his own. Three
+physicians were summoned in consultation, for his life
+appeared to be hanging on a thread. He described how
+they carefully thumped him, and put him through the usual
+ordeal. Then they looked extremely grave and retired to an
+adjoining room. The young invalid could hear them talking
+quite plainly, and dreaded their return with the sentence
+of death. Presently the conversation grew animated, and
+Lord John found, to his surprise, they were talking about
+anything in the world except himself. On coming back,
+all the advice they gave was that he ought to travel
+abroad for a time. It jumped with his mood, and he
+took it, and to the end of his days travel never failed to
+restore his energies.
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_351" id="Page_351">[351]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">IN SYLVAN RETREAT</div>
+
+<p>&lsquo;For some years after his retirement from Ministerial
+life,&rsquo; says Mr. Lecky, &lsquo;he gathered round him at Pembroke
+Lodge a society that could hardly be equalled&mdash;certainly
+not surpassed&mdash;in England. In the summer Sunday afternoons
+there might be seen beneath the shade of those
+majestic oaks nearly all that was distinguished in English
+politics and much that was distinguished in English literature,
+and few eminent foreigners visited England without
+making a pilgrimage to the old statesman. Unhappily, this
+did not last to the end. Failing memory and the weakness
+of extreme old age at last withdrew him completely from
+the society he was so eminently fitted to adorn, but to
+those who had known him in his brighter days he has left
+a memory which can never be effaced.&rsquo;</p>
+
+<p>Pembroke Lodge, on the fringe of Richmond Park, was,
+for more than thirty years, Lord John Russell&rsquo;s home. In
+his busiest years, whenever he could escape from town, the
+rambling, picturesque old house, which the Queen had
+given him, was his chosen and greatly loved place of retreat.
+&lsquo;Happy days,&rsquo; records Lady Russell, &lsquo;so full of reality. The
+hours of work so cheerfully got through, the hours of leisure
+so delightful.&rsquo; When in office much of each week was of
+necessity passed at his house in Chesham Place, but he appreciated
+the freedom and seclusion of Pembroke Lodge,
+and took a keen delight in its beautiful garden, with its winding
+walks, magnificent views, and spreading forest trees&mdash;truly
+a haunt of ancient peace, as well as of modern fellowship.
+There, in old age, Lord Russell loved to wander with wife
+or child or friend, and there, through the loop-holes of retreat
+amid his books and flowers, he watched the great world, and
+occasionally sallied forth, so long as strength remained, to
+bear his part in its affairs.
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_352" id="Page_352">[352]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Lord John Russell in his closing years thoroughly distrusted
+Turkish rule in Europe. He declared that he had
+formerly tried with Lord Palmerston&rsquo;s aid to improve the
+Turks, but came to the conclusion that the task was hopeless,
+and he witnessed with gladness the various movements to
+throw off their control in South-Eastern Europe. He was
+one of the first to call attention to the Bulgarian atrocities,
+and he joined the national protest with the political ardour
+which moral indignation was still able to kindle in a statesman
+who cherished his old ideals at the age of eighty-four.
+Two passages from Lady Russell&rsquo;s journal in the year 1876
+speak for themselves:&mdash;&lsquo;August 18. My dearest husband
+eighty-four. The year has left its mark upon him, a deeper
+mark than most years ... but he is happy, even merry.
+Seventy or eighty of our school children came up and sang in
+front of his window. They had made a gay flag on which
+were written four lines of a little poem to him. He was much
+pleased and moved with the pretty sight and pretty sound. I
+may say the same of Lord Granville, who happened to be here
+at the time.&rsquo; Two months later occurs the following entry:
+&lsquo;Interesting visit from the Bulgarian delegates, who called
+to thank John for the part he has taken. They utterly
+deny the probability of civil war or bloodshed between
+different Christian sects, or between Christian and Mussulman,
+in case of Bulgaria and the other insurgent provinces
+obtaining self-government. Their simple, heart-felt words of
+gratitude to John were touching to us all.&rsquo;</p>
+
+<p>History repeats itself at Pembroke Lodge. On May 16,
+1895, a party of Armenian refugees went thither on the ground
+that &lsquo;the name of Lord John Russell is honoured by every
+Christian under the rule of the Turk.&rsquo; It recalled to Lady
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_353" id="Page_353">[353]</a></span>
+Russell the incident just recorded, and the interview, she
+states, was &lsquo;a heart-breaking one, although gratitude for
+British sympathy seemed uppermost in what they wished to
+express. After they were gone I thought, as I have often
+thought before, how right my husband was in feeling and in
+saying, as he often did, that Goldsmith was quite wrong in
+these two lines in &ldquo;The Traveller&rdquo;:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">&lsquo;How small of all that human hearts endure<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">That part which laws or kings can cause or cure!<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p class="noi">He often recited them with disapproval when any occurrence
+made him feel how false they were.&rsquo;</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">KINGLAKE&rsquo;S DESCRIPTION</div>
+
+<p>Lord John&rsquo;s manner of life, like his personal tastes, was
+simple. He contrived to set the guests who gathered
+around him at his wife&rsquo;s receptions perfectly at their ease, by
+his old-fashioned gallantry, happy humour, and bright, vigorous
+talk. One room in Pembroke Lodge, from the windows
+of which a glorious view of the wooded valley is obtained,
+has been rendered famous by Kinglake&rsquo;s description<a name="FNanchor_44_44" id="FNanchor_44_44"></a><a href="#Footnote_44_44" class="fnanchor">[44]</a> of a certain
+drowsy summer evening in June 1854, when the Aberdeen
+Cabinet assembled in it, at the very moment when they
+were drifting into war. Other rooms in the house are full of
+memories of Garibaldi and Livingstone, of statesmen, ambassadors,
+authors, and, indeed, of men distinguished in every
+walk of life, but chiefly of Lord John himself, in days of
+intellectual toil, as well as in hours of friendly intercourse
+and happy relaxation.</p>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_354" id="Page_354">[354]</a></span></p>
+<p>Charles Dickens, speaking in 1869 at a banquet in Liverpool,
+held in his honour, over which Lord Dufferin presided,
+refused to allow what he regarded as a covert
+sneer against the House of Lords to pass unchallenged.
+He repelled the insinuation with unusual warmth, and laid
+stress on his own regard for individual members of that
+assembly. Then, on the spur of the moment, came an
+unexpected personal tribute. He declared that &lsquo;there was
+no man in England whom he respected more in his public
+capacity, loved more in his private capacity, or from whom
+he had received more remarkable proofs of his honour
+and love of literature than Lord John Russell.&rsquo; The
+compliment took Lord Russell by surprise; but if space
+allowed, or necessity claimed, it would be easy to prove
+that it was not undeserved. From the days of his youth,
+when he lived under the roof of Dr. Playfair, and
+attended the classes of Professor Dugald Stewart in
+Edinburgh, and took his part, as a <i>protégé</i> of Lord
+Holland, in the brilliant society of Holland House, Lord
+John&rsquo;s leanings towards literature, and friendship with other
+literary men had been marked. As in the case of other
+Prime Ministers of the Queen&rsquo;s reign, and notably of Derby,
+Beaconsfield, and Mr. Gladstone, literature was his pastime,
+if politics was his pursuit, for his interests were always wider
+than the question of the hour. He was the friend of Sir James
+Mackintosh and of Sydney Smith, who playfully termed
+him &lsquo;Lord John Reformer,&rsquo; of Moore and Rogers, Jeffrey
+and Macaulay, Dickens and Thackeray, Tyndall and Sir
+Richard Owen, Motley and Sir Henry Taylor, Browning and
+Tennyson, to mention only a few representative men.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">LITERARY FRIENDSHIPS</div>
+
+<p>When the students of Glasgow University wished, in 1846,
+to do him honour, Lord John gracefully begged them to
+ap<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_355" id="Page_355">[355]</a></span>point
+as Lord Rector a man of creative genius, like Wordsworth,
+rather than himself. As Prime Minister he honoured
+science by selecting Sir John Herschel as Master of the Mint,
+and literature, by the recommendation of Alfred Tennyson as
+Poet Laureate. When Sir Walter Scott was creeping back in
+broken health from Naples to die at Abbotsford it was Lord
+John who cheered the sad hours of illness in the St. James&rsquo;s
+Hotel, Jermyn Street, by a delicately worded offer of financial
+help from the public funds. Leigh Hunt, Christopher North,
+Sheridan Knowles, Father Mathew, the widow of Dr. Chalmers,
+and the children of Tom Hood are names which suggest the
+direction in which he used his patronage as First Minister
+of the Crown. He was in the habit of enlivening his
+political dinner parties by invoking the aid of literary men
+of wit and distinction, and nothing delighted him more than
+to bring, in this pleasant fashion, literature and politics to
+close quarters. The final pages of his &lsquo;Recollections and
+Suggestions&rsquo; were written in Lord Tennyson&rsquo;s study at Aldworth,
+and his relations with Moore at an earlier stage of
+his life were even more intimate.</p>
+
+<p>Lord John Russell was twice married: first, on April 11,
+1835, to Adelaide, daughter of Mr. Thomas Lister, of
+Armitage Park, Staffordshire, the young widow of Thomas,
+second Lord Ribblesdale; and second, on July 20, 1841,
+to Lady Frances Anna Maria Elliot, second daughter of
+Gilbert, second Earl of Minto. By his first wife he had
+two daughters, the late Lady Victoria Villiers, and Lady
+Georgiana Peel; and by his second three sons and one
+daughter&mdash;John, Viscount Amberley, the Hon. George
+William Gilbert, formerly of the 9th Lancers, the Hon. Francis
+Albert Rollo, and Lady Mary Agatha. Viscount Amberley
+married, on November 8, 1864, the fifth daughter of Lord
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_356" id="Page_356">[356]</a></span>
+Stanley of Alderley. Lord Amberley died two years before
+his father, and the peerage descended to the elder of his
+two sons, the present Earl Russell.</p>
+
+<p>Lady Russell states: &lsquo;Our way of life during the session,
+from the time we first settled in Pembroke Lodge till John
+ceased to take any active part in politics, was to be there from
+Wednesday to Thursday and from Saturday to Monday.
+This made him spend much time on the road; but he always
+said the good it did him to snatch all he could of the delight
+of his own quiet country home, to breathe its pure air, and
+be cheered by the sight of his merry children, far outweighed
+the time and trouble it cost him. When he was able to
+leave town tolerably early, he used sometimes to ride down
+all the way; but he oftener drove to Hammersmith Bridge,
+where his horse, and such of our children as were old enough
+to ride met him, and how joyfully I used to catch the first
+sight of the happy riders&mdash;he on his roan &ldquo;Surrey&rdquo; and they
+on their pretty ponies&mdash;from the little mount in our
+grounds! He was very fond of riding, and in far later days,
+when age and infirmity obliged him to give it up, used often
+to say in a sad tone, pointing to some of his favourite grassy
+rides, as we drove together in the park, &ldquo;Ah! what pleasant
+gallops we used to have along there!&rdquo;&rsquo; Lord John was
+seen to great advantage in his own home and with his
+children. Even when the cares of State pressed most heavily
+on him he always seemed to the children about him to
+have leisure to enter with gay alacrity into their plans and
+amusements. When at home, no matter how urgent the
+business in hand, he always saw them either in the house or
+the garden every day, and took the liveliest interest in the
+round of their life, alike in work and play. He had conquered
+the art of bearing care lightly. He seldom allowed
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_357" id="Page_357">[357]</a></span>
+public affairs to distract him in moments of leisure. He
+was able to throw aside the cares of office, and to enter with
+vivacity and humour into social diversions. His equable
+temper and placid disposition served him in good stead amid
+the turmoil and excitement of political life.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">A PACKET OF OLD LETTERS</div>
+
+<p>Sorrows, neither few nor light, fell upon the household
+at Pembroke Lodge in the closing years of Lord Russell&rsquo;s
+life; but &lsquo;trials,&rsquo; as Lady Russell puts it in her journal, &lsquo;had
+taught Lord John to feel for others, and age had but
+deepened his religion of love.&rsquo; In reply to a birthday letter
+from Mr. Archibald Peel, his son-in-law, and nephew of his
+great political rival he said: &lsquo;Thanks for your good wishes.
+Happy returns! I always find them, as my children are so
+affectionate and loving; &ldquo;many&rdquo; I cannot expect, but I have
+played my part.&rsquo; Two or three extracts from a packet of
+letters addressed by Lord John to his daughter, Lady Georgiana
+Peel, will be read with interest. The majority of them
+are of too intimate and personal a kind for quotation. Yet
+the whole of them leave the impression that Lord John, who
+reproaches himself in one instance as a bad correspondent,
+was at least a singularly good father. They cover a considerable
+term of years, and though for the most part dealing
+with private affairs, and often in a spirit of pleasant
+raillery, here and there allusions to public events occur in
+passing. In one of them, written from Gotha in the autumn
+of 1862, when Lord John was in attendance on her Majesty,
+he says: &lsquo;We have been dull here, but the time has never
+hung heavy on our hands. Four boxes of despatches and
+then telegrams, all requiring answers, have been our daily
+food.&rsquo; He refers touchingly to the Queen&rsquo;s grief, and there
+is also an allusion to the minor tribulation of a certain
+little boy in England who had just crossed the threshold
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_358" id="Page_358">[358]</a></span>
+of school-life. Probably Lord John was thinking of his
+own harsh treatment at Westminster, more than sixty years
+before, when he wrote: &lsquo;Poor Willy! He will find a public
+school a rough place, and the tears will come into his eyes
+when he thinks of the very soft nest he left at home.&rsquo;</p>
+
+<p>Ecclesiastical affairs never lost their interest to the author
+of the Durham Letter, and the following comments show
+his attitude on Church questions. The first is from a letter
+written on May 23, 1867: &lsquo;The Church has been greatly
+disturbed. The Bishop of Salisbury has claimed for the
+English clergy all the power of the Roman priests. The
+question whether they are to wear white surplices, or blue,
+green, yellow, or red, becomes a minor question in comparison.
+Of course the Bishop and those who think with him
+throw off the authority of our excellent Thirty-nine Articles
+altogether, and ought to leave the Church to the Protestant
+clergy and laity.&rsquo; England just then, in Carlyle&rsquo;s judgment,
+was &lsquo;shooting Niagara,&rsquo; and Disraeli&rsquo;s reform proposals
+were making a stir in the opposite camp. In the letter above
+quoted Lord John says: &lsquo;Happily, we are about to get rid
+of the compound householder. I am told Dizzy expects to
+be the first President of the British Republic.&rsquo; Mr. Gladstone,
+according to Lord Houghton, seemed at the same moment
+&lsquo;quite awed with the diabolical cleverness of Dizzy.&rsquo; The
+second bears date Woburn Abbey, September 29, 1868:
+&lsquo;Dr. Temple is a man I greatly admire, and he has
+become more valuable to his country since the death of
+our admirable Dean of St. Paul&rsquo;s. If I had any voice in
+the appointment, Temple is the man I should wish to see
+succeed to Milman; but I suppose the &ldquo;Essays and Reviews&rdquo;
+will tell heavily against him.&rsquo; &lsquo;We lead a very quiet
+life here and a very happy one. I sometimes regret not seeing
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_359" id="Page_359">[359]</a></span>
+my old political friends a little oftener.&rsquo; &lsquo;In June [1869] I
+expect Dickens to visit us. We went to see him last night
+in the murder of Nancy by Sikes, and Mrs. Gamp. He
+acts like a great actor, and writes like a great author. Irish
+Church is looming very near in the Commons, and, in
+June, in the Lords. The Archbishops and Bishops do not
+wish to oppose the second reading, but Lord Cairns is prepared
+to hack and hew in committee.&rsquo;</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">LADY GEORGIANA PEEL</div>
+
+<p>The recollections of Lord John&rsquo;s children reveal, by
+incidents too trivial in themselves to quote, how completely
+he entered into their life. Lady Georgiana Peel recalls her
+childish tears when her father arrived too late from London
+one evening to see one of the glorious sunsets which he
+had taught her to admire. &lsquo;I can feel now his hand on my
+forehead in any childish illness, or clasping mine in the
+garden, as he led me out to forget some trifling sorrow.&rsquo;
+She lays stress on his patience and serene temper, on his
+tender heart, and on the fact that he always found leisure on
+the busiest day to enter into the daily life of his little girls.
+Half heartedness, either in work or play, was not to his mind.
+&lsquo;<i>Do</i> what you are doing&rsquo; was the advice he gave to his
+children.</p>
+
+<p>One of the elder children in far-off days at Pembroke
+Lodge, Mrs. Warburton, Lord John&rsquo;s step-daughter, recalls
+wet days in the country, when her father would break the
+tedium of temporary imprisonment indoors by romping with
+his children. &lsquo;I have never forgotten his expression of
+horror when in a game of hide-and-seek he banged the door
+accidentally in my elder sister&rsquo;s face and we heard her fall.
+Looking back to the home life, its regularity always astonishes
+me. The daily walks, prayers, and meals regular and
+punctual as a rule.... He was shy and we were shy, but I
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_360" id="Page_360">[360]</a></span>
+think we spoke quite freely with him, and he seldom said
+more than &ldquo;Foolish child&rdquo; when we ventured on any startling
+views on things. Once I remember rousing his indignation
+when I gave out, with sententious priggishness, that the
+Duke of Wellington laboured under great difficulties in
+Spain caused by the &ldquo;factious opposition at home;&rdquo; that
+was beyond &ldquo;Foolish child,&rdquo; but my discomforted distress
+was soon soothed by a pat on the cheek, and an amused
+twinkle in his kind eyes.&rsquo; Lord Amberley, four days before
+his death, declared that he had all his life &lsquo;met with nothing
+but kindness and gentleness&rsquo; from his father. He added:
+&lsquo;I do earnestly hope that at the end of his long and noble
+life he may be spared the pain of losing a son.&rsquo;</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Rollo Russell says: &lsquo;My father was very fond
+of history, and I can remember his often turning back
+to Hume, Macaulay, Hallam, and other historical works.
+He read various books on the French Revolution with
+great interest. He had several classics always near him,
+such as Homer and Virgil; and he always carried about
+with him a small edition of Horace. Of Shakespeare
+he could repeat much, and knew the plays well, entering
+into and discussing the characters. He admired Milton
+very greatly and was fond of reading &ldquo;Paradise Lost.&rdquo;
+He was very fond of several Italian and Spanish books,
+by the greatest authors of those countries. Of lighter reading,
+he admired most, I think, &ldquo;Don Quixote,&rdquo; Sir Walter
+Scott&rsquo;s novels, Miss Evans&rsquo; (&ldquo;George Eliot&rdquo;) novels, Miss
+Austen&rsquo;s, and Dickens and Thackeray. Scott especially he
+loved to read over again. He told me he bought &ldquo;Waverley&rdquo;
+when it first came out, and was so interested in it that he
+sat up a great part of the night till he had finished it.&rsquo;</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">THE FRIENDSHIP OF BOOKS</div>
+
+<p>Lady Russell states that Grote&rsquo;s &lsquo;History of Greece&rsquo; was
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_361" id="Page_361">[361]</a></span>
+one of the last books her husband read, and she adds:
+&lsquo;Many of his friends must have seen its volumes open before
+him on the desk of his blue armchair in his sitting-room at
+Pembroke Lodge in the last year or two of his life. It was
+often exchanged for Jowett&rsquo;s &ldquo;Plato,&rdquo; in which he took great
+delight, and which he persevered in trying to read, when,
+alas! the worn-out brain refused to take in the meaning.&rsquo;</p>
+
+<p>Lord John was a delightful travelling companion, and he
+liked to journey with his children about him. His cheerfulness
+and merriment on these occasions is a happy
+memory. Dr. Anderson, of Richmond, who has been for
+many years on intimate terms at Pembroke Lodge, and was
+much abroad with Lord John in the capacity of physician
+and friend, states that all who came in contact personally
+with him became deeply attached to him. This arose
+not only from the charm of his manner and conversation,
+but from the fact that he felt they trusted him implicitly.
+&lsquo;I never saw anyone laugh so heartily. He seemed almost
+convulsed with merriment, and he once told me that after a
+supper with Tom Moore, the recollection of some of the
+witty things said during the course of the evening so tickled
+him, that he had to stop and hold by the railings while
+laughing on his way home. I once asked which of all the
+merry pictures in &ldquo;Punch&rdquo; referring to himself amused him
+the most, and he at once replied: &ldquo;The little boy who has
+written &lsquo;No Popery&rsquo; on a wall and is running away because
+he sees a policeman coming. I think that was very funny!&rdquo;&rsquo;
+Dr. Anderson says that Lord John was generous to a fault
+and easily moved to tears, and adds: &lsquo;I never knew any
+one more tender in illness or more anxious to help.&rsquo; He
+states that Lord John told him that he had encountered
+Carlyle one day in Regent Street. He stopped, and asked
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_362" id="Page_362">[362]</a></span>
+him if he had seen a paragraph in that morning&rsquo;s &lsquo;Times&rsquo;
+about the Pope. &lsquo;What!&rsquo; exclaimed Carlyle, &lsquo;the Pope,
+the Pope! The back of ma han&rsquo; for that auld chimera!&rsquo;</p>
+
+<p>Lady Russell says: &lsquo;As far as I recollect he never
+but once worked after dinner. He always came up to the
+drawing-room with us, was able to cast off public cares, and
+chat and laugh, and read and be read to, or join in little
+games, such as capping verses, of which he was very fond.&rsquo;
+Lord John used often to write prologues and epilogues for
+the drawing-room plays which they were accustomed to perform.
+Space forbids the quotation of these sparkling and
+often humorous verses, but the following instance of his
+ready wit occurred in the drawing-room at Minto, and is
+given on the authority of Mr. George Elliot. At a game
+where everyone was required to write some verses, answering
+the question written on a paper to be handed to him,
+and bringing in a word written on the same, the paper that
+fell to the lot of Lord John contained this question: &lsquo;Do you
+admire Sir Robert Peel?&rsquo; and &lsquo;soldier&rsquo; the word to be
+brought in. His answer was:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">&lsquo;I ne&rsquo;er was a soldier of Peel,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Or ever yet stood at his back;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">For while he wriggled on like an eel,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">I swam straight ahead like a <i>Jack</i>.&rsquo;<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>Mr. Gladstone states that perhaps the finest retort he
+ever heard in the House of Commons was that of Lord
+John in reply to Sir Francis Burdett. The latter had
+abandoned his Radicalism in old age, and was foolish
+enough to sneer at the &lsquo;cant of patriotism.&rsquo; &lsquo;I quite agree,
+said Lord John, &lsquo;with the honourable baronet that the cant
+of patriotism is a bad thing. But I can tell him a worse&mdash;the
+<i>re</i>cant of patriotism&mdash;which I will gladly go along with
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_363" id="Page_363">[363]</a></span>
+him in reprobating whenever he shows me an example
+of it.&rsquo;</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">LORD DUFFERIN&rsquo;S RECOLLECTIONS</div>
+
+<p>Lord John Russell once declared that he had no need
+to go far in search of happiness, as he had it at his own
+doors, and this was the impression left on every visitor to
+Pembroke Lodge. Lord Dufferin states that all his recollections
+gather around Lord John&rsquo;s domestic life. He
+never possessed a kinder friend or one who was more pleasant
+in the retirement of his home. Lord Dufferin adds:
+&lsquo;One of his most charming characteristics was that he was
+so simple, so untheatrical, so genuine, that his existence,
+at least when I knew him, flowed at a very high level of
+thought and feeling, but was unmarked by anything very
+dramatic. His conversation was too delightful, full of
+anecdote; but then his anecdotes were not like those told by
+the ordinary <i>raconteur</i>, and were simple reminiscences of his
+own personal experience and intercourse with other distinguished
+men. Again, his stories were told in such an unpretending
+way that, though you were delighted with what
+you had heard, you were still more delighted with the speaker
+himself.&rsquo;</p>
+
+<p>The closing years of Lord Russell&rsquo;s career were marked
+by settled peace, the consciousness of great tasks worthily
+accomplished, the unfaltering devotion of household love,
+the friendship of the Queen, the confidence of a younger
+race of statesmen, and the respect of the nation. Deputations
+of working men found their way to Pembroke Lodge
+to greet the old leader of the party of progress, and school
+children gathered about him in summer on the lawn, and
+were gladdened by his kindly smile and passing word. In
+good report and in evil report, in days of power and in days of
+weakness, the Countess Russell cheered, helped, and solaced
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_364" id="Page_364">[364]</a></span>
+him, and brought not only rare womanly devotion, but
+unusual intellectual gifts to his aid at the critical moments
+of his life, when bearing the strain of public responsibility,
+and in the simple round of common duty. The
+nation may recognise the services of its great men, but can
+never gauge to the full extent the influences which sustained
+them. The uplifting associations of a singularly happy
+domestic life must be taken into account in any estimate of
+the forces which shaped Lord John Russell&rsquo;s career. It is
+enough to say&mdash;indeed, more cannot with propriety be added&mdash;that
+through the political stress and strain of nearly forty
+years Lady Russell proved herself to be a loyal and noble-hearted
+wife.</p>
+
+<p>There is another subject, which cannot be paraded on
+the printed page, and yet, since religion was the central
+principle of Lord John Russell&rsquo;s life, some allusion to his
+position on the highest of all subjects becomes imperative.
+His religion was thorough; it ran right through his nature.
+It was practical, and revealed itself in deeds which spoke
+louder than words. &lsquo;I rest in the faith of Jeremy Taylor,&rsquo;
+were his words, &lsquo;Barrow, Tillotson, Hoadly, Samuel Clarke,
+Middleton, Warburton, and Arnold, without attempting to
+reconcile points of difference between these great men. I
+prefer the simple words of Christ to any dogmatic interpretation
+of them.&rsquo; Dean Stanley, whom he used to call his
+Pope&mdash;always playfully adding, &lsquo;but not an infallible one&rsquo;&mdash;declared
+shortly before Lord Russell&rsquo;s death that &lsquo;he was a
+man who was firmly convinced that in Christianity, whether
+as held by the National Church or Nonconformist, there
+was something greater and vaster than each of the particular
+communions professed and advocated, something which
+made it worth while to develop those universal principles
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_365" id="Page_365">[365]</a></span>
+of religion that are common to all who accept in any real
+sense the fundamental truths of Christianity.&rsquo;</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">MR. SPURGEON&rsquo;S BLESSING</div>
+
+<p>Mr. Spurgeon, in conversation with the writer of these
+pages, related an incident concerning Lord John which deserves
+at least passing record, as an illustration of his swift
+appreciation of ability and the reality of his recognition of
+religious equality. Lord John was upwards of sixty at the
+time, and the famous Baptist preacher, though the rage of
+the town, was scarcely more than twenty. The Metropolitan
+Tabernacle had as yet not been built. Mr. Spurgeon was at
+the Surrey Music Hall, and there the great congregation had
+gathered around this youthful master of assemblies. One
+Sunday night, at the close of the service, Lord John Russell
+came into the vestry to speak a kindly word of encouragement
+to the young preacher. One of the children of the ex-Prime
+Minister was with him, and before the interview ended
+Lord John asked the Nonconformist minister to give his
+blessing to the child. Mr. Spurgeon never forgot the incident,
+or the bearing of the man who came to him, amid a
+crowd of others, on that Sunday night.</p>
+
+<p>In opening the new buildings of Cheshunt College in
+1871, Lord John alluded to the foundress of that seat of
+theological learning, Lady Huntingdon, as a woman who
+was far in advance of her times, since, a century before the
+abolition of University tests, she made it possible to divinity
+students to obtain academical training without binding themselves
+at the outset to any religious community.</p>
+
+<p>During the early months of 1878 Lord John&rsquo;s strength
+failed rapidly, and it became more and more apparent that
+the plough was nearing the end of the furrow. His old
+courage and calmness remained to the end. Mr. and Mrs.
+Gladstone called at Pembroke Lodge on April 20, and he
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_366" id="Page_366">[366]</a></span>
+sent down word that he wished to see them. &lsquo;I took them to
+him for a few minutes,&rsquo; relates Lady Russell. &lsquo;Happily, he was
+clear in his mind, and said to Mr. Gladstone, &ldquo;I am sorry you
+are not in the Ministry,&rdquo; and kissed her affectionately, and was
+so cordial to both that they were greatly touched.&rsquo; He told
+Lady Russell that he had enjoyed his life. &lsquo;I have made
+mistakes, but in all I did my object was the public good!&rsquo;
+Then after a pause: &lsquo;I have sometimes seemed cold to my
+friends, but it was not in my heart.&rsquo; A change for the worse
+set in on May 1, and the last sands of life were slipping
+quietly through the glass when the Nonconformist deputation
+came on the 9th of that month to present Lord Russell
+with an address of congratulation on the occasion of the
+jubilee of the Repeal of the Corporation and Test Acts.<a name="FNanchor_45_45" id="FNanchor_45_45"></a><a href="#Footnote_45_45" class="fnanchor">[45]</a>
+Lady Russell and her children received the Deputation. In
+the course of her reply to the address Lady Russell said that
+of all the &lsquo;victories won by that great party to which in his
+later as in his earlier years Lord John had been inseparably
+attached,&rsquo; there was none dearer to his memory at that
+moment than that which they had called to remembrance.
+&lsquo;It was a proud and a sad day,&rsquo; is the entry in Lady Russell&rsquo;s
+journal. &lsquo;We had hoped some time ago that he might perhaps
+see the Deputation for a moment in his room, but he
+was too ill for that to be possible.&rsquo;</p>
+
+<p>A few days later, there appeared in the columns of
+&lsquo;Punch&rsquo; some commemorative verses entitled &lsquo;A Golden
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_367" id="Page_367">[367]</a></span>
+Wedding.&rsquo; They expressed the feeling that was uppermost
+in the heart of the nation, and two or three verses may here
+be recorded:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">The Golden Wedding of Lord John and Liberty his love&mdash;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">&lsquo;Twixt the Russells&rsquo; House and Liberty, &rsquo;twas ever hand and glove&mdash;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">His love in those dark ages, he has lived through with his bride,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">To look back on them from the sunset of his quiet eventide.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">His love when he that loved her and sought her for his own<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Must do more than suit and service, must do battle, trumpet blown,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Must slay the fiery dragons that guarded every gate<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">On the roads by which men travelled for work of Church and State.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Now time brings its revenges, and all are loud to own<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">How beautiful a bride she was, how fond, how faithful shown;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">But she knows the man who loved her when lovers were but few,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And she hails this golden wedding&mdash;fifty years of tried and true.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Look and listen, my Lord Russell: &rsquo;tis your golden wedding-day;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">We may not press your brave old hand, but you hear what we&rsquo;ve to say.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">A blessing on the bridal that has known its fifty years,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">But never known its fallings-out, delusions, doubt, or fears.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<div class="sidenote">VICTORIOUS PEACE</div>
+
+<p>The end came softly. &lsquo;I fall back on the faith of my
+childhood,&rsquo; were the words he uttered to Dr. Anderson.
+The closing scene is thus recorded in Mr. Rollo Russell&rsquo;s
+journal: &lsquo;May 28 [1878].&mdash;He was better this morning,
+though still in a very weak state. He spoke more distinctly,
+called me by my name, and said something which I could
+not understand. He did not seem to be suffering ... and
+has, all through his long illness, been cheerful to a degree
+that surprises everybody about him, not complaining of anything,
+but seeming to feel that he was being well cared for.
+About midday he became worse ... but bore it all calmly.
+My mother was with him continually.... Towards ten he
+was much worse, and in a few minutes, while my mother
+was holding his hand, he breathed out gently the remainder
+of life.&rsquo; Westminster Abbey was offered as a place of burial,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_368" id="Page_368">[368]</a></span>
+but, in accordance with his own expressed wish, Lord John
+Russell was gathered to his fathers at Chenies. The Queen&rsquo;s
+sympathy and her sense of loss were expressed in the following
+letter:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="sig" style="font-size: 90%;">
+&lsquo;Balmoral: May 30, 1878.<br />
+</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">&lsquo;Dear Lady Russell</span>,&mdash;It was only yesterday afternoon
+that I heard through the papers that your dear husband had
+left this world of sorrows and trials peacefully and full of
+years the night before, or I would have telegraphed and
+written sooner. You will believe that I truly regret an old
+friend of forty years&rsquo; standing, and whose personal kindness
+in trying and anxious times I shall <i>ever</i> remember. &ldquo;Lord
+John,&rdquo; as I knew him best, was one of my <i>first</i> and <i>most distinguished</i>
+Ministers, and his departure recalls many eventful
+times.</p>
+
+<p>&lsquo;To you, dear Lady Russell, who were ever one of the
+most devoted of wives, this must be a terrible blow, though
+you must have for some time been prepared for it. But one
+is <i>never</i> prepared for the blow when it comes, and you have
+had such trials and sorrows of late years that I most truly
+sympathise with you. Your dear and devoted daughter
+will, I know, be the greatest possible comfort to you, and I
+trust that your grandsons will grow up to be all you could
+wish.</p>
+
+<p class="center">
+&lsquo;Believe me always, yours affectionately,<br /></p>
+<p class="sig">&lsquo;<span class="smcap">Victoria R. and I.</span>&rsquo;<br />
+</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">HIS GREAT QUALITIES</div>
+
+<p>Lord Shaftesbury wrote in his journal some words about
+Lord Russell which speak for themselves. After recording
+that he had reached the ripe age of eighty-six, and that he
+had been a conspicuous man for more than half a century,
+he added that to have &lsquo;begun with disapprobation, to have
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_369" id="Page_369">[369]</a></span>
+fought through many difficulties, to have announced, and
+acted on, principles new to the day in which he lived, to
+have filled many important offices, to have made many
+speeches, and written many books, and in his whole course
+to have done much with credit, and nothing with dishonour,
+and so to have sustained and advanced his reputation to the
+very end, is a mighty commendation.&rsquo;</p>
+
+<p>When some one told Sir Stafford Northcote that Lord
+John was dead, the tidings were accompanied by the trite
+but sympathetic comment, &lsquo;Poor Lord Russell!&rsquo; &lsquo;Why
+do you call him poor?&rsquo; was the quick retort. &lsquo;Lord
+Russell had the chance of doing a great work and&mdash;he
+did it.&rsquo;</p>
+
+<p>Lord John was not faultless, and most assuredly he was
+not infallible. He made mistakes, and sometimes was inclined
+to pay too little heed to the claims of others, and
+not to weigh with sufficient care the force of his own impetuous
+words. The taunt of &lsquo;finality&rsquo; has seldom been
+less deserved. In most directions he kept an open mind,
+and seems, like Coleridge, to have believed that an error is
+sometimes the shadow of a great truth yet behind the
+horizon. Mr. Gladstone asserts that his old chief was
+always ready to stand in the post of difficulty, and possessed
+an inexhaustible sympathy with human suffering.</p>
+
+<p>It is at least certain that Lord John Russell served England&mdash;the
+country whose freedom, he once declared, he
+&lsquo;worshipped&rsquo;&mdash;with unwearied devotion, with a high sense of
+honour, with a courage which never faltered, with an integrity
+which has never been impeached. He followed duty to the
+utmost verge of life, and&mdash;full himself of moral susceptibility&mdash;he
+reverenced the conscience of every man.</p>
+
+<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_44_44" id="Footnote_44_44"></a><a href="#FNanchor_44_44"><span class="label">[44]</span></a> <i>History of the War in the Crimea</i>, by A. W, Kinglake, vol. ii.
+sixth edition, pp. 249-50.
+</p><p>
+Lady Russell states that Lord John used to smile at Kinglake&rsquo;s
+rhetorical exaggeration of the scene. Her impression is that only two
+of the Cabinet, and not, as the historian puts it, &lsquo;all but a small
+minority,&rsquo; fell asleep. The Duke of Argyll or Mr. Gladstone can
+alone settle the point at issue.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_45_45" id="Footnote_45_45"></a><a href="#FNanchor_45_45"><span class="label">[45]</span></a> Amongst those who assembled in the drawing-room of Pembroke
+Lodge on that historic occasion were Mr. Henry Richard, M.P., Mr.
+Samuel Morley, M.P., Mr. Edward Baines, Sir Charles Reed, Mr.
+Carvell Williams, M.P., who came on behalf of the Protestant Dissenting
+Deputies. The Congregationalists were represented by such men
+as the Rev. Baldwin Brown and the Rev. Guinness Rogers; the Baptists
+by Dr. Underhill; the Presbyterians by Dr. McEwan; and the Unitarians
+by Mr. Middleton Aspland.</p></div>
+</div>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_370" id="Page_370">[370]</a></span><br />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_371" id="Page_371">[371]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2><a name="INDEX" id="INDEX"></a>INDEX</h2>
+
+<hr style="width: 3em; height: 1px; color: black; background-color: black; border: none;" />
+
+<div class="index">
+<ul class="IX">
+<li><span class="smcap">Abercromby</span>, Mr., <a href="#Page_103">103</a></li>
+
+<li>Aberdeen, Lord, Foreign Secretary in Peel&rsquo;s Cabinet, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>;
+<ul class="IX"><li>  and the repeal of the Corn Laws, <a href="#Page_132">132</a>;</li>
+<li>  forms the Coalition Government, <a href="#Page_203">203</a>, <a href="#Page_206">206</a>;</li>
+<li>  early political life and characteristics, <a href="#Page_209">209</a>;</li>
+<li>  and the Secret Memorandum, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>, <a href="#Page_225">225</a>;</li>
+<li>  friendly relations with the Emperor Nicholas, <a href="#Page_217">217</a>, <a href="#Page_233">233</a>;</li>
+<li>  belief in the peaceful intentions of Russia, <a href="#Page_225">225</a>, <a href="#Page_231">231</a>;</li>
+<li>  vacillation on the eve of the Crimean War, <a href="#Page_229">229</a>, <a href="#Page_234">234</a>;</li>
+<li>  public prejudice against him, <a href="#Page_233">233</a>;</li>
+<li>  home policy, <a href="#Page_240">240</a>;</li>
+<li>  fall of his Government, <a href="#Page_257">257</a>;</li>
+<li>  relations with Lord John Russell, <a href="#Page_346">346</a>, <a href="#Page_347">347</a></li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Adelaide, Queen, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>, <a href="#Page_83">83</a></li>
+
+<li>&lsquo;Adullamites,&rsquo; <a href="#Page_329">329</a></li>
+
+<li>Afghanistan, invasion of, <a href="#Page_121">121</a>, <a href="#Page_170">170</a></li>
+
+<li>&lsquo;Alabama&rsquo; Case, the, <a href="#Page_312">312</a>-<a href="#Page_319">319</a></li>
+
+<li>Albert, Prince, and Lord Palmerston, <a href="#Page_177">177</a>;
+<ul class="IX"><li>  letter on the defeat of the Turks at Sinope, <a href="#Page_232">232</a>;</li>
+<li>  and Count Buol&rsquo;s scheme, <a href="#Page_261">261</a>;</li>
+<li>  letter on the position of affairs in the Crimea, <a href="#Page_263">263</a>;</li>
+<li>  death, and characteristics, <a href="#Page_308">308</a>, <a href="#Page_309">309</a>;</li>
+<li>  last official act, <a href="#Page_310">310</a></li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Alexander II., <a href="#Page_259">259</a>, <a href="#Page_321">321</a></li>
+
+<li>Alien Acts, the, <a href="#Page_27">27</a></li>
+
+<li>All the Talents, Ministry of, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>, <a href="#Page_64">64</a></li>
+
+<li>Alma, the battle of, <a href="#Page_246">246</a></li>
+
+<li>Althorp, Lord, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>;
+<ul class="IX"><li>  and his part in carrying the Reform Bill, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>;</li>
+<li>  characteristics, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>;</li>
+<li>  introduces the Poor Law Amendment Act (Ireland), <a href="#Page_93">93</a>, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>;</li>
+<li>  and the Coercion Act, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>;</li>
+<li>  succeeds to the Peerage as Earl Spencer, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>. <i>See also</i> <a href="#Spencer">Spencer, Lord</a></li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Amberley, Viscount, <a href="#Page_356">356</a></li>
+
+<li>America, war between England and, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>;
+<ul class="IX"><li>  Napoleon&rsquo;s opinion of the war, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>;</li>
+<li>  and the &lsquo;Trent&rsquo; affair, <a href="#Page_310">310</a>-<a href="#Page_312">312</a>;</li>
+<li>  Civil War, <a href="#Page_310">310</a>, <a href="#Page_313">313</a>;</li>
+<li>  and the Alabama Case, <a href="#Page_312">312</a>-<a href="#Page_319">319</a></li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Anti-Corn-Law League, its founding <a href="#Page_121">121</a>, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>, <a href="#Page_131">131</a></li>
+
+<li>Argyll, Duke of, <a href="#Page_295">295</a>, <a href="#Page_327">327</a></li>
+
+<li>Armenia, massacres in, <a href="#Page_269">269</a>, <a href="#Page_353">353</a></li>
+
+<li>Arms Bill, <a href="#Page_146">146</a>, <a href="#Page_147">147</a>;
+<ul class="IX"><li>  of 1847, <a href="#Page_154">154</a></li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Auckland, Lord, <a href="#Page_96">96</a></li>
+
+<li>Austria, revolt in Vienna of 1848, <a href="#Page_171">171</a>;
+<ul class="IX"><li>  and the retention of Lombardy and Venice, <a href="#Page_172">172</a>, <a href="#Page_300">300</a>;</li>
+<li>  and the Vienna Note, <a href="#Page_227">227</a>;</li>
+<li>  and the Crimean War, <a href="#Page_243">243</a>;</li>
+<li>  proposed alliance with England and France to defend the integrity of Turkey, <a href="#Page_261">261</a>;</li>
+<li>  her power in Italy, <a href="#Page_300">300</a>;</li>
+<li>  campaign against France and Italy, and battles of Magenta and Solferino, <a href="#Page_302">302</a>, <a href="#Page_303">303</a>;</li>
+<li>  and the peace of Villafranca, <a href="#Page_303">303</a></li></ul></li>
+</ul>
+
+
+<ul class="IX">
+<li><span class="smcap">Bagehot</span>, Walter, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>, <a href="#Page_323">323</a></li>
+
+<li>Ballot, the: Grote&rsquo;s attempts to introduce a bill, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>, <a href="#Page_111">111</a></li>
+
+<li>Bathurst, Lord, <a href="#Page_50">50</a></li>
+
+<li>Bedford, fourth Duke of, his &lsquo;Correspondence&rsquo; edited by Lord John Russell, <a href="#Page_278">278</a></li>
+
+<li>&mdash; Francis, fifth Duke of, <a href="#Page_3">3</a></li>
+
+<li>&mdash; sixth Duke of, father of Lord John Russell, <a href="#Page_3">3</a>;
+<ul class="IX"><li>  opinion of English Universities, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>;</li>
+<li>  encouragement given to Lord John in political training, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>;</li>
+<li>  characteristics, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>;</li>
+<li>  and Lord John&rsquo;s leadership of the Opposition, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>;</li>
+<li>  and Joseph Lancaster, <a href="#Page_115">115</a></li></ul></li>
+
+<li>&mdash; seventh Duke of, <a href="#Page_202">202</a></li>
+
+<li>&mdash; first Earl of, <a href="#Page_2">2</a></li>
+
+<li>Belgium: the question of its independence, <a href="#Page_172">172</a>, <a href="#Page_340">340</a>, <a href="#Page_341">341</a></li>
+
+<li>Bentinck, Lord George, <a href="#Page_138">138</a>, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>, <a href="#Page_150">150</a>, <a href="#Page_160">160</a>, <a href="#Page_201">201</a></li>
+
+<li><a name="Bessborough" id ="Bessborough">Bessborough</a>, Lord, <a href="#Page_146">146</a>, <a href="#Page_151">151</a></li>
+
+<li>Birmingham, unrepresented in the House of Commons, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>;
+<ul class="IX"><li>  great meeting on the Reform question at, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>, <a href="#Page_296">296</a></li></ul></li>
+
+<li><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_372" id="Page_372">[372]</a></span>Bismarck, Count, <a href="#Page_321">321</a>-<a href="#Page_323">323</a></li>
+
+<li>Blandford, Lord, <a href="#Page_59">59</a></li>
+
+<li>Blessington, Lady, <a href="#Page_42">42</a></li>
+
+<li>Blomfield, Bishop, <a href="#Page_115">115</a></li>
+
+<li>Bradlaugh, Mr., <a href="#Page_332">332</a></li>
+
+<li>Bribery and corruption before the era of Reform, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>;
+<ul class="IX"><li>  Lord John Russell&rsquo;s resolutions for the discovery and punishment of, <a href="#Page_43">43</a></li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Bridgeman, Mr. George (afterwards Earl of Bradford), <a href="#Page_16">16</a>, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>, <a href="#Page_20">20</a></li>
+
+<li>Bright, John, on the influences at work in the repeal of the Corn Laws, <a href="#Page_130">130</a>, <a href="#Page_131">131</a>;
+<ul class="IX"><li>  on disaffection in Ireland, and the Arms Bill, <a href="#Page_155">155</a>, <a href="#Page_156">156</a>, <a href="#Page_202">202</a>, <a href="#Page_206">206</a>, <a href="#Page_208">208</a>, <a href="#Page_287">287</a>;</li>
+<li>  relations with Lord John Russell, <a href="#Page_294">294</a>, <a href="#Page_329">329</a>;</li>
+<li>  and the &lsquo;Adullamites,&rsquo; <a href="#Page_329">329</a></li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Brougham, Lord, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>;
+<ul class="IX">
+<li>  and the Reform Bill cry, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>;</li>
+<li>  speech on the second Reform Bill, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>;</li>
+<li>  opinion of Lord John Russell, <a href="#Page_110">110</a></li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Buccleuch, Duke of, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>, <a href="#Page_136">136</a></li>
+
+<li>Bulgaria, massacres in, <a href="#Page_269">269</a>, <a href="#Page_352">352</a></li>
+
+<li>Bulwer, Sir H., <a href="#Page_174">174</a></li>
+
+<li>Buol, Count, <a href="#Page_261">261</a>, <a href="#Page_263">263</a></li>
+
+<li>Burdett, Sir Francis, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>;
+<ul class="IX"><li>  his motion for universal suffrage, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>; <a href="#Page_70">70</a></li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Buxton, Thomas Fowell, <a href="#Page_89">89</a></li>
+
+<li>Byng, Hon. Georgiana, <a href="#Page_3">3</a></li>
+</ul>
+
+<ul class="IX">
+<li><span class="smcap">Camelford</span>, <a href="#Page_40">40</a></li>
+
+<li>Campbell, Lord, <a href="#Page_157">157</a></li>
+
+<li>Canada: the rebellion, <a href="#Page_110">110</a>;
+<ul class="IX"><li>  Earl of Durham appointed Governor-General, <a href="#Page_110">110</a></li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Canning, Mr., <a href="#Page_43">43</a>;
+<ul class="IX"><li>  his Ministry, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>;</li>
+<li>  death, <a href="#Page_51">51</a></li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Capital crimes, <a href="#Page_107">107</a></li>
+
+<li>Cardwell, Mr., <a href="#Page_290">290</a></li>
+
+<li>Carlisle, Earl of, <a href="#Page_96">96</a></li>
+
+<li>Carlyle, Thomas, and the Chartists, <a href="#Page_166">166</a>, <a href="#Page_167">167</a>, <a href="#Page_358">358</a>, <a href="#Page_362">362</a></li>
+
+<li>Caroline, Queen, proceedings against, <a href="#Page_41">41</a></li>
+
+<li>Cartwright, Dr., <a href="#Page_5">5</a></li>
+
+<li>Cartwright, Major, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>, <a href="#Page_39">39</a></li>
+
+<li>Cassiobury, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>, <a href="#Page_112">112</a></li>
+
+<li>Castlereagh, Lord, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>, <a href="#Page_63">63</a></li>
+
+<li>Catholics: political restrictions against them, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>;
+<ul class="IX"><li>  agitation for Emancipation, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>;</li>
+<li>  passing of the Emancipation Bill, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>;</li>
+<li>  and the decree of Pius IX., <a href="#Page_182">182</a>-<a href="#Page_184">184</a>;</li>
+<li>  and the Durham Letter, <a href="#Page_184">184</a>-<a href="#Page_188">188</a></li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Cato Street Conspiracy, <a href="#Page_40">40</a></li>
+
+<li>&lsquo;Cave of Adullam,&rsquo; <a href="#Page_329">329</a></li>
+
+<li>Cavour, Count, <a href="#Page_300">300</a>, <a href="#Page_301">301</a>, <a href="#Page_302">302</a></li>
+
+<li>Chadwick, Sir Edwin, <a href="#Page_162">162</a></li>
+
+<li>Chartist movement, <a href="#Page_163">163</a>;
+<ul class="IX"><li>  and Feargus O&rsquo;Connor, <a href="#Page_165">165</a>-<a href="#Page_168">168</a>;</li>
+<li>  and its literature, <a href="#Page_166">166</a></li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Chatham, Lord, on borough representation, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>, <a href="#Page_26">26</a></li>
+
+<li>Chelsea Hospital, <a href="#Page_62">62</a></li>
+
+<li>Cheshunt College, <a href="#Page_365">365</a></li>
+
+<li>China, opium war against, <a href="#Page_121">121</a></li>
+
+<li>Church of England, the, and its adoption of Romish practices, <a href="#Page_185">185</a>, <a href="#Page_186">186</a></li>
+
+<li>Clare, Lord, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>, <a href="#Page_7">7</a></li>
+
+<li>Clarendon, Lord, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>;
+<ul class="IX"><li>  his Vice-royalty of Ireland, <a href="#Page_153">153</a>, <a href="#Page_182">182</a>, <a href="#Page_196">196</a>;</li>
+<li>  at the Foreign Office, <a href="#Page_221">221</a>, <a href="#Page_224">224</a>, <a href="#Page_231">231</a>;</li>
+<li>  on Lord Stratford de Redcliffe, <a href="#Page_260">260</a>;</li>
+<li>  Count Buol&rsquo;s proposals, <a href="#Page_262">262</a>, <a href="#Page_263">263</a>, <a href="#Page_327">327</a></li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Clive, Mr. Robert, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>, <a href="#Page_20">20</a></li>
+
+<li>Clubs for the advancement of Reform, <a href="#Page_26">26</a></li>
+
+<li>Cobbett, William, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>, <a href="#Page_64">64</a></li>
+
+<li>Cobden, Richard, and the repeal of the Corn Laws, <a href="#Page_131">131</a>, <a href="#Page_132">132</a>, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>;
+<ul class="IX"><li>  and Wellington, <a href="#Page_136">136</a>, <a href="#Page_202">202</a>, <a href="#Page_206">206</a>, <a href="#Page_208">208</a>, <a href="#Page_287">287</a>;</li>
+<li>  relations with Lord John Russell, <a href="#Page_294">294</a>;</li>
+<li>  negotiates the Commercial Treaty with France, <a href="#Page_295">295</a>, <a href="#Page_296">296</a>;</li>
+<li>  death, <a href="#Page_325">325</a></li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Coercion Act: Lord Grey proposes its renewal, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>;
+<ul class="IX"><li>  Lord John Russell&rsquo;s speech, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>;</li>
+<li>  and O&rsquo;Connell, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>;</li>
+<li>  Peel&rsquo;s proposal for its renewal, <a href="#Page_140">140</a></li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Conspiracy Bill, the, <a href="#Page_289">289</a>, <a href="#Page_290">290</a></li>
+
+<li>Conyngham, Marquis of, <a href="#Page_96">96</a></li>
+
+<li>Corn Laws, <a href="#Page_121">121</a>;
+<ul class="IX"><li>  John Bright on the influences working for their repeal, <a href="#Page_130">130</a>, <a href="#Page_131">131</a>;</li>
+<li>  of 1670 reproduced in 1815, <a href="#Footnote_12_12">131 <i>n.</i></a>;</li>
+<li>  Sir Robert Peel proposes their gradual repeal, <a href="#Page_138">138</a>;</li>
+<li>  bill for repeal passes both Houses, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>;</li>
+<li>  total repeal carried by Russell, <a href="#Page_145">145</a></li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Cranworth, Lord, <a href="#Page_327">327</a></li>
+
+<li>Crime, excessive penalties for, <a href="#Page_24">24</a></li>
+
+<li>Crimean War: causes, <a href="#Page_213">213</a>-<a href="#Page_235">235</a>;
+<ul class="IX"><li>  outbreak, <a href="#Page_243">243</a>, <a href="#Page_246">246</a>;</li>
+<li>  Alma, <a href="#Page_246">246</a>;</li>
+<li>  Balaclava and Inkerman, <a href="#Page_247">247</a>;</li>
+<li>  siege of Sebastopol, <a href="#Page_246">246</a>, <a href="#Page_247">247</a>;</li>
+<li>  privation and pestilence amongst the Allies, <a href="#Page_248">248</a>, <a href="#Page_252">252</a>;</li>
+<li>  Roebuck&rsquo;s motion in the House of Commons to inquire into the condition of the army before Sebastopol, and Lord John Russell&rsquo;s speech on the question, <a href="#Page_254">254</a>-<a href="#Page_257">257</a>;</li>
+<li>  failure of Vienna Conference and renewal of the campaign, <a href="#Page_267">267</a>;</li>
+<li>  fall of Sebastopol, <a href="#Page_268">268</a>;</li>
+<li>  losses of Russia, and of the Allies, <a href="#Page_268">268</a>;</li>
+<li>  treaty of Paris, <a href="#Page_268">268</a></li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Croker, J. W., <a href="#Page_80">80</a>, <a href="#Page_139">139</a></li>
+</ul>
+
+<ul class="IX">
+<li><span class="smcap">Dalling</span>, Lord, <a href="#Page_180">180</a></li>
+
+<li>Denmark and the Schleswig-Holstein Question, <a href="#Page_322">322</a>, <a href="#Page_323">323</a></li>
+
+<li>Derby, Lord, Administration of, <a href="#Page_199">199</a>, <a href="#Page_200">200</a>, <a href="#Page_202">202</a>, <a href="#Page_206">206</a>;
+<ul class="IX"><li>  fails to form a Ministry on the resignation of Lord Aberdeen, <a href="#Page_258">258</a>;</li>
+<li>  succeeds to the Premiership on the resignation of Lord Palmerston, <a href="#Page_290">290</a>;</li>
+<li>  resignation, <a href="#Page_293">293</a></li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Devonshire, Duke of, <a href="#Page_49">49</a></li>
+
+<li><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_373" id="Page_373">[373]</a></span>
+Dickens, Charles, his tribute to Lord Russell, <a href="#Page_354">354</a></li>
+
+<li>Disraeli, Benjamin, and the &lsquo;poisoned chalice,&rsquo; <a href="#Page_135">135</a>;
+<ul class="IX"><li>  attacks Peel on the proposal to repeal the Corn Laws, <a href="#Page_138">138</a>;</li>
+<li>  and the Coercion Bill, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>, <a href="#Page_160">160</a>;</li>
+<li>  and &lsquo;Sybil,&rsquo; <a href="#Page_166">166</a>;</li>
+<li>  and the dismissal of Lord Palmerston, <a href="#Page_180">180</a>, <a href="#Page_181">181</a>;</li>
+<li>  on Lord John Russell&rsquo;s position after the issue of the Durham Letter, <a href="#Page_188">188</a>;</li>
+<li>  his Budget of 1852, <a href="#Page_199">199</a>, <a href="#Page_210">210</a>;</li>
+<li>  leadership of the Conservative party, <a href="#Page_201">201</a>;</li>
+<li>  resolution condemning the Palmerston Ministry, <a href="#Page_264">264</a>;</li>
+<li>  on the exclusion of Lord John from Lord Grey&rsquo;s Cabinet, <a href="#Page_273">273</a>, <a href="#Page_290">290</a>;</li>
+<li>  his Reform Bill, <a href="#Page_291">291</a>, <a href="#Page_292">292</a>;</li>
+<li>  on the Prince Consort, <a href="#Page_309">309</a>;</li>
+<li>  his &lsquo;diabolical cleverness,&rsquo; <a href="#Footnote_42_42">333 <i>n.</i></a></li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Dissenters. <i>See</i> <a href="#Nonconformists">Nonconformists</a></li>
+
+<li>&lsquo;Don Carlos,&rsquo; by Lord John Russell, <a href="#Page_279">279</a></li>
+
+<li>&lsquo;Don Pacifico&rsquo; affair, the, <a href="#Page_175">175</a></li>
+
+<li>Dufferin, Lord, <a href="#Page_327">327</a>, <a href="#Page_363">363</a></li>
+
+<li>Duffy, Sir Gavan, on Irish landowners, <a href="#Page_149">149</a></li>
+
+<li>Duhamel, General, his scheme for the acquisition of India by Russia, <a href="#Page_218">218</a></li>
+
+<li>Duncannon, Lord, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>;
+<ul class="IX"><li>  appointed Home Secretary, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>. <i>See also</i> <a href="#Bessborough">Bessborough, Lord</a></li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Dunkellin, Lord, <a href="#Page_329">329</a>, <a href="#Page_331">331</a></li>
+
+<li>Durazzo, Madame, <a href="#Page_37">37</a></li>
+
+<li>Durham, Lord, his advanced opinions and popularity with the Radicals, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>, <a href="#Page_164">164</a>;
+<ul class="IX"><li>  and the preparation of the Reform Bill, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>, <a href="#Page_68">68</a>;</li>
+<li>  and the scene in the House of Commons during the introduction of the bill, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>;</li>
+<li>  resigns office, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>;</li>
+<li>  appointed Governor-General of Canada, <a href="#Page_110">110</a>;</li>
+<li>  defended by Lord John Russell, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>;</li>
+<li>  popularity, <a href="#Page_164">164</a></li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Durham Letter, the, <a href="#Page_184">184</a>-<a href="#Page_189">189</a>, <a href="#Page_191">191</a></li>
+</ul>
+
+<ul class="IX">
+<li><span class="smcap">East India Company</span>, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>, <a href="#Page_288">288</a>, <a href="#Page_289">289</a></li>
+
+<li>East Retford, <a href="#Page_51">51</a></li>
+
+<li>Ebrington, Lord, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>;
+<ul class="IX"><li>  moves a vote of confidence in Lord Grey&rsquo;s Government, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>;</li>
+<li>  moves a second vote of confidence, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>, <a href="#Page_92">92</a></li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Ecclesiastical Titles Bill, <a href="#Page_191">191</a>-<a href="#Page_193">193</a></li>
+
+<li>&lsquo;Edinburgh Letter,&rsquo; the, <a href="#Page_133">133</a></li>
+
+<li>Edinburgh Speculative Society, <a href="#Page_13">13</a></li>
+
+<li>&mdash; University, Lord John Russell at, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>-<a href="#Page_14">14</a>;
+<ul class="IX"><li>  and the influence of Professors Dugald Stewart and John Playfair, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>;</li>
+<li>  and the Speculative Society, <a href="#Page_13">13</a></li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Education at the beginning of the century, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>;
+<ul class="IX"><li>  Roebuck&rsquo;s scheme, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>;</li>
+<li>  Bill of 1839, <a href="#Page_114">114</a>, <a href="#Page_115">115</a>;</li>
+<li>  measure for providing competent teachers for elementary schools, <a href="#Page_159">159</a>;</li>
+<li>  Lord John Russell&rsquo;s scheme of National Education, <a href="#Page_284">284</a>;</li>
+<li>  Mr. Forster&rsquo;s measure, <a href="#Page_285">285</a></li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Egypt, war between Turkey and, <a href="#Page_119">119</a></li>
+
+<li>Elcho, Lord, <a href="#Page_329">329</a></li>
+
+<li>Eldon, Lord, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>;
+<ul class="IX">
+<li>and the proposed repeal of the Test and Corporation Acts, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>, <a href="#Page_63">63</a></li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Elections, Parliamentary, cost of, <a href="#Page_23">23</a></li>
+
+<li>Elliot, Hon. George, <a href="#Page_195">195</a>, <a href="#Page_279">279</a>, <a href="#Page_347">347</a>, <a href="#Page_362">362</a></li>
+
+<li>Encumbered Estates Act, <a href="#Page_157">157</a></li>
+
+<li>Erskine, Lord, <a href="#Page_25">25</a></li>
+
+<li>&lsquo;Essay on the History of the English Government and Constitution,&rsquo; by Lord John Russell, <a href="#Page_274">274</a>, <a href="#Page_275">275</a></li>
+</ul>
+<ul class="IX">
+<li><span class="smcap">Factory Act</span>, <a href="#Page_159">159</a></li>
+
+<li>Famine, Irish, <a href="#Page_130">130</a>, <a href="#Page_146">146</a>, <a href="#Page_148">148</a>, <a href="#Page_149">149</a></li>
+
+<li>Farnborough, Lord, <a href="#Page_107">107</a></li>
+
+<li>Fielden, Mr., <a href="#Page_159">159</a></li>
+
+<li>Fitzpatrick, General, <a href="#Page_20">20</a></li>
+
+<li>Flood, Mr., and Reform, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>, and <a href="#Footnote_7_7"><i>note</i></a></li>
+
+<li>Fonblanque, Albany, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>, <a href="#Page_196">196</a>, <a href="#Page_197">197</a></li>
+
+<li>Forster, W. E., and the Irish famine, <a href="#Page_149">149</a>;
+<ul class="IX">
+<li>  tribute to Lord John Russell for his work in the cause of education, <a href="#Page_285">285</a>, <a href="#Page_327">327</a></li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Fortescue, Mr. Chichester, Lord John Russell&rsquo;s &lsquo;Letters on the State of Ireland&rsquo; to, <a href="#Page_280">280</a>, <a href="#Page_342">342</a></li>
+
+<li>Fox, Charles James, his influence on Lord John Russell, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>;
+<ul class="IX"><li>  on Parliamentary Representation, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>;</li>
+<li>  and the Test and Corporation Acts, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>;</li>
+<li>  Russell&rsquo;s Biography of him, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>, <a href="#Page_272">272</a>, <a href="#Page_277">277</a></li></ul></li>
+
+<li>France: Napoleon&rsquo;s intention to create a new aristocracy, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>;
+<ul class="IX">
+<li>  and England&rsquo;s alliance, <a href="#Page_120">120</a>;</li>
+<li>  overthrow and flight of Louis Philippe, <a href="#Page_163">163</a>, <a href="#Page_171">171</a>;</li>
+<li>  and the Spanish marriages, <a href="#Page_171">171</a>;</li>
+<li>  Revolution of 1848, <a href="#Page_171">171</a>;</li>
+<li>  and the &lsquo;Don Pacifico&rsquo; affair, <a href="#Page_175">175</a>;</li>
+<li>  and the Crimean War, <a href="#Page_225">225</a>, <a href="#Page_229">229</a>;</li>
+<li>  the Orsini Conspiracy, <a href="#Page_289">289</a>, <a href="#Page_290">290</a>;</li>
+<li>  Commercial Treaty with England, <a href="#Page_295">295</a>, <a href="#Page_296">296</a>;</li>
+<li>  campaign with Italy, against Austria, <a href="#Page_302">302</a>, <a href="#Page_303">303</a>;</li>
+<li>  annexation of Savoy, <a href="#Page_305">305</a></li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Free Trade: the question coming to the front, <a href="#Page_121">121</a>;
+<ul class="IX">
+<li>  and Tory opposition, <a href="#Page_132">132</a>;</li>
+<li>  conversion of Peel, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>, <a href="#Page_138">138</a>;</li>
+<li>  and the Commercial Treaty with France, <a href="#Page_296">296</a></li></ul></li>
+
+<li>French Revolution, its influence on the English people, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>, <a href="#Page_36">36</a></li>
+
+<li>Friends of the People, Society of the, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>, <a href="#Page_63">63</a></li>
+
+<li>Froude, Mr., on the improvements effected by the Reform Bill, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>, <a href="#Page_87">87</a></li>
+</ul>
+<ul class="IX">
+<li>&lsquo;<span class="smcap">Gagging Acts</span>,&rsquo; the, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>, <a href="#Page_40">40</a></li>
+
+<li>Garibaldi, General, <a href="#Page_300">300</a>;
+<ul class="IX"><li>  entry into Naples, <a href="#Page_306">306</a>;</li>
+<li>  visit to Pembroke Lodge, <a href="#Page_307">307</a></li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Gascoigne, General, <a href="#Page_73">73</a></li>
+
+<li>Gatton, <a href="#Page_23">23</a></li>
+
+<li>Gavazzi, Father, <a href="#Page_186">186</a></li>
+
+<li>George III., his madness and blindness, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>;</li>
+<li>  and Catholic Emancipation, <a href="#Page_59">59</a></li>
+
+<li>George IV. and Queen Caroline, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>;
+<ul class="IX"><li>  and Catholic Emancipation, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>;</li>
+<li>  death, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>, <a href="#Page_64">64</a></li></ul></li>
+
+<li><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_374" id="Page_374">[374]</a></span>
+Gibson, Milner, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>, <a href="#Page_208">208</a>, <a href="#Page_287">287</a>, <a href="#Page_295">295</a></li>
+
+<li>Gladstone, Mr., on the Colonial policy of the Melbourne Government, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>;
+<ul class="IX"><li>  Colonial Secretary, <a href="#Page_136">136</a>;</li>
+<li>  and Sir Robert Peel, <a href="#Page_176">176</a>;</li>
+<li>  his attack on Disraeli&rsquo;s Budget, <a href="#Page_199">199</a>;</li>
+<li>  and Disraeli&rsquo;s claim to lead the Conservative party, <a href="#Page_201">201</a> and <a href="#Footnote_27_27"><i>note</i></a>;</li>
+<li>  and Lord John Russell&rsquo;s claim to the Premiership on the fall of the Derby Government, <a href="#Page_202">202</a>;</li>
+<li>  takes office under Lord Aberdeen, <a href="#Page_207">207</a>;</li>
+<li>  first Budget, <a href="#Page_210">210</a>;</li>
+<li>  and the income tax, <a href="#Page_240">240</a>;</li>
+<li>  resigns office, <a href="#Page_258">258</a>, <a href="#Page_290">290</a>;</li>
+<li>  Chancellor of the Exchequer (1859), <a href="#Page_295">295</a>;</li>
+<li>  tribute to Russell on his accession to the Peerage, <a href="#Page_297">297</a>, <a href="#Page_298">298</a>;</li>
+<li>  unseated at Oxford, <a href="#Page_325">325</a>;</li>
+<li>  Chancellor of the Exchequer under Lord Russell, <a href="#Page_327">327</a>;</li>
+<li>  introduces a Reform Bill, <a href="#Page_328">328</a>;</li>
+<li>  tribute to Lord Russell, <a href="#Page_330">330</a>;</li>
+<li>  ovation at Carlton House Terrace, <a href="#Page_332">332</a>;</li>
+<li>  and the Irish Question, <a href="#Page_342">342</a>, <a href="#Page_363">363</a>, <a href="#Page_366">366</a></li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Glenelg, Lord, <a href="#Page_112">112</a></li>
+
+<li>Goderich, Lord, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>, <a href="#Page_93">93</a></li>
+
+<li>Gordon, Lady Georgiana, <a href="#Page_3">3</a></li>
+
+<li>Gore, Hon. Charles, <a href="#Page_348">348</a></li>
+
+<li>Gorham Case, the, <a href="#Page_182">182</a></li>
+
+<li>Gortschakoff, Prince, <a href="#Page_261">261</a>, <a href="#Page_267">267</a></li>
+
+<li>Goschen, Mr., <a href="#Page_327">327</a></li>
+
+<li>Graham, Sir James, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>;
+<ul class="IX"><li>  withdraws from Lord Grey&rsquo;s Ministry, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>;</li>
+<li>  accuses Lord John Russell of encouraging sedition, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>;</li>
+<li>  Home Secretary under Peel, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>;</li>
+<li>  declines the Governor-Generalship of India, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>, <a href="#Page_202">202</a>, <a href="#Page_207">207</a>, <a href="#Page_232">232</a>, <a href="#Page_254">254</a>, <a href="#Page_258">258</a>, <a href="#Page_290">290</a></li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Grampound, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>;
+<ul class="IX"><li>  disfranchised, <a href="#Page_43">43</a></li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Granville, Lord, appointed Foreign Secretary, <a href="#Page_182">182</a>;
+<ul class="IX"><li>  on Lord John Russell&rsquo;s speech in defence of his late colleagues, <a href="#Page_266">266</a>;</li>
+<li>  fails to form a Ministry on the defeat of Lord Derby, <a href="#Page_293">293</a>;</li>
+<li>  becomes President of the Council, <a href="#Page_295">295</a></li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Great Exhibition of 1851, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>, <a href="#Page_200">200</a>, <a href="#Page_234">234</a>, <a href="#Page_308">308</a></li>
+
+<li>Greece and the &lsquo;Don Pacifico&rsquo; affair, <a href="#Page_175">175</a></li>
+
+<li>Greenock, Lord John Russell&rsquo;s speech on the prospects of war, at, <a href="#Page_227">227</a></li>
+
+<li>Greville, Charles, comments of, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>, <a href="#Page_130">130</a>, <a href="#Page_180">180</a>, <a href="#Page_207">207</a>, <a href="#Page_257">257</a>, <a href="#Page_286">286</a></li>
+
+<li>Grey, (Charles, second) Lord, <a href="#Page_15">15</a>, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>;
+<ul class="IX"><li>  and Lord John Russell&rsquo;s efforts on behalf of liberty, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>;</li>
+<li>  forms an Administration, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>;</li>
+<li>  early labours in the cause of Reform, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>;</li>
+<li>  characteristics, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>;</li>
+<li>  announcement in the House of Lords with regard to the introduction of the first Reform Bill, <a href="#Page_68">68</a>;</li>
+<li>  speech on the second Reform Bill, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>-<a href="#Page_78">78</a>;</li>
+<li>  resigns office, but resumes power on the inability of the Duke of Wellington to form a Ministry, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>;</li>
+<li>  changes in his Cabinet, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>;</li>
+<li>  proposes the renewal of the Coercion Act, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>;</li>
+<li>resigns the Premiership, <a href="#Page_99">99</a></li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Grey (Henry, third), Lord, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>;
+<ul class="IX"><li>  Secretary to the Colonies under Lord John Russell, <a href="#Page_141">141</a></li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Grey, Sir George, Home Secretary under Lord John Russell, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>;
+<ul class="IX"><li>  and Irish crime, <a href="#Page_153">153</a>;</li>
+<li>  appointed Colonial Secretary, <a href="#Page_245">245</a>, <a href="#Page_295">295</a>;</li>
+<li>  Home Secretary, <a href="#Page_327">327</a></li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Grillion&rsquo;s Club, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>, <a href="#Page_28">28</a></li>
+
+<li>Grosvenor, Earl, <a href="#Page_329">329</a>, <a href="#Page_330">330</a></li>
+
+<li>Grote, George, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>, <a href="#Page_110">110</a>, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>, <a href="#Page_320">320</a></li>
+</ul>
+
+<ul class="IX">
+<li><span class="smcap">Habeas Corpus Act</span>, suspension of, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>, <a href="#Page_34">34</a></li>
+
+<li>Hampden, Dr., and the see of Hereford, <a href="#Page_161">161</a></li>
+
+<li>Hampden Clubs, <a href="#Page_26">26</a></li>
+
+<li>Harcourt, Archbishop, on religious tests, <a href="#Page_57">57</a></li>
+
+<li>Harding, Sir John, and the &lsquo;Alabama&rsquo; Case, <a href="#Page_315">315</a>-<a href="#Page_317">317</a></li>
+
+<li>Hardinge, Sir Henry (afterwards Viscount), <a href="#Page_82">82</a>, <a href="#Page_249">249</a></li>
+
+<li>Hartington, Lord, <a href="#Page_292">292</a>, <a href="#Page_327">327</a></li>
+
+<li>Henley, Mr., <a href="#Page_291">291</a></li>
+
+<li>Herbert of Lea, Lord, <a href="#Page_232">232</a></li>
+
+<li>Herbert, Sidney, <a href="#Page_207">207</a>, <a href="#Page_244">244</a>, <a href="#Page_254">254</a>, <a href="#Page_258">258</a></li>
+
+<li>Herschel, Sir John, <a href="#Page_355">355</a></li>
+
+<li>Hobhouse, Sir J. C., <a href="#Page_70">70</a>, <a href="#Page_141">141</a></li>
+
+<li>Holland, Lord, visit of Lord John Russell to the Peninsula with, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>-<a href="#Page_11">11</a>, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>;
+<ul class="IX"><li>  and the Life of Charles James Fox, <a href="#Page_276">276</a></li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Holland House, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>, <a href="#Page_15">15</a>, <a href="#Page_143">143</a></li>
+
+<li>Holy Places in Palestine, dispute concerning, <a href="#Page_213">213</a>, <a href="#Page_218">218</a></li>
+
+<li>Horsman, Mr., <a href="#Page_329">329</a></li>
+
+<li>Houghton, Lord, <a href="#Page_294">294</a></li>
+
+<li>House of Commons, abuses and defects in representation before the era of Reform, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>;
+<ul class="IX"><li>  presentation of the petition of the Friends of the People, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>;</li>
+<li>  suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>;</li>
+<li>  Sir Francis Burdett&rsquo;s motion for universal suffrage, and Lord John Russell&rsquo;s speech, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>;</li>
+<li>  and the &lsquo;Gagging Acts,&rsquo; <a href="#Page_39">39</a>, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>;</li>
+<li>  Lord John&rsquo;s first resolutions in favour of Reform, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>;</li>
+<li>  Lord John proposes an addition of 100 members, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>;</li>
+<li>  introduction and second reading of the first Reform Bill, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>-<a href="#Page_73">73</a>;</li>
+<li>  dissolution, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>;</li>
+<li>  first Reform Bill, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>-<a href="#Page_73">73</a>;</li>
+<li>  second Reform Bill, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>;</li>
+<li>  third Reform Bill, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>;</li>
+<li>  the first Reformed Parliament, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>;</li>
+<li>  number of Protectionists in 1847, <a href="#Page_160">160</a></li></ul></li>
+
+<li>House of Lords, and the proposed enfranchisement of Manchester, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>;
+<ul class="IX"><li>  and the Test and Corporation Acts, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>;</li>
+<li>  effect of the Duke of Wellington&rsquo;s declaration against Reform, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>;</li>
+<li>  its rejection of Reform, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>;</li>
+<li><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_375" id="Page_375">[375]</a></span>
+urged by William IV. to withdraw opposition to the Reform Bill, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>;</li>
+<li>  passing of the Reform Bill, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>;</li>
+<li>  and the Jewish Disabilities Bill, <a href="#Page_198">198</a>, <a href="#Page_291">291</a></li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Howick, Lord, <a href="#Page_134">134</a></li>
+
+<li>Hume, Joseph, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>, <a href="#Page_121">121</a></li>
+
+<li>Hunt, Mr. Ward, <a href="#Page_330">330</a></li>
+
+<li>&mdash; &lsquo;Orator,&rsquo; <a href="#Page_26">26</a></li>
+
+<li>Huskisson, Mr., <a href="#Page_56">56</a></li>
+
+<li>Hyde Park, Reform demonstration in, <a href="#Page_332">332</a></li></ul>
+
+<ul class="IX">
+<li><span class="smcap">Indemnity Bill</span> for Dissenters, <a href="#Page_51">51</a></li>
+
+<li>India, Napoleon&rsquo;s prophecy as to the acquisition by Russia of, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>;
+<ul class="IX"><li>  Duhamel&rsquo;s scheme for its acquisition by Russia, <a href="#Page_218">218</a>;</li>
+<li>  Mutiny in, <a href="#Page_288">288</a></li></ul></li>
+
+<li>India Bills, <a href="#Page_210">210</a>, <a href="#Page_290">290</a></li>
+
+<li>Inkerman, battle of, <a href="#Page_247">247</a></li>
+
+<li>Ireland: condition of affairs on the accession of the Duke of Wellington to power, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>;
+<ul class="IX"><li>  agitation for Catholic Emancipation, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>;</li>
+<li>  and O&rsquo;Connell, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>;</li>
+<li>  Lord John Russell&rsquo;s visit in 1833, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>;</li>
+<li>  Poor Law Amendment Act, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>;</li>
+<li>  Mr. Littleton&rsquo;s Tithe Bill, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>;</li>
+<li>  Tithe Bill of 1835, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>;</li>
+<li>  Municipal Bill, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>;</li>
+<li>  passing of the Tithe Bill, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>;</li>
+<li>  Maynooth grant, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>, <a href="#Page_128">128</a>;</li>
+<li>  potato famine, <a href="#Page_130">130</a>, <a href="#Page_146">146</a>, <a href="#Page_148">148</a>, <a href="#Page_149">149</a>;</li>
+<li>  Peel&rsquo;s proposal for renewal of Coercion Act, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>;</li>
+<li>  proposed renewal of Arms Bill, <a href="#Page_147">147</a>, <a href="#Page_148">148</a>;</li>
+<li>  revolt of Young Ireland against O&rsquo;Connell, <a href="#Page_147">147</a>;</li>
+<li>  measures to relieve distress, <a href="#Page_150">150</a>-<a href="#Page_152">152</a>;</li>
+<li>  crime, <a href="#Page_153">153</a>, <a href="#Page_154">154</a>;</li>
+<li>  Arms Bill (1847), <a href="#Page_154">154</a>;</li>
+<li>  Treason Felony Act, <a href="#Page_157">157</a>;</li>
+<li>  Encumbered Estates Act, <a href="#Page_157">157</a>;</li>
+<li>  emigration, <a href="#Page_158">158</a></li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Irish Church: Mr. Ward&rsquo;s motion, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>;
+<ul class="IX"><li>  Peel&rsquo;s accusation against Lord John Russell, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>;</li>
+<li>  Lord John&rsquo;s motion of April 1835, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>, <a href="#Page_104">104</a></li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Italy: Lord John Russell&rsquo;s impressions, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>;
+<ul class="IX"><li>  Lord John&rsquo;s second visit, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>;</li>
+<li>  and the retention by Austria of Lombardy and Venice, <a href="#Page_172">172</a>, <a href="#Page_300">300</a>;</li>
+<li>  accession of Victor Emmanuel II. to the throne of Sardinia, <a href="#Page_301">301</a>;</li>
+<li>  campaign, with France, against Austria, <a href="#Page_302">302</a>, <a href="#Page_303">303</a>;</li>
+<li>  the Peace of Villafranca, <a href="#Page_303">303</a>;</li>
+<li>  intervention of England, <a href="#Page_304">304</a>;</li>
+<li>  annexation of Savoy by France, <a href="#Page_305">305</a>;</li>
+<li>  entry of Garibaldi into Naples, and proclamation of Victor Emmanuel as King of Italy, <a href="#Page_306">306</a></li></ul></li>
+</ul>
+<ul class="IX">
+<li><span class="smcap">Jamaica Bill</span>, the, <a href="#Page_114">114</a></li>
+
+<li>Jews: exclusion from Parliament, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>;
+<ul class="IX"><li>  rejection in the Lords of bill for their relief, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>, <a href="#Page_198">198</a>, <a href="#Page_210">210</a>;</li>
+<li>  passing of the bill in 1858, <a href="#Page_290">290</a>, <a href="#Page_291">291</a></li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Jones, Gale, <a href="#Page_13">13</a></li>
+</ul>
+<ul class="IX">
+<li><span class="smcap">Keble</span>, Dr., <a href="#Page_183">183</a></li>
+
+<li>Kennington Common, Chartist demonstration on, <a href="#Page_166">166</a>-<a href="#Page_168">168</a></li>
+
+<li>King, Mr. Locke, <a href="#Page_193">193</a></li>
+
+<li>Kinglake, Mr., <a href="#Page_266">266</a>, <a href="#Page_353">353</a></li>
+
+<li>Kingsley, Charles, his &lsquo;Alton Locke,&rsquo; <a href="#Page_166">166</a></li>
+
+<li>Kossuth, Louis, his visit to England, <a href="#Page_179">179</a></li>
+</ul>
+<ul class="IX">
+<li><span class="smcap">Labouchere</span>, Mr. (afterwards Lord Taunton), <a href="#Page_116">116</a>, <a href="#Page_147">147</a></li>
+
+<li>Lambton, Mr. (father of the first Earl of Durham), <a href="#Page_25">25</a></li>
+
+<li>Lancashire Cotton Famine, <a href="#Page_319">319</a></li>
+
+<li>Lancaster, Joseph, <a href="#Page_115">115</a> and <a href="#Footnote_10_10"><i>note</i></a>, <a href="#Page_281">281</a>, <a href="#Page_282">282</a></li>
+
+<li>Lansdowne, Lord, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>, <a href="#Page_202">202</a>, <a href="#Page_205">205</a>, <a href="#Page_240">240</a>, <a href="#Page_251">251</a>, <a href="#Page_258">258</a></li>
+
+<li>Lascelles, Mr., <a href="#Page_23">23</a></li>
+
+<li>Lecky, Mr. W. E. H., his reminiscences of Earl Russell, <a href="#Page_335">335</a>-<a href="#Page_339">339</a></li>
+
+<li>Leech, John, <a href="#Page_192">192</a>, <a href="#Page_241">241</a></li>
+
+<li>Leeds, unrepresented in the House of Commons, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>, <a href="#Page_296">296</a></li>
+
+<li>&lsquo;Letters written for the Post, and not for the Press,&rsquo; question of authorship of, <a href="#Page_279">279</a>, <a href="#Page_280">280</a></li>
+
+<li>Lewis, Sir George Cornewall, <a href="#Page_210">210</a>, <a href="#Page_226">226</a>, <a href="#Page_238">238</a>;
+<ul class="IX"><li>  Chancellor of the Exchequer in Lord Palmerston&rsquo;s Ministry, <a href="#Page_258">258</a>;</li>
+<li>  on Lord John Russell&rsquo;s speech announcing his resignation (1855), <a href="#Page_265">265</a>, <a href="#Page_295">295</a></li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Lhuys, M. Drouyn de, <a href="#Page_261">261</a>, <a href="#Page_262">262</a></li>
+
+<li>Lincoln, President, assassination of, <a href="#Page_325">325</a></li>
+
+<li>Lister, Sir Villiers, <a href="#Page_348">348</a></li>
+
+<li>Littleton, Mr. (afterwards Lord Hatherton), and the Irish Title Bill, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>;
+<ul class="IX"><li>  and the Coercion Act, <a href="#Page_97">97</a></li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Liverpool, Lord, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>, <a href="#Page_63">63</a></li>
+
+<li>Llandaff, Bishop of, and the repeal of the Test and Corporation Acts, <a href="#Page_57">57</a></li>
+
+<li>London University, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>;
+<ul class="IX"><li>  proposed enfranchisement of, <a href="#Page_296">296</a></li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Londonderry, Marquis of, <a href="#Page_79">79</a></li>
+
+<li>Louis Philippe, overthrow and flight of, <a href="#Page_163">163</a>, <a href="#Page_171">171</a>;
+<ul class="IX"><li>  and the Spanish marriages, <a href="#Page_171">171</a></li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Lowe, Mr., <a href="#Page_327">327</a>, <a href="#Page_329">329</a>, <a href="#Page_332">332</a></li>
+
+<li>Luddites, riots of the, <a href="#Page_32">32</a></li>
+
+<li>Lyndhurst, Lord, and Jewish Lord Chancellors, <a href="#Page_291">291</a></li>
+
+<li>Lyons, Sir Edmund, <a href="#Page_252">252</a></li>
+
+<li>Lytton, Sir Edward Bulwer, <a href="#Page_208">208</a>, <a href="#Page_265">265</a></li>
+</ul>
+<ul class="IX">
+<li><span class="smcap">Macaulay</span>, Lord, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>;
+<ul class="IX"><li>  urges Lord John Russell to take office in the Coalition Ministry, <a href="#Page_204">204</a></li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Mackintosh, Sir James, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>, <a href="#Page_53">53</a></li>
+
+<li>Magenta, battle of, <a href="#Page_303">303</a></li>
+
+<li>Malmesbury, Lord, <a href="#Page_137">137</a></li>
+
+<li><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_376" id="Page_376">[376]</a></span>
+Maltby, Dr., Bishop of Durham, and Lord John Russell&rsquo;s &lsquo;Durham Letter,&rsquo; <a href="#Page_184">184</a></li>
+
+<li>Manchester, unrepresented in the House of Commons, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>, <a href="#Page_155">155</a>;
+<ul class="IX"><li>  creation of bishopric of, <a href="#Page_160">160</a>, <a href="#Page_296">296</a></li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Martineau, Harriet, <a href="#Page_129">129</a></li>
+
+<li>Maule, Fox, <a href="#Page_141">141</a></li>
+
+<li>Maynooth College, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>-<a href="#Page_130">130</a></li>
+
+<li>Mazzini, <a href="#Page_300">300</a></li>
+
+<li>McCarthy, Mr. Justin, on the attitude of the Catholics towards Lord John Russell, <a href="#Page_188">188</a></li>
+
+<li>Melbourne, Lord, becomes Prime Minister, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>;
+<ul class="IX"><li>  dismissed by William IV., <a href="#Page_100">100</a>, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>;</li>
+<li>  again Prime Minister, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>;</li>
+<li>  Queen Victoria&rsquo;s regard for him, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>;</li>
+<li>  characteristics, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>, <a href="#Page_170">170</a>;</li>
+<li>  opinion of the ballot, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>;</li>
+<li>  resigns, but is recalled to power, <a href="#Page_114">114</a>;</li>
+<li>  his recognition of Russell&rsquo;s influence as leader in the Commons, <a href="#Page_120">120</a>;</li>
+<li>  blunders of his Government, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>;</li>
+<li>  defeat of his Government, <a href="#Page_123">123</a>, <a href="#Page_144">144</a></li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Melville, Lord, <a href="#Page_8">8</a></li>
+
+<li>&lsquo;Memoirs of the Affairs of Europe from the Peace of Utrecht,&rsquo; by Lord John Russell, <a href="#Page_275">275</a></li>
+
+<li>Memorandum, Secret, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>, <a href="#Page_225">225</a></li>
+
+<li>Menschikoff, Prince, <a href="#Page_223">223</a>, <a href="#Page_224">224</a></li>
+
+<li>Metternich, <a href="#Page_171">171</a>, <a href="#Page_300">300</a></li>
+
+<li>Miall, Edward, <a href="#Page_242">242</a></li>
+
+<li>Militia Bill, the, <a href="#Page_194">194</a>, <a href="#Page_195">195</a></li>
+
+<li>Milton, Lord, <a href="#Page_23">23</a></li>
+
+<li>Mitchel, John, <a href="#Page_157">157</a>, <a href="#Page_158">158</a></li>
+
+<li>Moldavia and Wallachia, occupation by Russia of, <a href="#Page_224">224</a>, <a href="#Page_229">229</a>, <a href="#Page_259">259</a></li>
+
+<li>Monson, Lord, <a href="#Page_23">23</a></li>
+
+<li>Moore, Thomas, his &lsquo;Remonstrance,&rsquo; <a href="#Page_34">34</a>;
+<ul class="IX"><li>  accompanies Lord John Russell to the Continent, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>;</li>
+<li>  extracts from his journal, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>;</li>
+<li>  anxiety as to Lord John&rsquo;s politics, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>;</li>
+<li>  on Lord John&rsquo;s success with his motion for the repeal of the Test and Corporation Acts, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>;</li>
+<li>  and Lardner&rsquo;s Encyclopædia, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>;</li>
+<li>  Russell&rsquo;s &lsquo;Memoirs and Correspondence&rsquo; of Moore, <a href="#Page_204">204</a>, <a href="#Page_272">272</a>, <a href="#Page_278">278</a></li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Morpeth, Lord, <a href="#Page_141">141</a></li>
+
+<li>Municipal Reform Act, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>, <a href="#Page_104">104</a></li>
+</ul>
+<ul class="IX">
+<li><span class="smcap">Napoleon I.</span>, Lord Russell&rsquo;s boyish hatred of, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>;
+<ul class="IX"><li>  Lord John&rsquo;s interview with him at Elba, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>-<a href="#Page_31">31</a>;</li>
+<li>  his description of Wellington, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>;</li>
+<li>  opinions on European politics, &amp;c., <a href="#Page_29">29</a>-<a href="#Page_31">31</a>;</li>
+<li>  and Talma, <a href="#Page_37">37</a></li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Napoleon III., <a href="#Page_167">167</a>;
+<ul class="IX"><li>  and the <i>Coup d&rsquo;<ins class="correction" title="Transcriber's note: original reads 'Etat'">État</ins></i> of 1851, <a href="#Page_179">179</a>;</li>
+<li>  and the fear of his invading England, <a href="#Page_194">194</a>;</li>
+<li>  and the custody of the Holy Places, <a href="#Page_218">218</a>;</li>
+<li>  his alliance with England during the Crimean War, <a href="#Page_262">262</a>;</li>
+<li>  visit to England (1855), <a href="#Page_267">267</a>;</li>
+<li>  interview with Count Cavour, <a href="#Page_302">302</a>;</li>
+<li>  designs with regard to Italy, <a href="#Page_303">303</a>, <a href="#Page_304">304</a>;</li>
+<li>and the Peace of Villafranca, <a href="#Page_303">303</a></li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Navigation Acts, <a href="#Page_197">197</a></li>
+
+<li>Nesselrode, Count, <a href="#Page_214">214</a>, <a href="#Page_215">215</a></li>
+
+<li>New Zealand becomes part of the British dominions, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>, <a href="#Page_199">199</a></li>
+
+<li>Newcastle, Duke of, <a href="#Page_207">207</a>, <a href="#Page_232">232</a>;
+<ul class="IX"><li>  unpopularity as Secretary for War, <a href="#Page_244">244</a>, <a href="#Page_249">249</a>, <a href="#Page_250">250</a>;</li>
+<li>  incapacity as War Minister, <a href="#Page_245">245</a></li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Newman, Dr., <a href="#Page_161">161</a>, <a href="#Page_182">182</a></li>
+
+<li>Nicholas, Emperor, his ambitious projects, <a href="#Page_213">213</a>, <a href="#Page_214">214</a>;
+<ul class="IX"><li>  visit to England in 1844 and the Secret Memorandum, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>;</li>
+<li>  friendship with Lord Aberdeen, <a href="#Page_217">217</a>;</li>
+<li>  letter to Queen Victoria, <a href="#Page_230">230</a>;</li>
+<li>  &lsquo;Generals Janvier et Février,&rsquo; <a href="#Page_259">259</a>;</li>
+<li>  death, <a href="#Page_259">259</a></li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Nightingale, Miss Florence, <a href="#Page_250">250</a></li>
+
+<li><a name="Nonconformists" id="Nonconformists">Nonconformists</a>: the Indemnity Bill, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>;
+<ul class="IX"><li>  agitation for repeal of Test and Corporation Acts and their repeal moved and carried by Lord John Russell, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>-<a href="#Page_57">57</a>;</li>
+<li>  the Marriage Bill and Registration Act, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>;</li>
+<li>  and the struggle for civil and religious liberty, <a href="#Page_184">184</a>;</li>
+<li>  deputation to Lord Russell, <a href="#Page_366">366</a></li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Normanby, Lord, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>, <a href="#Page_179">179</a>, <a href="#Page_180">180</a></li>
+
+<li>Northcote, Sir Stafford, <a href="#Page_369">369</a></li>
+
+<li>Nottingham Castle, <a href="#Page_79">79</a></li>
+
+<li>&lsquo;Nun of Arrouca, The,&rsquo; <a href="#Page_278">278</a></li>
+</ul>
+<ul class="IX">
+<li><span class="smcap">O&rsquo;Brien</span>, Smith, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>, <a href="#Page_157">157</a>, <a href="#Page_158">158</a></li>
+
+<li>O&rsquo;Connell, Daniel, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>;
+<ul class="IX"><li>  his election for Clare, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>;</li>
+<li>  on the revenues of the Irish Church, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>;</li>
+<li>  and the Coercion Bill, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>, <a href="#Page_146">146</a>;</li>
+<li>  and Lord John Russell, <a href="#Page_147">147</a>;</li>
+<li>  and the potato famine, <a href="#Page_149">149</a>, <a href="#Page_158">158</a></li></ul></li>
+
+<li>O&rsquo;Connor, Feargus, <a href="#Page_165">165</a>-<a href="#Page_168">168</a></li>
+
+<li>Old Sarum, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>, <a href="#Page_71">71</a></li>
+
+<li>Oltenitza, battle of, <a href="#Page_230">230</a></li>
+
+<li>Omar Pacha, <a href="#Page_230">230</a></li>
+
+<li>Opium war, the, <a href="#Page_121">121</a></li>
+
+<li>Orloff, Count, <a href="#Page_214">214</a></li>
+
+<li>Orsini conspiracy, the, <a href="#Page_289">289</a>, <a href="#Page_290">290</a></li>
+
+<li>Oxford Movement, the, <a href="#Page_161">161</a>, <a href="#Page_182">182</a>-<a href="#Page_186">186</a>, <a href="#Page_189">189</a></li>
+</ul>
+<ul class="IX">
+<li><span class="smcap">Palmerston</span>, Lord, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>;
+<ul class="IX"><li>  and the despatch to Metternich, <a href="#Page_120">120</a>;</li>
+<li>  Foreign Secretary under Lord John Russell, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>;</li>
+<li>  compared with Russell, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>;</li>
+<li>  early official life and politics, <a href="#Page_169">169</a>;</li>
+<li>  his independent action, <a href="#Page_169">169</a>, <a href="#Page_174">174</a>, <a href="#Page_175">175</a>, <a href="#Page_177">177</a>;</li>
+<li>  his despatch to France on the Spanish marriages, <a href="#Page_171">171</a>;</li>
+<li>  foreign policy, <a href="#Page_173">173</a>, <a href="#Page_174">174</a>;</li>
+<li>  despatch to Sir H. Bulwer at Madrid, <a href="#Page_174">174</a>;</li>
+<li>  and the &lsquo;Don Pacifico&rsquo; affair, <a href="#Page_175">175</a>;</li>
+<li>  popularity, <a href="#Page_177">177</a>;</li>
+<li>  and the Queen&rsquo;s instructions, <a href="#Page_178">178</a>;</li>
+<li>  and the Kossuth incident, <a href="#Page_179">179</a>;</li>
+<li>  and the <i>Coup d&rsquo;<ins class="correction" title="Transcriber's note: original reads 'Etat'">État</ins></i> in Paris (1851), <a href="#Page_179">179</a>;</li>
+<li>  dismissed from the Foreign Office, <a href="#Page_180">180</a>;</li>
+<li>  declines the Irish Viceroyalty, <a href="#Page_181">181</a>;</li>
+<li>  his amendment on the Militia Bill, <a href="#Page_195">195</a>;</li>
+<li>  offered a seat in Lord Derby&rsquo;s Cabinet, <a href="#Page_201">201</a>;</li>
+<li>  Home Secretary under Lord Aberdeen, <a href="#Page_207">207</a>;</li>
+<li><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_377" id="Page_377">[377]</a></span>
+urges the despatch of the fleet to the Bosphorus, <a href="#Page_225">225</a>;</li>
+<li>  resignation, and its withdrawal, <a href="#Page_237">237</a>, <a href="#Page_238">238</a>;</li>
+<li>  succeeds Lord Aberdeen as Prime Minister, <a href="#Page_258">258</a>;</li>
+<li>  and Count Buol&rsquo;s proposals, <a href="#Page_262">262</a>, <a href="#Page_263">263</a>;</li>
+<li>  defeat on the &lsquo;Arrow&rsquo; question and return to power after the General Election, <a href="#Page_287">287</a>;</li>
+<li>  defeat and resignation on the Conspiracy Bill, <a href="#Page_290">290</a>;</li>
+<li>  renewal of friendly relations with Russell, <a href="#Page_293">293</a>;</li>
+<li>  forms a Ministry on the defeat of Lord Derby, <a href="#Page_293">293</a>, <a href="#Page_295">295</a>;</li>
+<li>  indifference to Reform, <a href="#Page_296">296</a>;</li>
+<li>  on Cabinet opinions, <a href="#Page_323">323</a>;</li>
+<li>  death, <a href="#Page_325">325</a>;</li>
+<li>  Lord Lyttelton&rsquo;s opinion of him, <a href="#Page_326">326</a></li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Panmure, Lord, <a href="#Page_243">243</a>, <a href="#Page_258">258</a></li>
+
+<li>Papal aggression, and the decree of Pius IX., <a href="#Page_182">182</a>-<a href="#Page_184">184</a>;
+<ul class="IX"><li>  and the Durham Letter, <a href="#Page_184">184</a>-<a href="#Page_188">188</a></li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Paris, Treaty of, <a href="#Page_268">268</a></li>
+
+<li>Parliamentary representation before the era of Reform, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>, <a href="#Page_23">23</a></li>
+
+<li>Parnell, Sir H., <a href="#Page_62">62</a></li>
+
+<li>&lsquo;Partington, Dame,&rsquo; and Sydney Smith&rsquo;s speech on Reform, <a href="#Page_80">80</a></li>
+
+<li>&lsquo;Peace with honour,&rsquo; <a href="#Page_227">227</a>, <a href="#Page_349">349</a></li>
+
+<li>Peel, Lady Georgiana, <a href="#Page_357">357</a></li>
+
+<li>Peel, Sir Robert, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>;
+<ul class="IX"><li>  leader of the House of Commons under the Duke of Wellington, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>;</li>
+<li>  opposes the repeal of the Test and Corporation Acts, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>;</li>
+<li>  and Catholic Emancipation, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>;</li>
+<li>  and the first Reform Bill, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>;</li>
+<li>  Prime Minister, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>;</li>
+<li>  resignation, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>;</li>
+<li>  and the Whig Ladies-in-Waiting, <a href="#Page_114">114</a>;</li>
+<li>  his motion of want of confidence in the Melbourne Administration, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>;</li>
+<li>  again Prime Minister, <a href="#Page_123">123</a>, <a href="#Page_124">124</a>;</li>
+<li>  characteristics, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>;</li>
+<li>  and the grant to Maynooth College, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>, <a href="#Page_128">128</a>, <a href="#Page_130">130</a>;</li>
+<li>  on the state of Ireland, <a href="#Page_128">128</a>;</li>
+<li>  and the repeal of the Corn Laws, <a href="#Page_131">131</a>;</li>
+<li>  resignation and resumption of office, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>, <a href="#Page_136">136</a>;</li>
+<li>  proposes gradual repeal of Corn Laws, <a href="#Page_138">138</a>, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>;</li>
+<li>  defeat and resignation on the Coercion Bill, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>, <a href="#Page_155">155</a>;</li>
+<li>  and Lord Palmerston, <a href="#Page_170">170</a>;</li>
+<li>  death, <a href="#Page_176">176</a>, <a href="#Page_177">177</a>;</li>
+<li>  and the Emperor Nicholas, <a href="#Page_215">215</a></li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Pélissier, General, <a href="#Page_263">263</a>, <a href="#Page_267">267</a></li>
+
+<li>Pembroke Lodge, <a href="#Page_307">307</a>, <a href="#Page_351">351</a>-<a href="#Page_353">353</a>, <a href="#Page_356">356</a>, <a href="#Page_357">357</a></li>
+
+<li>Penal Code, the, before the era of Reform, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>, <a href="#Page_107">107</a></li>
+
+<li>Peninsular Campaign, its costliness, <a href="#Page_22">22</a></li>
+
+<li>Penryn, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>, <a href="#Page_52">52</a></li>
+
+<li>People&rsquo;s Charter, the, <a href="#Page_165">165</a></li>
+
+<li>Peterloo Massacre, the, <a href="#Page_38">38</a></li>
+
+<li>Petty, Lord Henry (afterwards third Marquis of Lansdowne), <a href="#Page_12">12</a></li>
+
+<li>Pius IX., and his decree of 1850, <a href="#Page_182">182</a>, <a href="#Page_183">183</a></li>
+
+<li>Playfair, Professor John, <a href="#Page_12">12</a></li>
+
+<li>Polignac, Prince de, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>, <a href="#Page_61">61</a></li>
+
+<li>Polish revolt of 1863, <a href="#Page_321">321</a></li>
+
+<li>Poor Law Amendment Act (Ireland), <a href="#Page_93">93</a>, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>, <a href="#Page_151">151</a></li>
+
+<li>Poor Law Board, <a href="#Page_160">160</a></li>
+
+<li>Poor Laws, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>, <a href="#Page_126">126</a></li>
+
+<li>Potato famine, <a href="#Page_130">130</a>, <a href="#Page_146">146</a>, <a href="#Page_148">148</a>, <a href="#Page_149">149</a></li>
+
+<li>Prisons, regulation of, <a href="#Page_107">107</a></li>
+
+<li>Protestant Operative Association of Dublin, <a href="#Page_129">129</a></li>
+
+<li>Prussia and the Vienna Note, <a href="#Page_227">227</a>;
+<ul class="IX"><li>  and the Crimean War, <a href="#Page_243">243</a></li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Public Health Act, <a href="#Page_162">162</a></li>
+
+<li>&lsquo;Punch,&rsquo; cartoons, &amp;c., in, <a href="#Page_192">192</a>, <a href="#Page_241">241</a>, <a href="#Page_242">242</a>, <a href="#Page_307">307</a>, <a href="#Page_367">367</a></li>
+
+<li>Pusey, Dr., <a href="#Page_161">161</a> and <a href="#Footnote_17_17"><i>note</i></a>, <a href="#Page_183">183</a></li>
+</ul>
+<ul class="IX">
+<li><span class="smcap">Raglan</span>, Lord, <a href="#Page_246">246</a>, <a href="#Page_252">252</a>, <a href="#Page_267">267</a></li>
+
+<li>&lsquo;Recollections and Suggestions,&rsquo; publication of, <a href="#Page_280">280</a></li>
+
+<li>Redistribution of Seats Bill, <a href="#Page_330">330</a></li>
+
+<li>Redcliffe, Lord Stratford de: skill in diplomacy, and early diplomatic life, <a href="#Page_218">218</a>-<a href="#Page_220">220</a>;
+<ul class="IX"><li>  return to Constantinople, <a href="#Page_220">220</a>, <a href="#Page_221">221</a>;</li>
+<li>  and the second Congress at Vienna, <a href="#Page_260">260</a></li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Reform: its early advocates, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>-<a href="#Page_27">27</a>;
+<ul class="IX"><li>  and the Society of the Friends of the People, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>;</li>
+<li>  Lord John Russell&rsquo;s first speech on the subject, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>;</li>
+<li>  Sir Francis Burdett&rsquo;s motion of 1819, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>;</li>
+<li>  Lord John brings forward his first resolutions in the House of Commons, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>;</li>
+<li>  disfranchisement of Grampound, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>;</li>
+<li>  Lord John&rsquo;s motion for an addition of 100 members to the House of Commons, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>;</li>
+<li>  resolutions brought forward by Lord Blandford, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>;</li>
+<li>  rejection of Lord John&rsquo;s Bill for enfranchising Manchester, Birmingham, and Leeds, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>;</li>
+<li>  O&rsquo;Connell&rsquo;s motion for Triennial Parliaments, &amp;c., <a href="#Page_60">60</a>;</li>
+<li>  declaration of the Duke of Wellington, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>;</li>
+<li>  the Committee of Four and the first Reform Bill, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>, <a href="#Page_68">68</a>;</li>
+<li>  introduction and second reading of the first Bill in the Commons, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>-<a href="#Page_73">73</a>;</li>
+<li>  the second Bill, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>-<a href="#Page_78">78</a>;</li>
+<li>  public excitement on the rejection of the second Bill by the House of Lords, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>;</li>
+<li>  the third Bill passes the Commons, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>;</li>
+<li>  the Bill passes the House of Lords, and receives the Royal Assent, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>;</li>
+<li>  secured by popular enthusiasm, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>;</li>
+<li>  Lord John&rsquo;s Bill of 1852, <a href="#Page_196">196</a>;</li>
+<li>  Bill of 1854, <a href="#Page_236">236</a>, <a href="#Page_237">237</a>, <a href="#Page_239">239</a>;</li>
+<li>  Disraeli&rsquo;s Bill, <a href="#Page_291">291</a>, <a href="#Page_292">292</a>;</li>
+<li>  Lord John&rsquo;s Bill of 1860, <a href="#Page_296">296</a>;</li>
+<li>  Bill introduced by Mr. Gladstone, <a href="#Page_328">328</a></li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Regent, Prince, insulted on returning from opening Parliament, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>;
+<ul class="IX"><li>  and the Peterloo Massacre, <a href="#Page_38">38</a></li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Revolution, French (1848), <a href="#Page_171">171</a></li>
+
+<li>Rice, Mr. Spring, <a href="#Page_96">96</a></li>
+
+<li>Richmond, Duke of, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>, <a href="#Page_124">124</a></li>
+
+<li>Ripon, Lord, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>, <a href="#Page_124">124</a></li>
+
+<li>Roden, Lord, <a href="#Page_113">113</a></li>
+
+<li>Roebuck, J. A., and education, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>;
+<ul class="IX"><li><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_378" id="Page_378">[378]</a></span>
+moves vote of confidence in the Russell Administration, <a href="#Page_176">176</a>;</li>
+<li>  his motion to inquire into the condition of the Army in the Crimea, <a href="#Page_254">254</a></li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Rogers, Samuel, <a href="#Page_123">123</a>, <a href="#Page_276">276</a></li>
+
+<li>Rothschild, Baron, <a href="#Page_291">291</a></li>
+
+<li>Russell, Mr. G. W. E., <a href="#Page_344">344</a></li>
+
+<li>Russell, John, the first Constable of Corfe Castle, <a href="#Page_1">1</a>, <a href="#Page_2">2</a></li>
+
+<li>Russell, Sir John, Speaker of the House of Commons, <a href="#Page_2">2</a></li>
+
+<li>Russell, John, the third, and first Earl of Bedford, <a href="#Page_2">2</a></li>
+
+<li>Russell, Lord John: ancestry, <a href="#Page_1">1</a>, <a href="#Page_2">2</a>;
+<ul class="IX"><li>  boyhood and education, <a href="#Page_3">3</a>-<a href="#Page_9">9</a>;</li>
+<li>  schooldays at Sunbury and Westminster, <a href="#Page_3">3</a>-<a href="#Page_5">5</a>;</li>
+<li>  extracts from journal kept at Westminster, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>;</li>
+<li>  passion for the theatre, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>;</li>
+<li>  education under Dr. Cartwright, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>;</li>
+<li>  dedicates a manuscript book to Pitt, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>;</li>
+<li>  schooldays and schoolfellows at Woodnesborough, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>-<a href="#Page_9">9</a>;</li>
+<li>  writes satirical verses and dramatic prologues, <a href="#Page_7">7</a>, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>;</li>
+<li>  opinion on the case of Lord Melville, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>;</li>
+<li>  influence of Mr. Fox upon him, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>;</li>
+<li>  at Holland House, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>, <a href="#Page_336">336</a>;</li>
+<li>  friendship with Sydney Smith, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>;</li>
+<li>  visit to the English lakes and Scotland, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>;</li>
+<li>  impressions of Sir Walter Scott, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>;</li>
+<li>  first visit to the House of Lords, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>;</li>
+<li>  visit to the Peninsula with Lord and Lady Holland, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>-<a href="#Page_11">11</a>;</li>
+<li>  political predilections and sympathy with Spain, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>-<a href="#Page_11">11</a>;</li>
+<li>  goes to Edinburgh University, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>;</li>
+<li>  impressions of Professors Dugald Stewart and John Playfair, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>;</li>
+<li>  his powers of debate at the Edinburgh Speculative Society, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>;</li>
+<li>  early bias towards Parliamentary Reform, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>;</li>
+<li>  second visit to Spain, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>, <a href="#Page_15">15</a>;</li>
+<li>  first impressions of Lord Wellington, <a href="#Page_15">15</a>;</li>
+<li>  commands a company of the Bedfordshire Militia, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>;</li>
+<li>  third visit to Spain, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>-<a href="#Page_20">20</a>;</li>
+<li>  on the field of Salamanca, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>;</li>
+<li>  at Wellington&rsquo;s head-quarters, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>;</li>
+<li>  his ride to Frenida, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>;</li>
+<li>  dines with a canon at Plasencia, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>;</li>
+<li>  at Talavera and Madrid, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>;</li>
+<li>  elected member for Tavistock, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>;</li>
+<li>  his opinion of Lord Liverpool, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>;</li>
+<li>  maiden speech in Parliament, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>;</li>
+<li>  speech on the Alien Acts, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>;</li>
+<li>  elected a member of Grillion&rsquo;s Club, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>;</li>
+<li>  his Italian tour of 1814-15, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>-<a href="#Page_31">31</a>;</li>
+<li>  interview with Napoleon at Elba, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>-<a href="#Page_31">31</a>;</li>
+<li>  speeches in Parliament against the renewal of war with France, against the income-tax and the Army Estimates, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>;</li>
+<li>  on the proposal to suspend the Habeas Corpus Act, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>;</li>
+<li>  proposes to abandon politics, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>;</li>
+<li>  literary labours and travel, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>;</li>
+<li>  returned again for Tavistock at the General Election of 1818, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>;</li>
+<li>  first speech in the House of Commons on Parliamentary Reform, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>;</li>
+<li>growth of his influence in Parliament, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>;</li>
+<li>  visit to the Continent with Thomas Moore, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>;</li>
+<li>  impressions of Italy, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>;</li>
+<li>  brings forward in Parliament his first resolutions in favour of Reform, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>;</li>
+<li>  his bill for disfranchising Penryn, Camelford, Grampound, and Barnstaple, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>;</li>
+<li>  returned to Parliament for Huntingdon, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>;</li>
+<li>  and the case of Grampound, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>;</li>
+<li>  takes the side of Queen Caroline, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>;</li>
+<li>  writes &lsquo;The Nun of Arrouca,&rsquo; <a href="#Page_42">42</a>;</li>
+<li>  taciturnity in French society, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>;</li>
+<li>  his resolutions for the discovery and punishment of bribery, &amp;c., <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>;</li>
+<li>  proposes an addition of 100 members to the House of Commons, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>;</li>
+<li>  increase of his political influence, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>, <a href="#Page_46">46</a>;</li>
+<li>  unseated in Huntingdonshire, and his second visit to Italy, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>;</li>
+<li>  elected for Bandon Bridge, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>;</li>
+<li>  on the condition of the Tory party on Canning&rsquo;s accession to power, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>;</li>
+<li>  and restrictions upon Dissenters, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>;</li>
+<li>  proposal to enfranchise Manchester, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>;</li>
+<li>  moves the repeal of the Test and Corporation Acts, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>-<a href="#Page_57">57</a>;</li>
+<li>  and Catholic Emancipation, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>;</li>
+<li>  rejection of his bill for enfranchising Manchester, Birmingham, and Leeds, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>;</li>
+<li>  defeated at Bedford, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>;</li>
+<li>  visit to Paris, and efforts to save the life of Prince de Polignac, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>;</li>
+<li>  elected for Tavistock, and appointed Paymaster-General, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>;</li>
+<li>  prepares the first Reform Bill in conjunction with Lord Durham and others, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>;</li>
+<li>  introduces the bill, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>-<a href="#Page_72">72</a>;</li>
+<li>  moves the second reading of the Bill, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>;</li>
+<li>  returned to Parliament for Devonshire, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>;</li>
+<li>  raised to Cabinet rank, and introduces second Reform Bill, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>;</li>
+<li>  reply to vote of thanks from Birmingham, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>;</li>
+<li>  introduces the third Reform Bill, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>;</li>
+<li>  carries the bill to the Lords, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>;</li>
+<li>  and the Municipal Reform Act, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>;</li>
+<li>  opposition to Radical measures, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>;</li>
+<li>  and the wants of Ireland, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>;</li>
+<li>  visit to Ireland, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>;</li>
+<li>  on Mr. Littleton&rsquo;s Irish Tithe Bill, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>;</li>
+<li>  &lsquo;upsets the coach,&rsquo; <a href="#Page_95">95</a>;</li>
+<li>  on Coercion Acts, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>;</li>
+<li>  allusion to his Biography of Fox, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>;</li>
+<li>  and the leadership in the House of Commons under the first Melbourne Ministry, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>;</li>
+<li>  William IV.&rsquo;s opinion of him, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>;</li>
+<li>  returned for South Devon on Peel&rsquo;s accession to power, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>;</li>
+<li>  as leader of the Opposition, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>;</li>
+<li>  and the meeting at Lichfield House, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>;</li>
+<li>  defeats the Government with his Irish Church motion, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>;</li>
+<li>  marriage, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>, <a href="#Page_355">355</a>;</li>
+<li>  appointment to the Home Office in the second Melbourne Administration, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>;</li>
+<li>  defeated in Devonshire, and elected for Stroud, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>;</li>
+<li>  presented with a testimonial at Bristol, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>;</li>
+<li><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_379" id="Page_379">[379]</a></span>
+and the Dissenters&rsquo; Marriage Bill, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>;</li>
+<li>  and the Tithe Commutation Act, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>;</li>
+<li>  again returned for Stroud, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>;</li>
+<li>  allusion to the accession of the Queen, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>;</li>
+<li>  declines to take part in further measures of Reform, and is called by Radicals &lsquo;Finality John,&rsquo; <a href="#Page_110">110</a>;</li>
+<li>  death of his wife, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>;</li>
+<li>  Education Bill of 1839, <a href="#Page_114">114</a>, <a href="#Page_115">115</a>;</li>
+<li>  as Colonial Secretary, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>-<a href="#Page_118">118</a>, <a href="#Page_338">338</a>;</li>
+<li>  his appointment of a Chartist magistrate, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>;</li>
+<li>  and the Corn Laws, <a href="#Page_121">121</a>;</li>
+<li>  returned for the City of London, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>;</li>
+<li>  second marriage, <a href="#Page_123">123</a>;</li>
+<li>  Wellington&rsquo;s opinion of him, <a href="#Page_123">123</a>;</li>
+<li>  his opinion of Peel&rsquo;s Administration, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>;</li>
+<li>  supports Peel on the Maynooth question, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>, <a href="#Page_130">130</a>;</li>
+<li>  and the repeal of the Corn Laws, <a href="#Page_131">131</a>-<a href="#Page_134">134</a>, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>;</li>
+<li>  and the &lsquo;Edinburgh Letter,&rsquo; <a href="#Page_133">133</a>;</li>
+<li>  fails to form a Ministry on the resignation of Peel, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>, <a href="#Page_135">135</a>;</li>
+<li>  opposes Peel&rsquo;s proposal for renewal of Coercion Act, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>;</li>
+<li>  succeeds Peel as Prime Minister, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>;</li>
+<li>  address in the City, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>;</li>
+<li>  political qualities, <a href="#Page_143">143</a>, <a href="#Page_145">145</a>;</li>
+<li>  contrasted with Palmerston, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>;</li>
+<li>  his measure for total repeal of Corn Laws, <a href="#Page_145">145</a>;</li>
+<li>  and sugar duties, <a href="#Page_146">146</a>;</li>
+<li>  proposes renewal of Irish Arms Bill, <a href="#Page_146">146</a>;</li>
+<li>  his Irish policy, and anxiety and efforts for the improvement of the people, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>, <a href="#Page_152">152</a>, <a href="#Page_156">156</a>, <a href="#Page_157">157</a>, <a href="#Page_158">158</a>, <a href="#Page_338">338</a>, <a href="#Page_342">342</a>;</li>
+<li>  and the Arms Bill (1847), <a href="#Page_154">154</a>;</li>
+<li>  again visits Ireland, <a href="#Page_158">158</a>;</li>
+<li>  education measures, <a href="#Page_159">159</a>;</li>
+<li>  returned again for the City, <a href="#Page_160">160</a>;</li>
+<li>  his appointment of Dr. Hampden to the see of Hereford, <a href="#Page_161">161</a>;</li>
+<li>  and the Chartist demonstration of 1848, <a href="#Page_166">166</a>, <a href="#Page_168">168</a>;</li>
+<li>  relations with Lord Palmerston, <a href="#Page_170">170</a>;</li>
+<li>  on the political situation in Europe after the French Revolution of 1848, <a href="#Page_171">171</a>, <a href="#Page_172">172</a>;</li>
+<li>  and Palmerston&rsquo;s action in the &lsquo;Don Pacifico&rsquo; affair, <a href="#Page_176">176</a>;</li>
+<li>  tribute to Sir Robert Peel, <a href="#Page_177">177</a>;</li>
+<li>  dismisses Palmerston from the Foreign Office, <a href="#Page_180">180</a>;</li>
+<li>  and the breach with Palmerston, <a href="#Page_181">181</a>;</li>
+<li>  his &lsquo;Durham Letter,&rsquo; <a href="#Page_184">184</a>-<a href="#Page_191">191</a>;</li>
+<li>  introduces the Ecclesiastical Titles Bill, <a href="#Page_191">191</a>;</li>
+<li>  resigns the Premiership, but returns to office on the failure of Lord Stanley to form a Ministry, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>;</li>
+<li>  resignation on the vote on the Militia Bill, <a href="#Page_195">195</a>;</li>
+<li>  his Reform Bill of 1852, <a href="#Page_196">196</a>;</li>
+<li>  defence of Lord Clarendon, <a href="#Page_196">196</a>;</li>
+<li>  edits &lsquo;Memoirs and Journal of Thomas Moore,&rsquo; <a href="#Page_204">204</a>;</li>
+<li>  accepts Foreign Secretaryship in the Aberdeen Administration, <a href="#Page_206">206</a>;</li>
+<li>  his vacillation in taking office under Lord Aberdeen not due to personal motives, <a href="#Page_205">205</a>;</li>
+<li>  retires from Foreign Office, <a href="#Page_210">210</a>, <a href="#Page_221">221</a>;</li>
+<li>  on the projects of Russia, <a href="#Page_218">218</a>, <a href="#Page_224">224</a>, <a href="#Page_225">225</a>;</li>
+<li>  and the Vienna Note, <a href="#Page_227">227</a>;</li>
+<li>  speech at Greenock on the prospects of war, <a href="#Page_227">227</a>;</li>
+<li>memorandum to the Cabinet on the eve of the Crimean War, <a href="#Page_228">228</a>;</li>
+<li>  Reform Bill of 1854, <a href="#Page_236">236</a>, <a href="#Page_239">239</a>, <a href="#Page_241">241</a>;</li>
+<li>  resignation, <a href="#Page_241">241</a>;</li>
+<li>  resumes his seat in the Cabinet, <a href="#Page_242">242</a>;</li>
+<li>  speech in the House of Commons on withdrawing his Reform measure, <a href="#Page_242">242</a>, <a href="#Page_243">243</a>;</li>
+<li>  proposes a rearrangement of the War and Colonial departments, <a href="#Page_244">244</a>, <a href="#Page_248">248</a>, <a href="#Page_251">251</a>;</li>
+<li>  presses Lord Aberdeen to take decisive action with regard to the Crimean War, <a href="#Page_248">248</a>;</li>
+<li>  memorandum on the Crimean War, <a href="#Page_251">251</a>;</li>
+<li>  proposed resignation, <a href="#Page_251">251</a>, <a href="#Page_252">252</a>;</li>
+<li>  resignation on Roebuck&rsquo;s motion to inquire into the condition of the Army in the Crimea, and his speech on the question, <a href="#Page_254">254</a>-<a href="#Page_257">257</a>;</li>
+<li>  becomes Colonial Secretary in Palmerston&rsquo;s Government, <a href="#Page_258">258</a>;</li>
+<li>  plenipotentiary at second Congress of Vienna, <a href="#Page_259">259</a>-<a href="#Page_263">263</a>;</li>
+<li>  consents at Palmerston&rsquo;s request to remain in the Ministry, <a href="#Page_263">263</a>;</li>
+<li>  explanations in the House of Commons regarding the failure of the Vienna Conference, <a href="#Page_264">264</a>, <a href="#Page_265">265</a>;</li>
+<li>  announces his resignation (1855), <a href="#Page_265">265</a>;</li>
+<li>  speech in defence of his late colleagues against Roebuck&rsquo;s motion of censure, <a href="#Page_266">266</a>;</li>
+<li>  his mistake in joining the Coalition Ministry, <a href="#Page_271">271</a>;</li>
+<li>  leisure, travel, &amp;c., <a href="#Page_272">272</a>;</li>
+<li>  literary labours, <a href="#Page_272">272</a>-<a href="#Page_281">281</a>, <a href="#Page_354">354</a>;</li>
+<li>  and the pension for Moore, <a href="#Page_278">278</a>;</li>
+<li>  remarks on his own career in &lsquo;Recollections and Suggestions,&rsquo; <a href="#Page_281">281</a>, <a href="#Page_336">336</a>;</li>
+<li>  allusions to Joseph Lancaster, <a href="#Page_282">282</a>;</li>
+<li>  work in the cause of education, <a href="#Page_282">282</a>-<a href="#Page_285">285</a>, <a href="#Page_339">339</a>;</li>
+<li>  scheme of National Education (1856), <a href="#Page_284">284</a>;</li>
+<li>  opposes Lord Palmerston on the &lsquo;Arrow&rsquo; question, <a href="#Page_287">287</a>;</li>
+<li>  speech in the City and re-election, <a href="#Page_287">287</a>, <a href="#Page_288">288</a>;</li>
+<li>  supports Palmerston at the Indian Mutiny crisis, <a href="#Page_288">288</a>;</li>
+<li>  on the Conspiracy Bill, <a href="#Page_289">289</a>, <a href="#Page_290">290</a>;</li>
+<li>  supports Lord Derby in passing the India Bill, <a href="#Page_290">290</a>;</li>
+<li>  thanked by Jews for his aid in removing their disabilities, <a href="#Page_291">291</a>;</li>
+<li>  attacks Disraeli&rsquo;s Reform Bill, <a href="#Page_292">292</a>;</li>
+<li>  renewal of friendly intercourse with Palmerston, <a href="#Page_293">293</a>;</li>
+<li>  relations with Cobden and Bright, <a href="#Page_294">294</a>;</li>
+<li>  joins Palmerston&rsquo;s Administration (1859) as Foreign Secretary, <a href="#Page_295">295</a>;</li>
+<li>  introduces a new Reform Bill, <a href="#Page_296">296</a>;</li>
+<li>  raised to the Peerage, <a href="#Page_297">297</a>;</li>
+<li>  acquires the Ardsalla estate, and receives the Garter, <a href="#Page_298">298</a>;</li>
+<li>  his work at the Foreign Office, <a href="#Page_299">299</a>, <a href="#Page_300">300</a>;</li>
+<li>  intervention in Italian affairs, <a href="#Page_304">304</a>, <a href="#Page_339">339</a>;</li>
+<li>  protests against the annexation of Savoy by France, <a href="#Page_305">305</a>;</li>
+<li>  receives Garibaldi at Pembroke Lodge, <a href="#Page_307">307</a>;</li>
+<li>  his reception in Italy, <a href="#Page_307">307</a>;</li>
+<li>  and the &lsquo;Trent&rsquo; affair, <a href="#Page_311">311</a>;</li>
+<li>  and the &lsquo;Alabama&rsquo; case, <a href="#Page_313">313</a>-<a href="#Page_319">319</a>, <a href="#Page_341">341</a>;</li>
+<li>  on the Polish revolt, <a href="#Page_321">321</a>;</li>
+<li>  and the Schleswig-Holstein difficulty, <a href="#Page_322">322</a>, <a href="#Page_323">323</a>;</li>
+<li>  as Foreign Secretary, <a href="#Page_323">323</a>, <a href="#Page_324">324</a>;</li>
+<li><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_380" id="Page_380">[380]</a></span>
+on Palmerston&rsquo;s vivacity, <a href="#Page_325">325</a>;</li>
+<li>  second Premiership on the death of Palmerston, <a href="#Page_325">325</a>;</li>
+<li>  tribute to Lord Palmerston, <a href="#Page_327">327</a>;</li>
+<li>  defeated on the questions of Reform and Redistribution of Seats, <a href="#Page_331">331</a>;</li>
+<li>  Mr. Lecky&rsquo;s reminiscences of him, <a href="#Page_335">335</a>-<a href="#Page_339">339</a>;</li>
+<li>  relations with colleagues and opponents, <a href="#Page_336">336</a>, <a href="#Page_337">337</a>, <a href="#Page_347">347</a>;</li>
+<li>  speech on the maintenance of the independence of Belgium, <a href="#Page_340">340</a>;</li>
+<li>  letter on the claims of the Vatican, <a href="#Page_341">341</a>, <a href="#Page_342">342</a>;</li>
+<li>  letters to the &lsquo;Times&rsquo; on the government of Ireland, <a href="#Page_343">343</a>;</li>
+<li>  and Home Rule, <a href="#Page_338">338</a>, <a href="#Page_343">343</a>, <a href="#Page_344">344</a>;</li>
+<li>  independent attitude towards the throne, <a href="#Page_344">344</a>;</li>
+<li>  relations with Lord Aberdeen, <a href="#Page_346">346</a>, <a href="#Page_347">347</a>;</li>
+<li>  Lord Selborne&rsquo;s impressions of him, <a href="#Page_345">345</a>;</li>
+<li>  his private secretaries&rsquo; impressions of him, <a href="#Page_347">347</a>, <a href="#Page_348">348</a>;</li>
+<li>  life at Pembroke Lodge, <a href="#Page_351">351</a>-<a href="#Page_353">353</a>;</li>
+<li>  stories about doctors, <a href="#Page_350">350</a>;</li>
+<li>  visit of Bulgarian delegates, <a href="#Page_352">352</a>;</li>
+<li>  friendships, <a href="#Page_355">355</a>;</li>
+<li>  his use of patronage, <a href="#Page_355">355</a>;</li>
+<li>  his children, <a href="#Page_356">356</a>;</li>
+<li>  home life, and his children&rsquo;s reminiscences, <a href="#Page_356">356</a>-<a href="#Page_361">361</a>;</li>
+<li>  Dr. Anderson&rsquo;s recollections, <a href="#Page_361">361</a>;</li>
+<li>  a meeting with Carlyle, <a href="#Page_362">362</a>;</li>
+<li>  Lord Dufferin&rsquo;s recollections, <a href="#Page_363">363</a>;</li>
+<li>  religious faith, <a href="#Page_364">364</a>;</li>
+<li>  interview with Spurgeon, <a href="#Page_365">365</a>;</li>
+<li>  at Cheshunt College, <a href="#Page_365">365</a>;</li>
+<li>  Nonconformist deputation, <a href="#Page_366">366</a>;</li>
+<li>  &lsquo;Golden Wedding,&rsquo; <a href="#Page_367">367</a>;</li>
+<li>  death, <a href="#Page_367">367</a>;</li>
+<li>  opinion of Lord Shaftesbury, <a href="#Page_368">368</a>;</li>
+<li>  a remark of Sir Stafford Northcote&rsquo;s, <a href="#Page_369">369</a></li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Russell, Hon. Rollo, <a href="#Page_360">360</a>, <a href="#Page_367">367</a></li>
+
+<li>Russell, William, Member of Parliament in the reign of Edward II., <a href="#Page_2">2</a></li>
+
+<li>Russell, Lord William (of the seventeenth century), <a href="#Page_1">1</a>;
+<ul class="IX"><li>  Lord John Russell&rsquo;s Biography of him, <a href="#Page_274">274</a></li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Russell, Lord William, Lord John Russell&rsquo;s brother, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>;
+<ul class="IX"><li>  wounded at Talavera, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>;</li>
+<li>  letter to Lord John, <a href="#Page_49">49</a></li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Russia, and India, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>, <a href="#Page_218">218</a>;
+<ul class="IX"><li>  projects and demands with regard to Turkey, <a href="#Page_223">223</a>, <a href="#Page_224">224</a>;</li>
+<li>  occupation of Moldavia and Wallachia, <a href="#Page_224">224</a>, <a href="#Page_229">229</a>;</li>
+<li>  rejection of the Vienna Note, <a href="#Page_226">226</a>;</li>
+<li>  destroys Turkish fleet at Sinope, <a href="#Page_230">230</a>;</li>
+<li>  evacuates the Principalities, <a href="#Page_243">243</a>;</li>
+<li>  operations in the Crimea, <a href="#Page_246">246</a>-<a href="#Page_252">252</a>;</li>
+<li>  death of the Emperor Nicholas, <a href="#Page_259">259</a>;</li>
+<li>  fall of Sebastopol, and losses in the war, <a href="#Page_268">268</a>;</li>
+<li>  and the Polish revolt, <a href="#Page_321">321</a></li></ul></li>
+</ul>
+<ul class="IX">
+<li><span class="smcap">Salamanca</span>, battle of, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>, <a href="#Page_17">17</a></li>
+
+<li>Sardinia, and the Crimean War, <a href="#Page_267">267</a></li>
+
+<li>Schleswig-Holstein question, the, <a href="#Page_172">172</a>, <a href="#Page_322">322</a>, <a href="#Page_323">323</a></li>
+
+<li>Scott, Sir Walter, Lord John Russell&rsquo;s first acquaintance with, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>;
+<ul class="IX"><li>and the Edinburgh Speculative Society, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>, <a href="#Page_355">355</a></li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Sebastopol, siege and fall of, <a href="#Page_246">246</a>, <a href="#Page_247">247</a>, <a href="#Page_268">268</a></li>
+
+<li>Secret Memorandum, the, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>, <a href="#Page_225">225</a></li>
+
+<li>Sefton, Lord, <a href="#Page_75">75</a></li>
+
+<li>Selborne, Lord, on the &lsquo;Alabama&rsquo; case, <a href="#Page_312">312</a>-<a href="#Page_319">319</a>;
+<ul class="IX"><li>  impressions of Lord Russell, <a href="#Page_345">345</a></li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Seymour, Sir Hamilton, <a href="#Page_214">214</a></li>
+
+<li>Seymour, Lord Webb, <a href="#Page_12">12</a></li>
+
+<li>Shaftesbury, Lord, and factory children, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>;
+<ul class="IX"><li>  and Lord John Russell&rsquo;s support of Peel, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>, <a href="#Page_130">130</a>;</li>
+<li>  and the Factory Bill, <a href="#Page_159">159</a>;</li>
+<li>  special constable in 1848, <a href="#Page_167">167</a>;</li>
+<li>  and Cardinal Wiseman&rsquo;s manifesto, <a href="#Page_187">187</a>;</li>
+<li>  on the Coalition Government, <a href="#Page_211">211</a>, <a href="#Page_212">212</a>, <a href="#Page_368">368</a></li></ul></li>
+
+<li>&lsquo;Shannon&rsquo; and the &lsquo;Chesapeake,&rsquo; battle between the, <a href="#Page_22">22</a></li>
+
+<li>Shelley and the Peterloo massacre, <a href="#Page_38">38</a></li>
+
+<li>Sheridan, Mr., <a href="#Page_25">25</a></li>
+
+<li>Sidmouth, Lord, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>, <a href="#Page_85">85</a></li>
+
+<li>Simpson, General, <a href="#Page_267">267</a></li>
+
+<li>Sinope, destruction of Turkish fleet at, <a href="#Page_230">230</a>, <a href="#Page_232">232</a>, <a href="#Page_233">233</a></li>
+
+<li>Slave trade, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>, <a href="#Page_89">89</a></li>
+
+<li>Smith, Rev. &mdash;, Vicar of Woodnesborough, a tutor of Lord John Russell&rsquo;s, <a href="#Page_6">6</a></li>
+
+<li>Smith, Dr. Southwood, and the Public Health Act, <a href="#Page_162">162</a></li>
+
+<li>Smith, Sydney, friendship with Lord John Russell, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>;
+<ul class="IX"><li>  on Reform, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>;</li>
+<li>  on the political situation after Canning&rsquo;s accession to power, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>;</li>
+<li>  and &lsquo;Dame Partington,&rsquo; <a href="#Page_80">80</a>;</li>
+<li>  hopeful of the triumph of Reform, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>;</li>
+<li>  and &lsquo;Lord John Reformer,&rsquo; <a href="#Page_90">90</a>;</li>
+<li>  on Lord John&rsquo;s influence in the Melbourne Government, <a href="#Page_113">113</a></li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Society of the Friends of the People, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>, <a href="#Page_63">63</a></li>
+
+<li>Solferino, battle of, <a href="#Page_303">303</a></li>
+
+<li>Spain, Lord John Russell&rsquo;s visit with Lord and Lady Holland, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>-<a href="#Page_11">11</a>;
+<ul class="IX"><li>  Lord John&rsquo;s sympathy, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>;</li>
+<li>  Lord John&rsquo;s second visit, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>, <a href="#Page_15">15</a>;</li>
+<li>  Lord John&rsquo;s third visit and adventures, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>-<a href="#Page_20">20</a>;</li>
+<li>  entry of Wellington into Madrid, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>;</li>
+<li>  the Spanish marriages, <a href="#Page_171">171</a>, <a href="#Page_172">172</a>;</li>
+<li>  Lord Palmerston&rsquo;s interference, <a href="#Page_174">174</a></li></ul></li>
+
+<li><a name="Spencer" id="Spencer">Spencer</a>, Lord, on the alliance of England with France, <a href="#Page_120">120</a></li>
+
+<li>Spurgeon, C. H., <a href="#Page_365">365</a></li>
+
+<li>Stanhope, Colonel, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>, <a href="#Page_15">15</a></li>
+
+<li>Stanley, Lord, and Irish affairs, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>;
+<ul class="IX"><li>  Secretary for the Colonies, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>;</li>
+<li>  and the Irish Church, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>;</li>
+<li>  withdraws from Lord Grey&rsquo;s Cabinet, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>;</li>
+<li>  Secretary for the Colonies under Peel, <a href="#Page_124">124</a>, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>;</li>
+<li>  succeeds to the House of Lords, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>;</li>
+<li>  challenges Palmerston&rsquo;s foreign policy, <a href="#Page_176">176</a>;</li>
+<li>  fails to form a Ministry on the resignation of Lord John Russell, <a href="#Page_193">193</a></li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Stanmore, Lord, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>, <a href="#Page_211">211</a>, <a href="#Page_231">231</a>, <a href="#Page_233">233</a>, <a href="#Page_347">347</a></li>
+
+<li><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_381" id="Page_381">[381]</a></span>
+Stansfeld, Mr., <a href="#Page_327">327</a></li>
+
+<li>Stewart, Dugald, <a href="#Page_12">12</a></li>
+
+<li>Stockmar, Baron, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>, <a href="#Page_216">216</a></li>
+
+<li>Sussex, Duke of, and the claims of Dissenters, <a href="#Page_53">53</a></li>
+
+<li>Sweden, and the Crimean War, <a href="#Page_267">267</a></li>
+
+<li>Syllogism, a merry canon&rsquo;s, <a href="#Page_19">19</a></li>
+</ul>
+<ul class="IX">
+<li><span class="smcap">Tahiti</span> incident, the, <a href="#Page_125">125</a></li>
+
+<li>Tavistock, monastic lands granted to the first Earl of Bedford, <a href="#Page_2">2</a>;
+<ul class="IX">
+<li>  election of Lord John Russell as member for, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>, <a href="#Page_62">62</a></li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Tavistock, Lord, elder brother of Lord John Russell, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>, <a href="#Page_11">11</a></li>
+
+<li>Tennyson, Mr., <a href="#Page_90">90</a></li>
+
+<li>Tennyson, Lord, his appointment as Poet Laureate, <a href="#Page_355">355</a></li>
+
+<li>Test and Corporation Acts; agitation for their total repeal, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>;
+<ul class="IX">
+<li>  speech of Fox, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>;</li>
+<li>  their provisions, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>;</li>
+<li>  jubilee of repeal, <a href="#Page_366">366</a></li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Tithe Acts (Ireland): Mr. Littleton&rsquo;s Bill, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>;
+<ul class="IX">
+<li>  Bill of 1835, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>;</li>
+<li>  Bill passes through Parliament, <a href="#Page_112">112</a></li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Tithe Commutation Act, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>, <a href="#Page_107">107</a></li>
+
+<li>Tooke, Horne, <a href="#Page_26">26</a></li>
+
+<li>Trafalgar Square demonstration on the Reform question, <a href="#Page_332">332</a></li>
+
+<li>Treason Felony Act, <a href="#Page_157">157</a></li>
+
+<li>Treaty of Paris (1856), <a href="#Page_268">268</a></li>
+
+<li>&lsquo;Trent&rsquo; affair, the, <a href="#Page_310">310</a>-<a href="#Page_312">312</a></li>
+
+<li>Turkey, war with Egypt, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>;
+<ul class="IX">
+<li>  and the custody of the Holy Places in Palestine, <a href="#Page_213">213</a>;</li>
+<li>  the &lsquo;sick man&rsquo; of Europe, <a href="#Page_214">214</a>, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>;</li>
+<li>  oppression of Christian subjects, <a href="#Page_217">217</a>;</li>
+<li>  reception of Lord Stratford de Redcliffe, <a href="#Page_222">222</a>;</li>
+<li>  and the Vienna Note, <a href="#Page_224">224</a>-<a href="#Page_227">227</a>;</li>
+<li>  ultimatum to Russia, <a href="#Page_229">229</a>;</li>
+<li>  destruction of fleet by Russia at Sinope, <a href="#Page_230">230</a>;</li>
+<li>  and the second Congress at Vienna, <a href="#Page_259">259</a>-<a href="#Page_262">262</a>;</li>
+<li>  and the Treaty of Paris, <a href="#Page_268">268</a>, <a href="#Page_269">269</a></li></ul></li>
+</ul>
+
+<ul class="IX">
+<li><span class="smcap">University</span> of London, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>;
+<ul class="IX">
+<li>  proposed enfranchisement of, <a href="#Page_296">296</a></li></ul></li>
+</ul>
+
+<ul class="IX">
+<li><span class="smcap">Vansittart</span>, Mr., <a href="#Page_21">21</a></li>
+
+<li>Vaughan, Cardinal, on Romish practices in the Anglican Church, <a href="#Page_190">190</a>, <a href="#Page_191">191</a></li>
+
+<li>Victor Emmanuel II., accession to the throne of Sardinia, and efforts to secure Italian independence, <a href="#Page_301">301</a>;
+<ul class="IX"><li>  proclaimed King of Italy, <a href="#Page_306">306</a></li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Victoria, Queen, accession, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>;
+<ul class="IX"><li>  her regard for Lord Melbourne, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>;</li>
+<li>  declines to dismiss her Whig Ladies-in-Waiting, <a href="#Page_114">114</a>;</li>
+<li>  visit to Ireland, <a href="#Page_158">158</a>;</li>
+<li>  instructions to Lord Palmerston, <a href="#Page_178">178</a>;</li>
+<li>  letter to Lord John Russell on the formation of a Coalition Government, <a href="#Page_203">203</a>;</li>
+<li>  her view of the Coalition Ministry, <a href="#Page_208">208</a>;</li>
+<li>  reply to letter from the Czar on the eve of the Crimean War, <a href="#Page_230">230</a>;</li>
+<li>  and the death of the Prince Consort, <a href="#Page_309">309</a>;</li>
+<li>  letter to Lord Russell on the death of Palmerston, <a href="#Page_326">326</a>;</li>
+<li>  opens Parliament (1866), <a href="#Page_328">328</a>;</li>
+<li>  letter to Lady Russell on the death of the Earl, <a href="#Page_368">368</a></li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Vienna, revolt of (1848), <a href="#Page_171">171</a>;
+<ul class="IX">
+<li>  Congress, <a href="#Page_224">224</a>;</li>
+<li>  second Congress, <a href="#Page_259">259</a>-<a href="#Page_262">262</a></li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Vienna Note, <a href="#Page_224">224</a>-<a href="#Page_228">228</a></li>
+
+<li>Villafranca, Treaty of, <a href="#Page_303">303</a></li>
+
+<li>Villiers, Mr. Charles, <a href="#Page_121">121</a>, <a href="#Page_208">208</a></li>
+
+<li>Vittoria, battle of, <a href="#Page_20">20</a></li>
+
+<li>Vitzthum, Count, <a href="#Page_217">217</a>, <a href="#Page_324">324</a></li>
+</ul>
+<ul class="IX">
+<li><span class="smcap">Walpole</span>, Mr. Spencer, on the Arms Bill of the Russell Administration, <a href="#Page_154">154</a>;
+<ul class="IX"><li>  retires from the Home Office on the introduction of Disraeli&rsquo;s Reform Bill, <a href="#Page_291">291</a>, <a href="#Page_330">330</a></li>
+</ul></li>
+
+<li>Ward, Mr., and the Irish Church, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>, <a href="#Page_95">95</a></li>
+
+<li>Wellington, Duke of, Lord John Russell&rsquo;s first impressions of, <a href="#Page_15">15</a>, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>;
+<ul class="IX"><li>  described by Napoleon, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>;</li>
+<li>  becomes Prime Minister, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>;</li>
+<li>  and Catholic Emancipation, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>;</li>
+<li>  his declaration against Reform, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>;</li>
+<li>  resignation, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>;</li>
+<li>  predictions on the Reform question, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>;</li>
+<li>  failure to form a Ministry, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>;</li>
+<li>  lament on the triumph of Reform, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>, <a href="#Page_114">114</a>;</li>
+<li>  opinion of Lord John, <a href="#Page_123">123</a>;</li>
+<li>  and the Anti-Corn-Law agitation, <a href="#Page_136">136</a>, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>;</li>
+<li>  and the demonstration on Kennington Common of 1848, <a href="#Page_166">166</a>, <a href="#Page_167">167</a>;</li>
+<li>  and Sir Robert Peel, <a href="#Page_176">176</a>;</li>
+<li>  death, <a href="#Page_200">200</a>;</li>
+<li>  and the Emperor Nicholas, <a href="#Page_215">215</a></li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Wesley, influence of the preaching of, <a href="#Page_24">24</a></li>
+
+<li>Westminster School, its condition at the beginning of the century, <a href="#Page_3">3</a>;
+<ul class="IX"><li>  Lord John&rsquo;s experiences at, <a href="#Page_3">3</a>-<a href="#Page_5">5</a>;</li>
+<li>  some of its celebrated scholars, <a href="#Page_3">3</a>, <a href="#Page_4">4</a></li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Westmoreland, Lord, <a href="#Page_50">50</a></li>
+
+<li>Wetherell, Mr., and the first Reform Bill, <a href="#Page_69">69</a></li>
+
+<li>Whitfield, influence of his preaching, <a href="#Page_24">24</a></li>
+
+<li>Wilberforce, William, <a href="#Page_89">89</a></li>
+
+<li>William IV., his accession, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>;
+<ul class="IX">
+<li>  receives a petition in favour of the Grey Administration, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>;</li>
+<li>  refuses his sanction for the creation of new peers, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>;</li>
+<li>  lampooned, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>;</li>
+<li>  urges the House of Lords to withdraw opposition to the Reform Bill, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>;</li>
+<li>  dismisses the first Melbourne Ministry, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>;</li>
+<li>  his opinion of Lord John Russell, <a href="#Page_101">101</a></li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Winchilsea, Lord, <a href="#Page_57">57</a></li>
+
+<li>Wiseman, Cardinal, <a href="#Page_182">182</a>, <a href="#Page_183">183</a>, <a href="#Page_186">186</a>, <a href="#Page_187">187</a></li>
+
+<li>Wolseley, Sir Charles, <a href="#Page_38">38</a></li>
+
+<li>Wood, Sir Charles, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>, <a href="#Page_258">258</a></li>
+
+<li>Working classes, their condition and claims in 1848, <a href="#Page_163">163</a>-<a href="#Page_165">165</a></li>
+
+<li>Wynn, Mr. Charles, <a href="#Page_41">41</a></li>
+</ul>
+<ul class="IX">
+<li><span class="smcap">Zürich</span>, Treaty of, <a href="#Page_303">303</a></li>
+</ul>
+</div>
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+<p class="center"><i>Spottiswoode &amp; Co. Printers, New-street Square, London.</i></p>
+
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<a id="series2" name="series2"></a>
+<img src="images/series2.jpg" height="54" width="500"
+alt="The Queen's Prime Ministers" title="The Queen's Prime Ministers" /></div>
+
+
+<p class="title">A SERIES OF POLITICAL BIOGRAPHIES<br />
+
+<small>EDITED BY</small><br />
+
+<span style="letter-spacing: 0.1em;">STUART J. REID.</span></p>
+
+<hr style="width: 20%;" />
+
+<p class="desc" style="font-weight: bold;"><sup>*</sup><sub>*</sub><sup>*</sup>  A Limited Library Edition of <i>Two Hundred and Fifty
+copies</i>, each numbered, printed on hand-made paper, parchment
+binding, gilt top, with facsimile reproductions, in some
+cases of characteristic notes of Speeches and Letters, which
+are not included in the ordinary Edition, and some additional
+Portraits.</p>
+
+<p class="center">Price for the Complete Set of NINE VOLUMES,<br />
+<big><span style="font-weight: bold;">FOUR GUINEAS NETT.</span></big><br />
+
+<span class="adsans">NO VOLUMES OF THIS EDITION SOLD SEPARATELY.</span></p>
+
+<hr style="width: 20%;" />
+
+
+<p class="center"><i>VOLUMES ALREADY PUBLISHED.</i><br />
+
+<big><b>THE EARL OF BEACONSFIELD, K.G.</b></big><br />
+
+<span class="adsans">BY JAMES ANTHONY FROUDE, D.C.L.</span></p>
+
+<p class="center">SEVENTH EDITION. With Photogravure Portrait. Crown 8vo. 3<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i></p>
+
+<p>&lsquo;There is something in Mr. Froude&rsquo;s account even of these years which will be
+new to Lord Beaconsfield&rsquo;s admirers as well as to his critics, and will contribute to
+the final estimate of his place in the annals of our generation.&rsquo;&mdash;<span class="smcap">Times</span> (Leader).</p>
+
+<p class="nomt">&lsquo;We believe that Mr. Froude&rsquo;s estimate of Lord Beaconsfield, on the whole, will
+be the one accepted by posterity.... It is the man&rsquo;s character which interests us;
+and this, we think, Mr. Froude has exhibited in its true light, and in colours that
+will not fade.&rsquo;&mdash;<span class="smcap">Standard</span>.</p>
+
+
+<p class="adstit">LORD MELBOURNE</p>
+
+<p class="adsans">BY HENRY DUNCKLEY (&lsquo;VERAX&rsquo;).</p>
+
+
+<p class="center">With Photogravure Portrait. 3<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i></p>
+
+<p>&lsquo;It is hard to imagine a better piece of work than this short study of Lord
+Melbourne by Mr. Dunckley. Amongst some of the most amusing of Mr. Dunckley&rsquo;s
+pages&mdash;and hardly a page of this little book is dull after the preliminary matter is
+passed by&mdash;is his account of Lord Melbourne&rsquo;s dealings with theology and Church
+preferments.... Of two lives of the Queen&rsquo;s Prime Ministers which have as yet
+appeared, we certainly give the preference to Mr. Dunckley&rsquo;s over Mr. Froude&rsquo;s.
+Mr. Froude had the more attractive theme, but Mr. Dunckley has made more of the
+less interesting theme.&rsquo;&mdash;<span class="smcap">Spectator</span>.</p>
+
+
+<p class="adstit">SIR ROBERT PEEL</p>
+
+<p class="adsans">BY JUSTIN McCARTHY, M.P.</p>
+
+<p class="center">SECOND EDITION, with an additional Chapter. With Photogravure Portrait.
+Crown 8vo. 3<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i></p>
+
+<p>&lsquo;Mr. McCarthy relates clearly and well the main incidents of Peel&rsquo;s political
+life, and deals fairly with the great controversies which still rage about his conduct
+in regard to the Roman Catholic Relief Bill and the Repeal of the Corn Laws.&rsquo;</p>
+<p class="sig"><span class="smcap">Saturday Review</span>.</p>
+
+<p class="notm">&lsquo;Mr. McCarthy&rsquo;s chapters on Catholic Emancipation are written with admirable
+impartiality, and he does ample justice to that high-minded administrator, Lord
+Anglesey.&rsquo;&mdash;<span class="smcap">Athenæum</span>.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 20%;" />
+
+<p class="center">NEW EDITION. TWELFTH THOUSAND.<br />
+
+<big><b>THE RT. HON. W. E. GLADSTONE, M.P.</b></big><br />
+
+<span class="adsans">BY G. W. E. RUSSELL.</span><br />
+
+With Photogravure Portrait. Crown 8vo. 3<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i></p>
+
+<p>&lsquo;Written in a manly and independent spirit, which we should expect in one of
+his lineage ... an honest book.&rsquo;&mdash;<span class="smcap">World</span>.</p>
+
+<p class="notm">&lsquo;One of the most complete and succinct accounts of his extraordinary career that
+we have yet received.... A volume which we may specially commend as the most
+attractive and authoritative history of the man with whom it deals that has yet
+been given to the world.... Mr. Russell&rsquo;s clear and able sketch of one whom he is
+justly proud to call his friend.&rsquo;&mdash;<span class="smcap">Speaker</span>.</p>
+
+
+<p class="center"><big><b>THE MARQUIS OF SALISBURY, K.G.</b></big><br />
+
+<span class="adsans">BY H. D. TRAILL, D.C.L.</span><br />
+
+SECOND EDITION. With Photogravure Portrait. Crown 8vo. 3<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i></p>
+
+<p>&lsquo;It is a good thing when a book is written as a gentleman should write it; a good
+thing when it is written as a scholar should write it; a good thing when it is written
+as a man full of practical and theoretical knowledge of his subject should write it.
+But it is a very rare thing indeed to find, as we find here, all three merits in combination.
+The result is not only a remarkable criticism on a man; it is, in part of it at
+least, the best and ... the most impartial sketch of recent political history that we
+have recently seen.&rsquo;&mdash;<span class="smcap">Saturday Review</span>.</p>
+
+
+<p class="adstit">LORD PALMERSTON</p>
+
+<p class="adsans">BY THE MARQUIS OF LORNE.</p>
+
+<p class="center">SECOND EDITION. With Photogravure Portrait. Crown 8vo. 3<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i></p>
+
+<p>&lsquo;The Marquis of Lorne&rsquo;s little book must be consulted by every student who wishes
+to get a thorough understanding of European history in the early part of the century.
+The documents to which the author has obtained access ... are both interesting and
+authoritative.&rsquo;&mdash;<span class="smcap">Standard</span>.</p>
+
+
+<p class="adstit">THE EARL OF DERBY</p>
+
+<p class="adsans">BY GEORGE SAINTSBURY.</p>
+
+<p class="center">With Photogravure Portrait. Crown 8vo. 3<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i></p>
+
+<p>&lsquo;A biography distinguished throughout by scrupulous fairness to its subject....
+It is perhaps superfluous to add that the book is written with all Mr. Saintsbury&rsquo;s
+customary animation of style, and that it abounds in those shrewd and often humorous
+comments on men and affairs which enliven everything he writes.&rsquo;</p>
+
+<p class="sig">
+<span class="smcap">Saturday Review.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+
+<p class="adstit">THE EARL OF ABERDEEN</p>
+
+<p class="adsans">BY SIR ARTHUR GORDON, G.C.M.G. &amp;c.</p>
+
+<p class="center">With Portrait. Crown 8vo. 3<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i></p>
+
+<p>&lsquo;This little book, unlike its companion volumes, contains original documents of
+solid historical importance, and hitherto no authentic biography of Lord Aberdeen
+has existed, and the editor of the series certainly made a large demand upon Sir
+Arthur Gordon&rsquo;s good nature when he requested a biography compressed within the
+limits prescribed. The author, however, has surmounted all difficulties with admirable
+skill.&rsquo;&mdash;<span class="smcap">Athenæum</span>.</p>
+
+
+<p class="adstit">LORD JOHN RUSSELL</p>
+
+<p class="adsans">BY STUART J. REID.</p>
+
+<p class="center">With Portrait. Crown 8vo. 3<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i></p>
+
+<p>The book contains a good deal of new material concerning the career of the
+last of the great Whig statesmen. The Dowager-Countess of Russell has given
+Mr. Reid access to her own journals, and has personally taken a lively interest in
+the book; while other relatives, intimate friends, and political associates have lent
+their assistance.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p class="center">London: SAMPSON LOW, MARSTON &amp; COMPANY, <span class="smcap">Limited</span>,<br />
+
+St. Dunstan&rsquo;s House, Fetter Lane, Fleet Street, E.C.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<div class="tnote">
+<h3>Transcriber&rsquo;s Note:</h3>
+
+<p class="noi">The original punctuation, language and spelling have been retained,
+except where noted. Minor typographical errors
+have been corrected without note.</p>
+
+<p>Page <a href="#Page_8">8</a>: The political atmosphere of Woburn and Woodnesborourgh</p>
+
+<p>Page <a href="#Page_18">18</a>: and ink, and a bag of money. He woul not carry anything</p>
+
+<p>Page <a href="#Page_74">74</a>: Lord John Russell said that the electors in the approachhing</p>
+
+<p>Page <a href="#Page_86">86</a>: now,&rsquo; wrote Mr. Froude in in 1874. &lsquo;Its population</p>
+
+<p>Page <a href="#Page_244">244</a>: riend, Mr. Sidney Herbert, were regarded, perhaps unjustly,</p>
+
+<p>Page <a href="#Page_265">265</a>: so small a matter magnified beyond its true porportions.&rsquo;</p>
+
+<p>Page <a href="#Page_376">376</a>: and the <i>Coup d&rsquo;Etat</i> of 1851, 179;</p>
+
+<p>Page <a href="#Page_376">376</a>: and the <i>Coup d&rsquo;Etat</i> in Paris (1851), 179;</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<hr class="full" />
+<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LORD JOHN RUSSELL***</p>
+<p>******* This file should be named 27553-h.txt or 27553-h.zip *******</p>
+<p>This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:<br />
+<a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/7/5/5/27553">http://www.gutenberg.org/2/7/5/5/27553</a></p>
+<p>Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions
+will be renamed.</p>
+
+<p>Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no
+one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation
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+The Project Gutenberg eBook, Lord John Russell, by Stuart J. Reid
+
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+
+
+
+Title: Lord John Russell
+
+
+Author: Stuart J. Reid
+
+
+
+Release Date: December 17, 2008  [eBook #27553]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LORD JOHN RUSSELL***
+
+
+E-text prepared by Susan Skinner, Emanuela Piasentini, and the Project
+Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team (https://www.pgdp.net)
+
+
+
+Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this
+      file which includes the original illustrations.
+      See 27553-h.htm or 27553-h.zip:
+      (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/7/5/5/27553/27553-h/27553-h.htm)
+      or
+      (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/7/5/5/27553/27553-h.zip)
+
+
+
+
+
+The Prime Ministers of Queen Victoria
+
+Edited by Stuart J. Reid
+
+LORD JOHN RUSSELL
+
+[Illustration: _Reproduced by permission from an unpublished picture by
+G. F. Watts, R. A. in the possession of the Dowager Countess Russell at
+Pembroke Lodge, Richmond_
+
+_Photogravure by Annan & Swan._]
+
+
+The Queen's Prime Ministers
+
+A Series of Political Biographies.
+
+Edited by Stuart J. Reid
+
+Author of 'The Life and Times of Sydney Smith.'
+
+_The volumes contain Photogravure Portraits, also copies of
+Autographs._
+
+I.
+
+THE EARL OF BEACONSFIELD, K.G. By J. A. FROUDE, D.C.L. (Seventh
+Edition.)
+
+II.
+
+VISCOUNT MELBOURNE. By HENRY DUNCKLEY, LL.D. ('Verax.')
+
+III.
+
+SIR ROBERT PEEL. By JUSTIN MCCARTHY, M.P.
+
+IV.
+
+THE RIGHT HON. W. E. GLADSTONE, M.P. By G. W. E. RUSSELL. (Twelfth
+Thousand.)
+
+V.
+
+THE MARQUIS OF SALISBURY. By H. D. TRAILL, D.C.L. (Second Edition.)
+
+VI.
+
+VISCOUNT PALMERSTON. By the MARQUIS OF LORNE. (Second Edition.)
+
+VII.
+
+THE EARL OF DERBY. By GEORGE SAINTSBURY.
+
+VIII.
+
+THE EARL OF ABERDEEN. By LORD STANMORE.
+
+IX.
+
+LORD JOHN RUSSELL. By STUART J. REID.
+
+* *
+*  A Limited Library Edition of TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY COPIES, each
+numbered, printed on hand-made paper, parchment binding, gilt top,
+with facsimile reproductions, in some cases of characteristic notes of
+Speeches and Letters, which are not included in the ordinary edition,
+and some additional Portraits. Price for the Complete Set of Nine
+Volumes, Four Guineas net. No Volumes of this Edition sold
+separately.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+London:
+Sampson Low, Marston & Company, Limited,
+St. Dunstan's House, Fetter Lane, Fleet Street, E.C.
+
+
+
+
+LORD JOHN RUSSELL
+
+by
+
+STUART J. REID
+
+
+    I have looked to the happiness of my countrymen as the object to
+    which my efforts ought to be directed
+
+                                   _Recollections and Suggestions_
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+London
+Sampson Low, Marston & Company
+_Limited_
+St. Dunstan's House
+Fetter Lane, Fleet Street, E.C.
+1895
+[All rights reserved]
+
+
+
+
+           TO THE
+
+  LADY MARY AGATHA RUSSELL
+
+        THIS RECORD
+
+            OF
+
+    HER FATHER'S CAREER
+
+            IS
+
+      WITH TRUE REGARD
+
+        DEDICATED
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE
+
+
+THIS monograph could not have been written--in the intimate sense--if
+the Dowager Countess Russell had not extended a confidence which, I
+trust, has in no direction been abused. Lady Russell has not only
+granted me access to her journal and papers as well as the early
+note-books of her husband, but in many conversations has added the
+advantage of her own reminiscences.
+
+I am also indebted in greater or less degree to Mrs. Warburton, Lady
+Georgiana Peel, Lady Agatha Russell, the Hon. Rollo Russell, Mr. G. W.
+E. Russell, and the Hon. George Elliot. Mr. Elliot's knowledge, as
+brother-in-law, and for many years as private secretary, touches both
+the personal and official aspects of Lord John's career, and it has been
+freely placed at my disposal. Outside the circle of Lord John's
+relatives I have received hints from the Hon. Charles Gore and Sir
+Villiers Lister, both of whom, at one period or another in his public
+life, also served him in the capacity of secretary.
+
+I have received some details of Lord John's official life from one who
+served under him in a more public capacity--not, however, I hasten to
+add, as Chancellor of the Exchequer--but I am scarcely at liberty in
+this instance to mention my authority.
+
+My thanks are due, in an emphatic sense, to my friend Mr. Spencer
+Walpole, who, with a generosity rare at all times, has not only allowed
+me to avail myself of facts contained in his authoritative biography of
+Lord John Russell, but has also glanced at the proof sheets of these
+pages, and has given me, in frank comment, the benefit of his own
+singularly wide and accurate knowledge of the historical and political
+annals of the reign. It is only right to add that Mr. Walpole is not in
+any sense responsible for the opinions expressed in a book which is only
+partially based on his own, is not always in agreement with his
+conclusions, and which follows independent lines.
+
+The letter which the Queen wrote to the Countess Russell immediately
+after the death of one of her 'first and most distinguished Ministers'
+is now printed with her Majesty's permission.
+
+The late Earl of Selborne and Mr. Lecky were sufficiently interested in
+my task to place on record for the volume some personal and political
+reminiscences which speak for themselves, and do so with authority.
+
+I am also under obligations of various kinds to the Marquis of Dufferin
+and Ava, the Earl of Durham, Lord Stanmore, Dr. Anderson of Richmond,
+and the Rev. James Andrews of Woburn. I desire also to acknowledge the
+courtesy of Mr. Gladstone, Mr. Andrew Lang, Mr. James Knowles, Mr. Percy
+Bunting, Mr. Edwin Hodder, Messrs. Longmans, and the proprietors of
+'Punch,' for liberty to quote from published books and journals.
+
+In Montaigne's words, 'The tales I borrow, I charge upon the consciences
+of those from whom I have them.' I have gathered cues from all quarters,
+but in almost every case my indebtedness stands recorded on the passing
+page.
+
+The portrait which forms the frontispiece is for the first time
+reproduced, with the sanction of the Countess Russell and Mr. G. F.
+Watts, from an original crayon drawing which hangs on the walls at
+Pembroke Lodge.
+
+It may be as well to anticipate an obvious criticism by stating that the
+earlier title of the subject of this memoir is retained, not only in
+deference to the strongly expressed wish of the family at Pembroke
+Lodge, but also because it suggests nearly half a century spent in the
+House of Commons in pursuit of liberty. In the closing days of Earl
+Russell's life his eye was accustomed to brighten, and his manner to
+relax, when some new acquaintance, in the eagerness of conversation,
+took the liberty of familiar friendship by addressing the old statesman
+as 'Lord John.'
+
+  STUART J. REID.
+
+  CHISLEHURST: _June 4, 1895_.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+EARLY YEARS, EDUCATION, AND TRAVEL
+
+1792-1813
+                                                                    PAGE
+  Rise of the Russells under the Tudors--Childhood and early
+  surroundings of Lord John--Schooldays at Westminster--First
+  journey abroad with Lord Holland--Wellington and the Peninsular
+  campaign--Student days in Edinburgh and speeches at the
+  Speculative Society--Early leanings in politics and
+  literature--Enters the House of Commons as member for Tavistock      1
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+IN PARLIAMENT AND FOR THE PEOPLE
+
+1813-1826
+
+  The political outlook when Lord John entered the House of
+  Commons--The 'Condition of England' question--The struggle for
+  Parliamentary Reform--Side-lights on Napoleon Bonaparte--The
+  Liverpool Administration in a panic--Lord John comes to the aid
+  of Sir Francis Burdett--Foreign travel--First motion in favour
+  of Reform--Making headway                                           21
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+WINNING HIS SPURS
+
+1826-1830
+
+  Defeated and out of harness--Journey to Italy--Back in
+  Parliament--Canning's accession to power--Bribery and
+  corruption--The repeal of the Test and Corporation Acts--The
+  struggle between the Court and the Cabinet over Catholic
+  Emancipation--Defeat of Wellington at the polls--Lord John
+  appointed Paymaster-General                                         47
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+A FIGHT FOR LIBERTY
+
+1830-1832
+
+  Lord Grey and the cause of Reform--Lord Durham's share in
+  the Reform Bill--The voice of the people--Lord John introduces
+  the bill and explains its provisions--The surprise of the
+  Tories--Reform, 'Aye' or 'No'--Lord John in the Cabinet--The
+  bill thrown out--The indignation of the country--Proposed
+  creation of Peers--Wellington and Sidmouth in despair--The
+  bill carried--Lord John's tribute to Althorp                        63
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+THE DAWN OF A NEW ERA
+
+1833-1838
+
+  The turn of the tide with the Whigs--The two voices in the
+  Cabinet--Lord John and Ireland--Althorp and the Poor Law--The
+  Melbourne Administration on the rocks--Peel in power--The
+  question of Irish tithes--Marriage of Lord John--Grievances
+  of Nonconformists--Lord Melbourne's influence over the
+  Queen--Lord Durham's mission to Canada--Personal sorrow             88
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+THE TWO FRONT BENCHES
+
+1840-1845
+
+  Lord John's position in the Cabinet and in the Commons--His
+  services to Education--Joseph Lancaster--Lord John's
+  Colonial Policy--Mr. Gladstone's opinion--Lord Stanmore's
+  recollections--The mistakes of the Melbourne Cabinet--The Duke
+  of Wellington's opinion of Lord John--The agitation against the
+  Corn Laws--Lord John's view of Sir Robert Peel--The Edinburgh
+  letter--Peel's dilemma--Lord John's comment on the situation       113
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+FACTION AND FAMINE
+
+1846-1847
+
+  Peel and Free Trade--Disraeli and Lord George Bentinck
+  lead the attack--Russell to the rescue--Fall of Peel--Lord
+  John summoned to power--Lord John's position in the
+  Commons and in the country--The Condition of Ireland
+  question--Famine and its deadly work--The Russell Government
+  and measures of relief--Crime and coercion--The Whigs
+  and Education--Factory Bill--The case of Dr. Hampden               136
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+IN ROUGH WATERS
+
+1848-1852
+
+  The People's Charter--Feargus O'Connor and the crowd--Lord
+  Palmerston strikes from his own bat--Lord John's view of the
+  political situation--Death of Peel--Palmerston and the
+  Court--'No Popery'--The Durham Letter--The invasion scare--Lord
+  John's remark about Palmerston--Fall of the Russell
+  Administration                                                     163
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+COALITION BUT NOT UNION
+
+1852-1853
+
+  The Aberdeen Ministry--Warring elements--Mr. Gladstone's
+  position--Lord John at the Foreign Office and Leader of the
+  House--Lady Russell's criticisms of Lord Macaulay's
+  statement--A small cloud in the East--Lord Shaftesbury has
+  his doubts                                                         199
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+DOWNING STREET AND CONSTANTINOPLE
+
+1853
+
+  Causes of the Crimean War--Nicholas seizes his opportunity--The
+  Secret Memorandum--Napoleon and the susceptibilities of the
+  Vatican--Lord Stratford de Redcliffe and the Porte--Prince
+  Menschikoff shows his hand--Lord Aberdeen hopes against
+  hope--Lord Palmerston's opinion of the crisis--The Vienna
+  Note--Lord John grows restive--Sinope arouses England--The
+  deadlock in the Cabinet                                            213
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+WAR HINDERS REFORM
+
+1854-1855
+
+  A Scheme of Reform--Palmerston's attitude--Lord John sore
+  let and hindered--Lord Stratford's diplomatic triumph--The
+  Duke of Newcastle and the War Office--The dash for
+  Sebastopol--Procrastination and its deadly work--The
+  Alma--Inkerman--The Duke's blunder--Famine and frost in the
+  trenches                                                           236
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+THE VIENNA DIFFICULTY
+
+1855
+
+  Blunders at home and abroad--Roebuck's motion--'General
+  Fevrier' turns traitor--France and the Crimea--Lord John at
+  Vienna--The pride of the nation is touched--Napoleon's visit
+  to Windsor--Lord John's retirement--The fall of Sebastopol--The
+  treaty of Paris                                                 254
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+LITERATURE AND EDUCATION
+
+  Lord John's position in 1855--His constituency in the
+  City--Survey of his work in literature--As man of letters--His
+  historical writings--Hero-worship of Fox--Friendship with
+  Moore--Writes the biography of the poet--'Don Carlos'--A
+  book wrongly attributed to him--Publishes his 'Recollections
+  and Suggestions'--An opinion of Kinglake's--Lord John on
+  his own career--Lord John and National Schools--Joseph
+  Lancaster's tentative efforts--The formation of the Council of
+  Education--Prejudice blocks the way--Mr. Forster's tribute         270
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+COMING BACK TO POWER
+
+1857-1861
+
+  Lord John as an Independent Member--His chance in the
+  City--The Indian Mutiny--Orsini's attempt on the life of
+  Napoleon--The Conspiracy Bill--Lord John and the Jewish
+  Relief Act--Palmerston in power--Lord John at the Foreign
+  Office--Cobden and Bright--Quits the Commons with a
+  Peerage                                                            286
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+UNITED ITALY AND THE DIS-UNITED STATES
+
+1861-1865
+
+  Lord John at the Foreign Office--Austria and Italy--Victor
+  Emmanuel and Mazzini--Cavour and Napoleon III.--Lord
+  John's energetic protest--His sympathy with Garibaldi and
+  the struggle for freedom--The gratitude of the Italians--Death
+  of the Prince Consort--The 'Trent' affair--Lord John's
+  remonstrance--The 'Alabama' difficulty--Lord Selborne's
+  statement--The Cotton Famine                                       299
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+SECOND PREMIERSHIP
+
+1865-1866
+
+  The Polish Revolt--Bismarck's bid for power--The
+  Schleswig-Holstein difficulty--Death of Lord Palmerston--The
+  Queen summons Lord John--The second Russell Administration--Lord
+  John's tribute to Palmerston--Mr. Gladstone introduces
+  Reform--The 'Cave of Adullam'--Defeat of the Russell
+  Government--The people accept Lowe's challenge--The
+  feeling in the country                                             320
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+OUT OF HARNESS
+
+1867-1874
+
+  Speeches in the House of Lords--Leisured years--Mr. Lecky's
+  reminiscences--The question of the Irish Church--The
+  Independence of Belgium--Lord John on the claims of the
+  Vatican--Letters to Mr. Chichester Fortescue--His scheme
+  for the better government of Ireland--Lord Selborne's estimate
+  of Lord John's public career--Frank admissions--As his
+  private secretaries saw him                                        334
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+PEMBROKE LODGE
+
+1847-1878
+
+  Looking back--Society at Pembroke Lodge--Home life--The house
+  and its memories--Charles Dickens's speech at Liverpool--Literary
+  friendships--Lady Russell's description of her husband--A packet
+  of letters--His children's recollections--A glimpse of
+  Carlyle--A witty impromptu--Closing days--Mr. and Mrs.
+  Gladstone--The jubilee of the Repeal of the Test and Corporation
+  Acts--'Punch' on the 'Golden Wedding'--Death--The Queen's
+  letter--Lord Shaftesbury's estimate of Lord John's career--His
+  great qualities                                                    349
+
+
+INDEX                                                                371
+
+
+
+
+LORD JOHN RUSSELL
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+EARLY YEARS, EDUCATION, AND TRAVEL
+
+1792-1813
+
+     Rise of the Russells under the Tudors--Childhood and early
+     surroundings of Lord John--Schooldays at Westminster--First journey
+     abroad with Lord Holland--Wellington and the Peninsular
+     campaign--Student days in Edinburgh and speeches at the Speculative
+     Society--Early leanings in Politics and Literature--Enters the
+     House of Commons as member for Tavistock.
+
+
+GOVERNMENT by great families was once a reality in England, and when
+Lord John Russell's long career began the old tradition had not yet lost
+its ascendency. The ranks of privilege can at least claim to have given
+at more than one great crisis in the national annals leaders to the
+cause of progress. It is not necessary in this connection to seek
+examples outside the House of Bedford, since the name of Lord William
+Russell in the seventeenth century and that of Lord John in the
+nineteenth stand foremost amongst the champions of civil and religious
+liberty. Hugh du Rozel, according to the Battle Roll, crossed from
+Normandy in the train of the Conqueror. In the reign of Henry III. the
+first John Russell of note was a small landed proprietor in Dorset, and
+held the post of Constable of Corfe Castle. William Russell, in the year
+of Edward II.'s accession, was returned to Parliament, and his lineal
+descendant, Sir John Russell, was Speaker of the House of Commons in the
+days of Henry VI. The real founder, however, of the fortunes of the
+family was the third John Russell who is known to history. He was the
+son of the Speaker, and came to honour and affluence by a happy chance.
+Stress of weather drove Philip, Archduke of Austria and, in right of his
+wife, King of Castile, during a voyage from Flanders to Spain in the
+year 1506, to take refuge at Weymouth. Sir Thomas Trenchard, Sheriff of
+Dorset, entertained the unexpected guest, but he knew no Spanish, and
+Philip of Castile knew no English. In this emergency Sir Thomas sent in
+hot haste for his cousin, Squire Russell, of Barwick, who had travelled
+abroad and was able to talk Spanish fluently. The Archduke, greatly
+pleased with the sense and sensibility of his interpreter, insisted that
+John Russell must accompany him to the English Court, and Henry VII., no
+mean judge of men, was in turn impressed with his ability. The result
+was that, after many important services to the Crown, John Russell
+became first Earl of Bedford, and, under grants from Henry VIII. and
+Edward VI., the rich monastic lands of Tavistock and Woburn passed into
+his possession. The part which the Russells as a family have played in
+history of course lies outside the province of this volume, which is
+exclusively concerned with the character and career in recent times of
+one of the most distinguished statesmen of the present century.
+
+Lord John Russell was born on August 18, 1792, at Hertford Street,
+Mayfair. His father, who was second son of Lord Tavistock, and grandson
+of the fourth Duke of Bedford, succeeded his brother Francis, as sixth
+Duke, in 1802, at the age of thirty-six, when his youngest and most
+famous son was ten years old. Long before his accession to the title,
+which was, indeed, quite unexpected, the sixth Duke had married the Hon.
+Georgiana Byng, daughter of Viscount Torrington, and the statesman with
+whose career these pages are concerned was the third son of this union.
+He spent his early childhood at Stratton Park, Hampshire. When he was a
+child of eight, Stratton Park was sold by the Duke of Bedford, and
+Oakley House, which he never liked so well, became the residence of his
+father. Although a shy, delicate child, he was sent in the spring of
+1800, when only eight, to a private school at Sunbury--only a mile or
+two away from Richmond, where nearly eighty years later he died. In the
+autumn of 1801 he lost his mother, to whom he was deeply attached, and
+almost before the bewildered child had time to realise his loss, his
+uncle Francis also died, and his father, in consequence, became Duke of
+Bedford.
+
+    [Sidenote: SCHOOLDAYS AT WESTMINSTER]
+
+From Sunbury the motherless boy was sent with his elder brother to
+Westminster, in 1803, and the same year the Duke married Lady Georgiana
+Gordon, a daughter of the fourth Duke of Gordon, and her kindness to her
+stepchildren was marked and constant. Westminster School at the
+beginning of the century was an ill-disciplined place, in which fighting
+and fagging prevailed, and its rough and boisterous life taxed to the
+utmost the mettle of the plucky little fellow. He seems to have made no
+complaint, but to have taken his full share in the rough-and-tumble
+sports of his comrades in a school which has given many distinguished
+men to the literature and public life of England: as, for instance, the
+younger Vane--whom Milton extolled--Ben Jonson and Dryden, Prior and
+Locke, Cowper and Southey, Gibbon and Warren Hastings.
+
+He learnt Latin at Westminster, and was kept to the work of translation,
+but he used to declare somewhat ruefully in after-days that he had as a
+schoolboy to devote the half-holidays to learning arithmetic and
+writing, and these homely arts were taught him by a pedagogue who seems
+to have kept a private school in Great Dean's Yard. Many years later
+Earl Russell dictated to the Countess some reminiscences of his early
+days, and since Lady Russell has granted access to them, the following
+passages transcribed from her own manuscript will be read with
+interest:--'My education, for various reasons, was not a very regular
+one. It began, indeed, in the usual English way by my going to a very
+bad private school at Sunbury, and my being transferred to a public
+school at Westminster at ten or eleven. But I never entered the upper
+school. The hard life of a fag--for in those days it was a hard
+life--and the unwholesome food disagreed with me so much that my
+stepmother, the Duchess of Bedford, insisted that I should be taken away
+and sent to a private tutor.' At Westminster School physical hardihood
+was always encouraged. 'If two boys were engaged to fight during the
+time of school, those boys who wanted to see the fight had to leave
+school for the purpose.' At this early period a passion for the theatre
+possessed him, drawing him to Drury Lane or Covent Garden whenever an
+opportunity occurred; and this kind of relaxation retained a
+considerable hold upon him throughout the greater portion of his life.
+Even as a child he was a bit of a philosopher. In the journal which he
+began to keep in the year he went to Westminster School is the
+following entry:--'October 28, 1803.--Very great mist in the morning,
+but afternoon very fine. There was a grand review to-day by the King in
+Hyde Park of the Volunteers. I did not go, as there was such a quantity
+of people that I should have seen nothing, and should have been knocked
+down.' Most of the entries in the boy's journal are pithy statements of
+matter of fact, as, for instance:--'Westminster, Monday, October 10.--I
+was flogged to-day for the first time.' A few days later the young
+diarist places on record what he calls some of the rules of the school.
+He states that lessons began every morning at eight, and that usually
+work was continued till noon, with an interval at nine for breakfast.
+Lessons were resumed at two on ordinary days, and finished for the day
+at five. 'All the fellows have verses on Thursdays and Saturdays. We go
+on Sundays to church in the morning in Henry VII.'s Chapel, and in the
+evening have prayers in the school.'
+
+    [Sidenote: DR. CARTWRIGHT AND WOBURN]
+
+His 'broken and disturbed' education was next resumed at Woburn Abbey
+under Dr. Cartwright; the Duke's domestic chaplain, and brother to Major
+Cartwright, the well-known political reformer. The chaplain at Woburn
+was a many-sided man. He was not only a scholar and a poet, but also
+possessed distinct mechanical skill, and afterwards won fame as the
+inventor of the power-loom. He was quick-witted and accomplished, and it
+was a happy circumstance that the high-spirited, impressionable lad, who
+by this time was full of dreams of literary distinction, came under his
+influence. 'I acquired from Dr. Cartwright,' declared Lord John, 'a
+taste for Latin poetry which has never left me.' Not merely at work but
+at play, his new friend came to his rescue. 'He invented the model of a
+boat which was moved by clockwork and acted upon the water by a paddle
+underneath. He gave me the model, and I used to make it go across the
+ponds in the park.' Meanwhile literature was not forgotten, and before
+long the boy's juvenile effusions filled a manuscript book, which with
+an amusing flourish of trumpets was dedicated to 'the Right Hon. William
+Pitt, Chancellor of the Exchequer.' A couple of sentences will reveal
+its character, and the dawning humour of the youthful scribe:--'This
+little volume, being graced with your name, will prosper; without it my
+labour would be all in vain. May you remain at the Helm of State long
+enough to bestow a pension on your very humble and obedient servant,
+John Russell.'
+
+Between the years 1805 and 1808 Lord John pursued his education under a
+country parson in Kent. He was placed under the care of Mr. Smith, Vicar
+of Woodnesborough, near Sandwich, an ardent Whig, who taught a select
+number of pupils, amongst whom were several cadets of the aristocracy;
+and to this seminary Lord John now followed his brothers, Lord Tavistock
+and Lord William Russell. Amongst his schoolfellows at Woodnesborough
+was the Lord Hartington of that generation, Lord Clare, Lord William
+Fitzgerald, and a future Duke of Leinster. The vicar in question, worthy
+Mr. Smith, was nicknamed 'Dean Smigo' by his pupils, but Lord John,
+looking back in after-years, declared that he was an excellent man, well
+acquainted with classical authors, both Greek and Latin, though 'without
+any remarkable qualities either of character or understanding.' He
+evidently won popularity amongst the boys by joining in their indoor
+amusements and granting frequent holidays, particularly on occasions
+when the Whig cause was triumphant in the locality or in Parliament.
+
+    [Sidenote: SMALL GAME]
+
+Rambles inland and on the seashore, pony riding, shooting small birds,
+cricket, and other sports, as well as winter evening games, filled up
+the ample leisure from the duties of the schoolroom. One or two extracts
+from his journal are sufficient to show that, although still weakly, he
+was not lacking in boyish vivacity and in a healthy desire to emulate
+his elders. When Grenville and Fox joined their forces and so brought
+about the Ministry of 'All the Talents' the lads obtained a holiday--a
+fact which is thus recorded in sprawling schoolboy hand by Lord John in
+his diary. 'Saturday, February 8, 1806.--... We did no business on Mr.
+Fox's coming into the Ministry. I shot a couple of larks beyond
+Southerden.... I went out shooting for the first time with Mr. Smith's
+gun. I got eight shots at little birds and killed four of them.' On
+November 5 in the same year we find him writing:--'Eliza's [Miss
+Smith's] birthday. No business. I went out shooting, but only killed
+some little birds. I used to shoot much better than I do at present.
+Always miss now; have not killed a partridge yet.' Poor boy! But he
+lived to kill two deer and a wild boar. 'Similarity of age led me,'
+states Lord John, in one of his unpublished notes, 'to form a more
+intimate friendship with Clare than with any of the others, and our
+mutual liking grew into a strong attachment on both sides. I only remark
+this fact as Lord Byron, who had been a friend of Clare's at Harrow,
+appears to have shown some boyish jealousy when the latter expressed his
+sorrow at my departure for Spain.'
+
+Now and then he turned his gift for composing verses in the direction of
+a satire on some political celebrity. He also wrote and spoke the
+prologue at private dramatic performances at Woburn during the holiday
+season, and took the part of 'Lucy' in 'The Rivals.' A little later, in
+the brief period of his father's viceroyalty, he wrote another prologue,
+and on this occasion amused an Irish audience by his assumption of the
+part of an old woman.
+
+The political atmosphere of Woburn and Woodnesborough as well as his
+father's official position, led the boy of fourteen to take a keen
+interest in public affairs. His satirical verses on Melville, Pitt,
+Hawkesbury, and others, together with many passages in his journal,
+showed that his attention was frequently diverted from grammar and
+lexicon, field sports and footlights, to politics and Parliament, and
+the struggle amongst statesmen for place and power. Although little is
+known of the actual incidents of Lord John's boyhood, such straws at
+least show the direction in which the current of his life was setting.
+
+Whilst Lord John was the guest of Mr. Fox at Stable Yard, the subject of
+Lord Melville's acquittal by the Peers came up for discussion. Next day
+the shrewd young critic wrote the following characteristic remark in his
+journal: 'What a pity that he who steals a penny loaf should be hung,
+whilst he who steals thousands of the public money should be acquitted!'
+The brilliant qualities of Fox made a great impression on the lad, and
+there can be little doubt that his intercourse with the great statesman,
+slight and passing though it was, did much to awaken political ambition.
+He also crossed the path of other men of light and leading in the
+political world, and in this way, boy though he was, he grew familiar
+with the strife of parties and the great questions of the hour. Holland
+House opened its hospitable gates to him, and there he met a young
+clergyman of an unconventional type--the Rev. Sydney Smith--with whom he
+struck up a friendship that was destined to endure. The young schoolboy
+has left it on record in that inevitable 'journal' that he found his odd
+clerical acquaintance 'very amusing.'
+
+    [Sidenote: WITH LORD HOLLAND IN SPAIN]
+
+In the summer of 1807 we learn from his journal that he passed three
+months with his father and stepmother at the English lakes and in the
+West of Scotland. With boyish glee he recounts the incidents of the
+journey, and his delight in visiting Inverary, Edinburgh, and Melrose.
+Yet it was his rambles and talks with Sir Walter Scott, whom he
+afterwards described as one of the wonders of the age, that left the
+most abiding impression upon him. On his way back to Woodnesborough he
+paid his first visit to the House of Lords, and heard a debate on the
+Copenhagen expedition, an affair in which, he considered, 'Ministers cut
+a most despicable figure.' On quitting school life at Woodnesborough, an
+experience was in store for him which enlarged his mental horizon, and
+drew out his sympathies for the weak and oppressed. Lord and Lady
+Holland had taken a fancy to the lad, and the Duke of Bedford consented
+to their proposal that he should accompany them on their visit to the
+Peninsula, then the scene of hostilities between the French and the
+allied armies of England and Spain. The account of this journey is best
+told in Lord John's own words:--
+
+'In the autumn of 1808, when only sixteen years of age, I accompanied
+Lord and Lady Holland to Corunna, and afterwards to Lisbon, Seville, and
+Cadiz, returning by Lisbon to England in the summer of 1809. They were
+eager for the success of the Spanish cause, and I joined to sympathy for
+Spain a boyish hatred of Napoleon, who had treacherously obtained
+possession of an independent country by force and fraud--force of
+immense armies, fraud of the lowest kind.' There is in existence at
+Pembroke Lodge a small parchment-bound volume marked 'Diary, 1808,'
+which records in his own handwriting Lord John's first impressions of
+foreign travel. The notes are brief, but they show that the writer even
+then was keenly alive to the picturesque. The journal ends somewhat
+abruptly, and Lord John confesses in so many words that he gave up this
+journal in despair, a statement which is followed by the assertion that
+the record at least possesses the 'merit of brevity.'
+
+Spain was in such a disturbed condition that the tour was full of
+excitement. War and rumours of war filled the air, and sudden changes of
+route were often necessary in order to avoid perilous encounters with
+the French. The travellers were sometimes accompanied by a military
+escort, but were more frequently left to their devices, and evil tidings
+of disaster to the Allies--often groundless, but not less alarming--kept
+the whole party on the alert, and proved, naturally, very exciting to
+the lad, who under such strange and dramatic circumstances gained his
+first experience of life abroad. Lord John had, however, taken with him
+his Virgil, Tacitus, and Cicero, and now and then, forgetful of the
+turmoil around him, he improved his acquaintance with the classics. He
+also studied the Spanish language, with the result that he acquired an
+excellent conversational knowledge of it. The lad had opinions and the
+courage of them, and when he saw the cause of the Spanish beginning to
+fail he was exasperated by the apathy of the Whigs at home, and
+accordingly, with the audacity of youth, wrote to his father:--
+
+'I take the liberty of informing you and your Opposition friends that
+the French have not conquered the whole of Spain.... Lord Grey's speech
+appears to me either a mere attempt to plague Ministers for a few hours
+or a declaration against the principle of the people's right to depose
+an infamous despot.... It seems to be the object of the Opposition to
+prove that Spain is conquered, and that the Spaniards like being robbed
+and murdered.' It seems, therefore, that Lord John, even in his teens,
+was inclined to be dogmatic and oracular, but the soundness of his
+judgment, in this particular instance at least, is not less remarkable
+than his sturdy mental independence. Like his friend Sydney Smith, he
+was already becoming a lover of justice and of sympathy towards the
+oppressed.
+
+    [Sidenote: THE QUESTION OF A UNIVERSITY]
+
+In the summer of 1809, after a short journey to Cadiz, Lord Holland and
+his party crossed the plains of Estremadura on mules to Lisbon and
+embarked for England, though not without an unexpected delay caused by a
+slight attack of fever on the part of Lord John. On the voyage back Lord
+Holland and his secretary, Mr. Allen, pointed out to him the advantages
+of going to Edinburgh for the next winter, and in a letter to his
+father, dated Spithead, August 10, 1809, he adds: 'They say that I am
+yet too young to go to an English university; that I should learn more
+there [Edinburgh] in the meantime than I should anywhere else.'
+
+He goes on to state that he is convinced by their arguments, in spite of
+the fact that he had previously expressed 'so much dislike to an
+academical career in Edinburgh.' The truth is, Lord John wished to
+follow his elder brother, Lord Tavistock, to Cambridge; but the Duke
+would not hear of the idea, and bluntly declared that nothing at that
+time was to be learnt at the English universities.
+
+On his return to England it was decided to send Lord John to continue
+his studies at Edinburgh University. The Northern Athens at that time
+was full of keen and varied intellectual life, and the young student
+could scarcely have set foot in it at a more auspicious moment. Other
+cadets of the English aristocracy, such as Lord Webb Seymour and Lord
+Henry Petty, were attracted at this period to the Northern university,
+partly by the restrictive statutes of Oxford and Cambridge, but still
+more by the genius and learning of men like Dugald Stewart and John
+Playfair.
+
+The Duke of Bedford placed his son under the roof of the latter, who at
+that time held the chair of mathematics in the university, with the
+request that he would take a general oversight of his studies. Professor
+Playfair was a teacher who quickened to a remarkable extent the powers
+of his pupils, and at the same time by his own estimable qualities won
+their affection. Looking back in after-years, Lord John declared that
+'Professor Playfair was one of the most delightful of men and very
+zealous lover of liberty.' He adds that the simplicity of the
+distinguished mathematician, as well as the elevation of his sentiments,
+was remarkable.
+
+It is interesting to learn from Professor Playfair's own statement that
+he was quickly impressed with the ability of Lord John. Ambition was
+stirring in the breast of the young Whig, and though he could be idle
+enough at times, he seems on the whole to have lent his mind with
+increasing earnestness to the tasks of the hour. He also attended the
+classes of Professor Dugald Stewart during the three years he spent in
+the grey metropolis of the North, and the influence of that remarkable
+man was not merely stimulating at the time, but materially helped to
+shape his whole philosophy of life. After he had left Edinburgh, Lord
+John wrote some glowing lines about Dugald Stewart, which follow--afar
+off, it must be admitted--the style of Pope. We have only space to quote
+a snatch:
+
+    'Twas he gave laws to fancy, grace to thought,
+    Taught virtue's laws, and practised what he taught.
+
+    [Sidenote: LIFE IN EDINBURGH]
+
+Intellectual stimulus came to him through another channel. He was
+elected in the spring of 1810 a member of the Edinburgh Speculative
+Society, and during that and the two following years he was zealous in
+his attendance at its weekly meetings. The Speculative Society was
+founded early in the reign of George III., and no less distinguished a
+man than Sir Walter Scott acted for a term of years as its secretary. It
+sought to unite men of different classes and pursuits, and to bring
+young students and more experienced thinkers and men of affairs together
+in friendly but keen debate on historical, philosophical, literary, and
+political questions.
+
+It is certain that Lord John first discovered his powers of debate in
+the years when he took a prominent part in the Tuesday night discussions
+in the hall which had been erected for the Speculative Society in 1769
+in the grounds of the university. The subjects about which he spoke are
+at least of passing interest even now as a revelation of character, for
+they show the drift of his thoughts. He was not content with merely
+academic themes, such as Queen Elizabeth's treatment of Mary Queen of
+Scots, or the policy of Alcibiades. Topics of more urgent moment, like
+the war of 1793, the proceedings of the Spanish Cortes in 1810, the
+education of the poor, the value of Canada to Great Britain, and one at
+least of the burning subjects of the day--the imprisonment of Gale Jones
+in Newgate by order of the House of Commons--claimed his attention and
+drew forth his powers of argument and oratory. His mind was already
+turning in the direction of the subject of Parliamentary Reform, and
+from Edinburgh he forwarded to his father an essay on that subject,
+which still exists among the family papers. It shows that he was
+preparing to vindicate even then on a new field the liberal and
+progressive traditions of the Russells.
+
+The Duke of Bedford was never too busy or preoccupied to enter into his
+son's political speculations. He encouraged him to continue the habit of
+reasoning and writing on the great questions of the day, and Lord John,
+who in spite of uncertain health had no lack of energy, cheered by such
+kindly recognition, was not slow to respond to his father's sensible
+advice.
+
+    [Sidenote: WELLINGTON AND THE WAR]
+
+Meanwhile the war in the Peninsula was progressing, and it appealed to
+the Edinburgh undergraduate now with new and even painful interest. His
+brother, Lord William Russell, had accompanied his regiment to Spain in
+the summer of 1809, and had been wounded at the battle of Talavera. In
+the course of the following summer, Lord John states, in a manuscript
+which is in Lady Russell's possession: 'I went to Cadiz to see my
+brother William, who was then serving on the staff of Sir Thomas Graham.
+The head-quarters was in a small town on the Isle of Leon, and the
+General, who was one of the kindest of men, gave me a bed in his house
+during the time that I remained there.' Cadiz was at the moment besieged
+by the French, and Lord John proceeds to describe the strategical points
+in its defence. Afterwards he accompanied Colonel Stanhope, a member of
+General Graham's staff, to the head-quarters of Lord Wellington, who had
+just occupied with his army the lines of Torres Vedras. He thus records
+his impressions of the great soldier, and of the spectacle which lay
+before him:--'Standing on the highest point, and looking around him on
+every side, was the English General, his eyes bright and searching as
+those of an eagle, his countenance full of hope, beaming with
+intelligence as he marked with quick perception every movement of troops
+and every change of circumstance within the sweep of the horizon. On
+each side of the fort of Sobral rose the entrenchments of the Allies,
+bristling with guns and alive with the troops who formed the garrison of
+this fortified position. Far off, on the left, the cliffs rose to a
+moderate elevation, and the lines of Torres Vedras were prominent in the
+distance.... There stood the advanced guard of the conquering legions of
+France; here was the living barrier of England, Spain, and Portugal,
+prepared to stay the destructive flood, and to preserve from the deluge
+the liberty and independence of three armed nations. The sight filled me
+with admiration, with confidence, and with hope.'
+
+Wellington told Colonel Stanhope that there was nothing he should like
+better than to attack the enemy, but since the force which he commanded
+was England's only army, he did not care to risk a battle. 'In fact, a
+defeat would have been most disastrous, for the English would have been
+obliged to retreat upon Lisbon and embark for England, probably after
+suffering great losses.' Within a fortnight Lord John was back again in
+London, and over the dinner table at Holland House the enterprising lad
+of eighteen was able to give Lord Grey an animated account of the
+prospects of the campaign, and of the appearance of Wellington's
+soldiers. The desire for Cambridge revived in Lord John with the
+conclusion of his Edinburgh course. His wishes were, however, overruled
+by his father, who, as already hinted, held extremely unfavourable views
+in regard to the characteristics at that period of undergraduate life
+in the English universities. The 'sciences of horse-racing, fox-hunting,
+and giving extravagant entertainments' the Duke regarded as the 'chief
+studies of our youths at Cambridge,' and he made no secret of his
+opinion that his promising son was better without them. Lord John's
+father is described by those who knew him as a plain, unpretending man,
+who talked well in private life, but was reserved in society. He was a
+great patron of the fine arts, and one of the best farmers in England,
+and was, moreover, able to hold his own in the debates of the House of
+Lords.
+
+    [Sidenote: THE FIELD OF SALAMANCA]
+
+Meanwhile, at Woburn, Lord John's military ardour, which at this time
+was great, found an outlet in the command of a company of the
+Bedfordshire Militia. But the life of a country gentleman, even when it
+was varied by military drill, was not to the taste of this roving young
+Englishman. The passion for foreign travel, which he never afterwards
+wholly lost, asserted itself, and led him to cast about for congenial
+companions to accompany him abroad. Mr. George Bridgeman, afterwards
+Earl of Bradford, and Mr. Robert Clive, the second son of Earl Powis,
+agreed to accompany him, and with light hearts the three friends started
+in August 1812, with the intention of travelling through Sicily, Greece,
+Egypt, and Syria. They had not proceeded far, however, on their way to
+Southern Italy when tidings reached them that the battle of Salamanca
+had been fought and that Wellington had entered Madrid. The plans for
+exploring Sicily, Egypt, and Syria were instantly thrown to the winds,
+and the young enthusiasts at once bent their steps to the Spanish
+capital, in order to take part in the rejoicings of the populace at the
+victory of the Allies. They made the best of their way to Oporto, but
+were chagrined to find on arriving there that although Salamanca had
+been added to the list of Wellington's triumphs, the victor had not
+pushed on to the capital. Under these circumstances, Lord John and his
+companions determined to make a short tour in the northern part of
+Portugal before proceeding to Wellington's head-quarters at Burgos. They
+met with a few mild adventures on the road, and afterwards crossed the
+frontier and reached the field of Salamanca. The dead still lay
+unburied, and flocks of vultures rose sullenly as the travellers
+threaded their way across that terrible scene of carnage. However,
+neither Lord John's phlegm nor his philosophy deserted him, though the
+awfulness of the spectacle was not lost upon him. 'The blood spilt on
+that day will become a real saving of life if it become the means of
+delivering Spain from French dominion,' was his remark.
+
+At Burgos the young civilian renewed his acquaintance with the
+Commander-in-Chief, and added to his experience of war by being for a
+short time under fire from the French, who held the neighbouring
+fortress. Wellington, however, like other good soldiers, did not care
+for non-combatants at the front, and accordingly the youths started for
+Madrid. Finding that the French were in possession, they pushed
+southwards, and spent Christmas at Cadiz. The prolonged campaign decided
+them to carry out their original scheme. Leaving Cadiz at the end of
+January they set off, _via_ Gibraltar, Cordova, and Cartagena, for
+Alicante, where they proposed to embark for Sicily. But on the way
+reports reached them of French reverses, and they were emboldened once
+more to move towards Madrid. They had hardly started when other and less
+reassuring rumours reached them, and Lord John's two companions resolved
+to return to Alicante; but he himself determined to ride across the
+country to the head-quarters of the army, at Frenida, a distance of 150
+miles. We are indebted to Mr. Bridgeman's published letters for the
+following account of Lord John's plucky ride:--'Finding the French did
+not continue the retreat, John Russell, my strange cousin and your
+ladyship's mad nephew, determined to execute a plan which he had often
+threatened, but it appeared to Clive and me so very injudicious a one
+that we never had an idea of his putting it into execution. However, the
+evening previous to our leaving Almaden, he said, "Well, I shall go to
+the army and see William, and I will meet you either at Madrid or
+Alicante." We found he was quite serious, and he then informed us of his
+intentions.... He would not take his servant, but ordered him to leave
+out half-a-dozen changes of linen, and his gun loaded. He was dressed in
+a blue greatcoat, overalls, and sword, and literally took nothing else
+except his dressing-case, a pair of pantaloons and shoes, a journal and
+an account book, pens and ink, and a bag of money. He would not carry
+anything to reload his gun, which he said his principal reason for
+taking was to sell, should he be short of money, for we had too little
+to spare him any. The next morning he sold his pony, bought a young
+horse, and rode the first league with us. Here we parted with each other
+with much regret, and poor John seemed rather forlorn. God grant he may
+have reached head-quarters in safety and health, for he had been far
+from well the last few days he was with us.... Clive and I feel fully
+persuaded that we shall see him no more till we return to England.'
+
+    [Sidenote: A SENTIMENTAL JOURNEY]
+
+The fears entertained for Lord John's safety were well founded.
+Difficulties of many kinds had to be encountered on the journey, and
+there was always the risk of being arrested and detained by French
+piquets. But the 150 miles were traversed without mishap, and in twelve
+days the 'mad nephew' entered the English quarters. He stayed at Frenida
+more than a month, probably waiting for an opportunity to see a great
+battle. But the wish was not gratified. Dictating to Lady Russell in his
+later life the narrative of his journey in Spain, he said: 'When Lord
+Wellington left his head-quarters on the frontier of Spain and Portugal
+for his memorable campaign of Vittoria, I thought that as I was not a
+soldier I might as well leave Lord Wellington and proceed on a journey
+of amusement to Madrid.'
+
+General Alava gave him introductions, and in the course of his journey
+he was entertained at dinner by a merry canon at Plasencia, who pressed
+upon him a liberal supply of wine. When Lord John declined taking any
+more, his host exclaimed: 'Do you not know the syllogism, "Qui bene
+bibit, bene dormit; qui bene dormit, non peccat; qui non peccat,
+salvatus erit"?' At this stage Lord John found it necessary to hire a
+servant who was capable of acting as guide. He used to say that his
+whole appearance on these journeys was somewhat grotesque, and in proof
+of this assertion he was accustomed in relating his adventures to add
+the following description:--'I wore a blue military cloak and a military
+cocked hat; I had a sword by my side; my whole luggage was carried in
+two bags, one on each side of the horse. In one of these I usually
+carried a leg of mutton, from which I cut two or three slices when I
+wished to prepare my dinner. My servant had a suit of clothes which had
+never been of the best, and was then mostly in rags. He, too, wore a
+cocked hat, and, being tall and thin, stalked before me with great
+dignity.' Such a description reads almost like a page from Cervantes.
+
+Thus attended, Lord John visited the scene of the battle of Talavera,
+in which his brother had been wounded, and on June 5, two days after the
+departure of the French, entered Madrid. Before the end of the month
+news arrived of the battle of Vittoria; and the young Englishman shared
+in the public rejoicings which greeted the announcement. 'From
+Talavera,' adds Lord John, 'I proceeded to Madrid, where I met my
+friends George Bridgeman and Robert Clive. With them I travelled to
+Valencia, and with them in a ship laden with salt fish to Majorca.'
+
+At Palma the travellers found hospitable quarters at the Bishop's
+palace, and after a brief stay crossed in an open boat to Port Mahon in
+Minorca--a rather risky trip, as the youths, with their love of
+adventure, made it by night, and were overtaken on the way by an
+alarming thunderstorm. Whilst in Minorca Lord John received a letter
+from his father, informing him of the death of his old friend General
+Fitzpatrick, and also stating that the Duke meant to use his influence
+at Tavistock to obtain for his son a seat in the House of Commons. 'He
+immediately flew home,' remarks his friend Mr. Bridgeman, 'on what wings
+I know not, but I suppose on those of political ambition.'
+
+The Duke's nomination rendered his election in those days of
+pocket-boroughs a foregone conclusion. As soon as Lord John set foot in
+England he was greeted with the tidings that he had already been elected
+member for Tavistock, and so began, at the age of one-and-twenty, a
+career in the House of Commons which was destined to last for nearly
+fifty years.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+IN PARLIAMENT AND FOR THE PEOPLE
+
+1813-1826
+
+     The political outlook when Lord John entered the House of
+     Commons--The 'Condition of England' question--The struggle for
+     Parliamentary Reform--Side-lights on Napoleon Bonaparte--The
+     Liverpool Administration in a panic--Lord John comes to the aid of
+     Sir Francis Burdett--Foreign travel--First motion in favour of
+     Reform--Making headway
+
+
+LORD LIVERPOOL was at the head of affairs when Lord John Russell entered
+Parliament. His long tenure of power had commenced in the previous
+summer, and it lasted until the Premier was struck down by serious
+illness in the opening weeks of 1827. In Lord John's opinion, Lord
+Liverpool was a 'man of honest but narrow views,' and he probably would
+have endorsed the cynical description of him as the 'keystone rather
+than the capital' of his own Cabinet. Lord Castlereagh was at the
+Foreign Office, Lord Sidmouth was Home Secretary, Mr. Vansittart
+Chancellor of the Exchequer, Lord Palmerston Secretary at War, and Mr.
+Peel Secretary for Ireland. The political outlook on all sides was
+gloomy and menacing. The absorbing subject in Parliament was war and the
+sinews of war; whilst outside its walls hard-pressed taxpayers were
+moodily speculating on the probable figures in the nation's 'glory
+bill.' The two years' war with America was in progress. The battle
+between the _Shannon_ and the _Chesapeake_ was still the talk of the
+hour; but there seemed just then no prospect of peace. Napoleon still
+struggled for the dictatorship of Europe, and Englishmen were wondering
+to what extent they would have to share in the attempt to foil his
+ambition. The Peninsular campaign was costly enough to the British
+taxpayer; but his chagrin vanished--for the moment, at least--when
+Wellington's victories appealed to his pride. Since the beginning of the
+century the attention of Parliament and people had been directed mainly
+to foreign affairs. Domestic legislation was at a standstill. With one
+important exception--an Act for the Abolition of the Slave
+Trade--scarcely any measure of note, apart from military matters and
+international questions, had passed the House of Commons.
+
+Parliamentary government, so far as it was supposed to be representative
+of the people, was a delusion. The number of members returned by private
+patronage for England and Wales amounted to more than three hundred. It
+was publicly asserted, and not without an appeal to statistics, that one
+hundred and fifty-four persons, great and small, actually returned no
+less than three hundred and seven members to the House of Commons.
+Representation in the boroughs was on a less worthy scale in the reign
+of George III. than it had been in the days of the Plantagenets, and
+whatever changes had been made in the franchise since the Tudors had
+been to the advantage of the privileged rather than to that of the
+people.
+
+    [Sidenote: FALLEN BOROUGHS AND FANCY PRICES]
+
+Parliament was little more than an assembly of delegates sent by large
+landowners. Ninety members were returned by forty-six places in which
+there were less than fifty electors; and seventy members were returned
+by thirty-five places containing scarcely any electors at all. Places
+such as Old Sarum--consisting of a mound and a few ruins--returned two
+members; whilst Manchester, Leeds, and Birmingham, in spite of their
+great populations, and in spite, too, of keen political intelligence and
+far-reaching commercial activity, were not yet judged worthy of the
+least voice in affairs. At Gatton the right of election lay in the hands
+of freeholders and householders paying scot and lot; but the only
+elector was Lord Monson, who returned two members. Many of the boroughs
+were bought at a fancy price by men ambitious to enter Parliament--a
+method which seems, however, to have had the advantage of economy when
+the cost of some of the elections is taken into account. An election for
+Northampton cost the two candidates 30,000_l._ each, whilst Lord Milton
+and Mr. Lascelles, in 1807, spent between them 200,000_l._ at a
+contested election for the county of York.
+
+Bribery and corruption were of course practised wholesale, and publicans
+fleeced politicians and made fortunes out of the pockets of aspirants
+for Westminster. In the 'People's Book' an instance is cited of the way
+some borough elections were 'managed.' 'The patron of a large town in
+Ireland, finding, on the approach of an election, that opposition was to
+be made to his interest, marched a regiment of soldiers into the place
+from Loughrea, where they were quartered, and caused them to be elected
+freemen. These military freemen then voted for his friend, who was, of
+course, returned!' Inequality, inadequacy, unreality, corruption--these
+were the leading traits of the House of Commons. The House of Commons no
+more represented the people of the United Kingdom than the parish
+council of Little Peddleton mirrors the mind of Europe.
+
+The statute-book was disfigured by excessive penalities. Men were put in
+the pillory for perjury, libel, and the like. Forgers, robbers,
+incendiaries, poachers, and mutilators of cattle were sent to the
+gallows. Ignorance and brutality prevailed amongst large sections of the
+people both in town and country, and the privileged classes, in spite of
+vulgar ostentation and the parade of fine manners, set them an evil
+example in both directions. Yet, though the Church of England had no
+vision of the needs of the people and no voice for their wrongs, the
+great wave of religious life which had followed the preaching of
+Whitfield and Wesley had not spent its force, nor was it destined to do
+so before it had awakened in the multitude a spirit of quickened
+intelligence and self-respect which made them restive under political
+servitude and in the presence of acknowledged but unredressed
+grievances. Education, through the disinterested efforts of a group of
+philanthropists, was, moreover, beginning--in some slight degree, at
+least--to leaven the mass of ignorance in the country, the power of the
+press was making itself felt, and other agencies were also beginning to
+dispel the old apathy born of despair.
+
+The French Revolution, with its dramatic overthrow of tyranny and its
+splendid watchword, 'Liberty, Equality, Fraternity,' made its own appeal
+to the hope as well as the imagination of the English people, although
+the sanguinary incidents which marked it retarded the movement for
+Reform in England, and as a matter of fact sent the Reformers into the
+wilderness for the space of forty years.
+
+More than a quarter of a century before the birth of Lord John Russell,
+who was destined to carry the first Reform Bill through the House of
+Commons, Lord Chatham had not hesitated to denounce the borough
+representation of the country as the 'rotten part of our constitution,'
+which, he said, resembled a mortified limb; and he had added the
+significant words, 'If it does not drop, it must be amputated.' He held
+that it was useless to look for the strength and vigour of the
+constitution in little pocket-boroughs, and that the nation ought rather
+to rely on the 'great cities and counties.' Fox, in a debate in 1796,
+declared that peace could never be secured until the Constitution was
+amended. He added: 'The voice of the representatives of the people must
+prevail over the executive ministers of the Crown; the people must be
+restored to their just rights.' These warnings fell unheeded, until the
+strain of long-continued war, bad harvests, harsh poor laws, and
+exorbitant taxes on the necessities of life conspired to goad the people
+to the verge of open rebellion.
+
+    [Sidenote: 'FRIENDS OF THE PEOPLE']
+
+Wilkes, Pitt, Burdett, Cartwright, and Grey, again and again returned to
+the charge, only to find, however, that the strongholds of privilege
+were not easily overthrown. The year 1792, in which, by a noteworthy
+coincidence, Lord John Russell was born, was rendered memorable in the
+history of a movement with which his name will always be associated by
+the formation of the society of the 'Friends of the People,' an
+influential association which had its place of meeting at the
+Freemasons' Tavern. Amongst its first members were Mr. Lambton (father
+of the first Earl of Durham), Mr. (afterwards Sir James) Mackintosh, Mr.
+Sheridan, Mr. (afterwards Lord) Erskine, Mr. Charles (afterwards Earl)
+Grey, and more than twenty other members of Parliament. In the following
+year Mr. Grey brought forward the celebrated petition of the Friends of
+the People in the House of Commons. It exposed the abuses of the
+existing electoral system and presented a powerful argument for
+Parliamentary Reform. He moved that the petition should be referred to
+the consideration 'of a committee'; but Pitt, in spite of his own
+measure on the subject in 1785, was now lukewarm about Reform, and
+accordingly opposed as 'inopportune' such an inquiry. 'This is not a
+time,' were his words, 'to make hazardous experiments.' The spirit of
+anarchy, in his view, was abroad, and Burke's 'Reflections,' had of
+course increased the panic of the moment. Although Grey pressed the
+motion, only 141 members supported it, and though four years later he
+moved for leave to bring in a bill on the subject, justice and common
+sense were again over-ridden, and, so far as Parliament was concerned,
+the question slept until 1809, when Sir Francis Burdett revived the
+agitation.
+
+Meanwhile, men of the stamp of Horne Tooke, William Cobbett, Hone,
+'Orator' Hunt, and Major Cartwright--brother of Lord John Russell's
+tutor at Woburn, and the originator of the popular cry, 'One man, one
+vote'--were in various ways keeping the question steadily before the
+minds of the people. Hampden Clubs and other democratic associations
+were also springing up in various parts of the country, sometimes to the
+advantage of demagogues of damaged reputation rather than to the
+advancement of the popular cause. Sir Francis Burdett may be said to
+have represented the Reformers in Parliament during the remainder of the
+reign of George III., though, just as the old order was changing, Earl
+Grey, in 1819, publicly renewed his connection with the question, and
+pledged himself to support any sound and judicious measure which
+promised to deal effectively with known abuses. In spite of the apathy
+of Parliament and the sullen opposition of the privileged classes to all
+projects of the kind, whether great or small, sweeping or partial, the
+question was slowly ripening in the public mind. Sydney Smith in 1819
+declared, 'I think all wise men should begin to turn their minds
+Reformwards. We shall do it better than Mr. Hunt or Mr. Cobbett. Done it
+_must_ and _will_ be.' In the following year Lord John Russell, at the
+age of twenty-eight, became identified with the question of
+Parliamentary Reform by bringing before the House of Commons a measure
+for the redress of certain scandalous grievances, chiefly at Grampound.
+When Lord John's Parliamentary career began, George III. was hopelessly
+mad and blind, and, as if to heighten the depressing aspect of public
+affairs, the scandalous conduct of his sons was straining to the
+breaking-point the loyalty of men of intelligence to the Throne.
+
+    [Sidenote: LORD JOHN'S MAIDEN SPEECH]
+
+Lord John's maiden speech in Parliament was directed against the
+proposal of the Liverpool Administration to enforce its views in regard
+to the union of Norway and Sweden. It escaped the attention of
+Parliamentary reporters and has passed into oblivion. The pages of
+'Hansard,' however, give a brief summary of his next speech, which, like
+its predecessor, was on the side of liberty. It was delivered on July
+14, 1814, in opposition to the second reading of the Alien Acts, which
+in spite of such a protest quickly became law. His comments were concise
+and characteristic. 'He considered the Act to be one which was very
+liable to abuse. The present time was that which least called for it;
+and Ministers, in bringing forward the measure now because it had been
+necessary before, reminded him of the unfortunate wag mentioned in 'Joe
+Miller,' who was so fond of rehearsing a joke that he always repeated it
+at the wrong time.' During the first months of his Parliamentary
+experience Lord John was elected a member of Grillion's Club, which had
+been established in Bond Street about twelve months previously, and
+which became in after-years a favourite haunt of many men of light and
+leading. It was founded on a somewhat novel basis. Leading members of
+the Whig and Tory parties met for social purposes. Political discussion
+was strictly tabooed, and nothing but the amenities of life were
+cultivated. In after-years the club became to Lord John Russell, as it
+has also been to many distinguished politicians, a welcome haven from
+the turmoil of Westminster.
+
+Delicate health in the autumn quickened Lord John's desire to renew the
+pleasures of foreign travel. He accordingly went by sea to Italy, and
+arrived at Leghorn in the opening days of December. He was still
+wandering in Southern Europe when Parliament reassembled, and the
+Christmas Eve of that year was rendered memorable to him by an interview
+with Napoleon in exile at Elba.
+
+    [Sidenote: A GLIMPSE OF NAPOLEON]
+
+Through the kindness of Lady Russell it is possible here to quote from
+an old-fashioned leather-bound volume in her husband's handwriting,
+which gives a detailed account of the incidents of his Italian tour in
+1814-15, and of his conversation on this occasion with the banished
+despot of Europe. Part of what follows has already been published by Mr.
+Walpole, but much of it has remained for eighty years in the privacy of
+Lord John's own notebook, from the faded pages of which it is now
+transcribed:--'Napoleon was dressed in a green coat, with a hat in his
+hand, very much as he is painted; but, excepting the resemblance of
+dress, I had a very mistaken idea of him from his portrait. He appears
+very short, which is partly owing to his being very fat, his hands and
+legs being quite swollen and unwieldy. That makes him appear awkward,
+and not unlike the whole-length figure of Gibbon the historian. Besides
+this, instead of the bold-marked countenance that I expected, he has fat
+cheeks and rather a turn-up nose, which, to bring in another historian,
+makes the shape of his face resemble the portraits of Hume. He has a
+dusky grey eye, which would be called vicious in a horse, and the shape
+of his mouth expresses contempt and decision. His manner is very
+good-natured, and seems studied to put one at one's ease by its
+familiarity; his smile and laugh are very agreeable; he asks a number of
+questions without object, and often repeats them, a habit which he has,
+no doubt, acquired during fifteen years of supreme command. He began
+asking me about my family, the allowance my father gave me, if I ran
+into debt, drank, played, &c. He asked me if I had been in Spain, and if
+I was not imprisoned by the Inquisition. I told him that I had seen the
+abolition of the Inquisition voted, and of the injudicious manner in
+which it was done.'
+
+Napoleon told Lord John that Ferdinand was in the hands of the priests.
+Spain, like Italy, he added, was a fine country, especially Andalusia
+and Seville. Lord John admitted this, but spoke of the uncultivated
+nature of the land. 'Agriculture,' replied Napoleon, 'is neglected
+because the land is in the hands of the Church.' 'And of the grandees,'
+suggested his visitor. 'Yes,' was the answer, 'who have privileges
+contrary to the public prosperity.' Napoleon added that he thought the
+evil might be remedied by divided property and abolishing hurtful
+privileges, as was done in France. Afterwards Napoleon asked many
+questions about the Cortes, and when Lord John told him that many of the
+members made good speeches on abstract questions, but they failed when
+any practical debate on finance or war took place, Napoleon drily
+remarked: 'Oui, faute de l'habitude de gouverner.' Presently the talk
+drifted to Wellington, or rather Napoleon adroitly led it thither. He
+described the man who had driven the French out of Spain as a 'grand
+chasseur,' and asked if Wellington liked Paris. Lord John replied that
+he thought not, and added that Wellington had said that he should find
+himself much at a loss as to what to do in time of peace, as he seemed
+scarcely to like anything but war. Whereupon Napoleon exclaimed, 'La
+guerre est un grand jeu, une belle occupation.' He expressed his
+surprise that England should have sent the Duke to Paris, and he added,
+evidently with a touch of bitterness, 'On n'aime pas l'homme par qui on
+a ete battu.'
+
+The Emperor's great anxiety seemed to be to get reliable tidings of the
+condition of France. Lord John's own words are: 'He inquired if I had
+seen at Florence many Englishmen who came from there, and when I
+mentioned Lord Holland, he asked if he thought things went well with the
+Bourbons. When I answered in the negative he seemed delighted, and asked
+if Lord Holland thought they would be able to stay there.' On this point
+Lord John was not able to satisfy him, and Napoleon said that he
+understood that the Bourbons had neglected the Englishmen who had
+treated them well in England, and particularly the Duke of Buckingham,
+and he condemned their lack of gratitude. Lord John suggested that the
+Bourbons were afraid to be thought to be dependent on the English, but
+Napoleon brushed this aside by asserting that the English in general
+were very well received. In a mocking tone he expressed his wish to know
+whether the army was much attached to the Bourbons. The Vienna Congress
+was, of course, just then in progress, and Napoleon showed himself
+nothing loth to talk about it. He said: 'The Powers will disagree, but
+they will not go to war.' He spoke of the Regent's conduct to the
+Princess as very impolitic, and he added that it shocked the
+_bienseances_ by the observance of which his father George III. had
+become so popular. He declared that our struggle with America was 'une
+guerre de vengeance,' as the frontier question could not possibly be of
+any importance. According to Napoleon, the great superiority of England
+to France lay in her aristocracy.
+
+    [Sidenote: NAPOLEON'S PREDICTION ABOUT INDIA]
+
+Napoleon stated that he had intended to create a new aristocracy in
+France by marrying his officers to the daughters of the old nobility,
+and he added that he had reserved a fund from the contributions which he
+levied when he made treaties with Austria, Prussia, &c., in order to
+found these new families. Speaking of some of the naval engagements, 'he
+found great fault with the French admiral who fought the battle of the
+Nile, and pointed out what he ought to have done; but he found most
+fault with the admiral who fought Sir R. Calder for not disabling his
+fleet, and said that if he could have got the Channel clear then, or at
+any other time, he would have invaded England.' Talleyrand, he declared,
+had advised the war with Spain, and Napoleon also made out that he had
+prevented him from saving the Duc d'Enghien. Spain ought to have been
+conquered, and Napoleon declared that he would have gone there himself
+if the war with Russia had not occurred. England would repent of
+bringing the Russians so far, and he added in this connection the
+remarkable words, 'They will deprive her of India.'
+
+After lingering for a while in Vienna, Florence, Rome, Naples, and other
+cities, Lord John returned home by way of Germany, and on June 5 he
+spoke in Parliament against the renewal of hostilities. He was one of
+the small minority in Parliament who refused to regard Napoleon's flight
+from Elba as a sufficient _casus belli_. Counsels of peace, however,
+were naturally just then not likely to prevail, and Wellington's victory
+a fortnight later falsified Lord John's fears. He did not speak again
+until February 1816, when, in seconding an amendment to the Address, he
+protested against the continuance of the income-tax as a calamity to the
+country. He pointed out that, although there had been repeated victories
+abroad, prosperity at home had vanished; that farmers could not pay
+their rents nor landlords their taxes; and that everybody who was not
+paid out of the public purse felt that prosperity was gone. A few weeks
+later he opposed the Army Estimates, contending that a standing army of
+150,000 men 'must alarm every friend of his country and its
+constitution.'
+
+It was probably owing in a measure to the hopelessness of the situation,
+but also partly to ill-health, that Lord John absented himself to a
+great extent from Parliament. He was, in truth, chagrined at the course
+of affairs and discouraged with his own prospects, and in consequence he
+lapsed for a time into the position of a silent member of the House of
+Commons. Meanwhile, the summer of 1816 was wet and cold and the harvest
+was in consequence a disastrous failure. Wheat rose to 103_s._ a
+quarter, and bread riots broke out in the Eastern Counties. The
+Luddites, who commenced breaking up machinery in manufacturing towns in
+1811, again committed great excesses. Tumults occurred in London, and
+the Prince Regent was insulted in the streets on his return from opening
+Parliament.
+
+    [Sidenote: PANIC-STRICKEN AUTHORITY]
+
+The Liverpool Cabinet gave way to panic, and quickly resorted to
+extreme measures. A secret committee was appointed in each House to
+investigate the causes of the disaffection of a portion of his Majesty's
+subjects. Four bills were, as the result of their deliberations, swiftly
+introduced and passed through Parliament. The first enacted penalties
+for decoying sailors and soldiers; the second was a pitiful exhibition
+of lack of confidence, for it aimed at special measures for the
+protection of the Prince Regent; the third furnished magistrates with
+unusual powers for the prevention of seditious meetings; and the fourth
+suspended the Habeas Corpus Act till July 1, giving the Executive
+authority 'to secure and detain such persons as his Majesty shall
+suspect are conspiring against his person and Government.'
+
+The measures of the Government filled Lord John with indignation, and he
+assailed the proposal to suspend the Habeas Corpus Act in a vigorous
+speech, which showed conclusively that his sympathies were on the side
+of the weak and distressed classes of the community. 'I had not
+intended,' he said, 'to trouble the House with any observations of mine
+during the present session of Parliament. Indeed, the state of my health
+induced me to resolve upon quitting the fatiguing business of this House
+altogether. But he must have no ordinary mind whose attention is not
+roused in a singular manner when it is proposed to suspend the rights
+and liberties of Englishmen, though even for a short period. I am
+determined, for my own part, that no weakness of frame, no indisposition
+of body, shall prevent my protesting against the most dangerous
+precedent which this House ever made. We talk much--I think, a great
+deal too much--of the wisdom of our ancestors. I wish we could imitate
+the courage of our ancestors. They were not ready to lay their liberties
+at the foot of the Crown upon every vain or imaginary alarm.' He begged
+the majority not to give, by the adoption of a policy of coercion, the
+opponents of law and order the opportunity of saying, 'When we ask for
+redress you refuse all innovation; when the Crown asks for protection
+you sanction a new code.'
+
+All protests, as usual, were thrown away, and the bill was passed. Lord
+John resumed his literary tasks, and as a matter of fact only once
+addressed the House in the course of the next two years. He repeatedly
+declared his intention of entirely giving up politics and devoting his
+time to literature and travel. Many friends urged him to relinquish such
+an idea. Moore's poetical 'Remonstrance,' which gladdened Lord John not
+a little at the moment, is so well known that we need scarcely quote
+more than the closing lines:
+
+    Thus gifted, thou never canst sleep in the shade;
+      If the stirring of genius, the music of fame,
+    And the charm of thy cause have not power to persuade,
+      Yet think how to freedom thou'rt pledged by thy name.
+    Like the boughs of that laurel, by Delphi's decree
+      Set apart for the fane and its service divine,
+    All the branches that spring from the old Russell tree
+      Are by Liberty claimed for the use of her shrine.'
+
+Lord John's literary labours began at this time to be considerable. He
+also enlarged his knowledge of the world by giving free play to his love
+of foreign travel.
+
+    [Sidenote: FEELING HIS WAY]
+
+A general election occurred in the summer of 1818, and it proved that
+though the Tories were weakened they still had a majority. Lord John,
+with his uncle Lord William Russell, were, however, returned for
+Tavistock. Public affairs in 1819 were of a kind to draw him from his
+retirement, and as a matter of fact it was in that year that his
+speeches began to attract more than passing notice. He spoke briefly in
+favour of reducing the number of the Lords of the Admiralty, advocated
+an inquiry into domestic and foreign policy, protested against the
+surrender of the town of Parga, on the coast of Epirus, to the Turks,
+and made an energetic speech against the prevailing bribery and
+corruption which disgraced contested elections. The summer of that year
+was also rendered memorable in Lord John's career by his first speech on
+Parliamentary Reform. In July, Sir Francis Burdett, undeterred by
+previous overwhelming defeats, brought forward his usual sweeping motion
+demanding universal suffrage, equal electoral districts, vote by ballot,
+and annual Parliaments. Lord John's criticism was level-headed, and
+therefore characteristic. He had little sympathy with extreme measures,
+and he knew, moreover, that it was not merely useless but injurious to
+the cause of Reform to urge them at such a moment. The opposition was
+too powerful and too impervious to anything in the nature of an idea to
+give such proposals just then the least chance of success. Property
+meant to fight hard for its privileges, and the great landowners looked
+upon their pocket-boroughs as a goodly heritage as well as a rightful
+appanage of rank and wealth. As for the great unrepresented towns, they
+were regarded as hot-beds of sedition, and therefore the people were to
+be kept in their place, and that meant without a voice in the affairs of
+the nation. The close corporations and the corrupt boroughs were
+meanwhile dismissed with a shrug of the shoulders or a laugh of scorn.
+
+Lord John was as yet by no means a full-fledged Reformer, but it was
+something in those days for a duke's son to take sides, even in a
+modified way, with the party of progress. His speech represented the
+views not so much of the multitude as of the middle classes. They were
+alarmed at the truculent violence of mob orators up and down the
+country; their fund of inherited reverence for the aristocracy was as
+yet scarcely diminished. They had their own dread of spoliation, and
+they had not quite recovered from their fright over the French
+Revolution. They were law abiding, moreover, and the blood and treasure
+which it had cost the nation to crush Napoleon had allayed in thousands
+of them the thirst for glory, and turned them into possibly humdrum but
+very sincere lovers of peace. Lord John's speech was an appeal to the
+average man in his strength and in his limitations, and men of cautious
+common-sense everywhere rejoiced that the young Whig--who was liked none
+the less by farmer and shopkeeper because he was a lord--had struck the
+nail exactly on the head. The growth of Lord John's influence in
+Parliament was watched at Woburn with keen interest. 'I have had a good
+deal of conversation,' wrote the Duke, 'with old Tierney at Cassiobury
+about you.... I find with pleasure that he has a very high opinion of
+your debating powers; and says, if you will stick to one branch of
+politics and not range over too desultory a field, you may become
+eminently useful and conspicuous in the House of Commons.... The line I
+should recommend for your selection would be that of foreign politics,
+and all home politics bearing on civil and religious liberty--a pretty
+wide range....'
+
+As soon as the end of the session brought a respite from his
+Parliamentary duties Lord John started for the Continent with Moore the
+poet. The author of 'Lalla Rookh' was at that moment struggling, after
+the manner of the majority of poets at any moment, with the three-headed
+monster pounds, shillings, and pence, through the failure of his deputy
+in an official appointment at Bermuda. The poet's journal contains many
+allusions to Lord John, and the following passage from it, dated
+September 4, 1819, speaks for itself:--'Set off with Lord John in his
+carriage at seven; breakfasted and arrived at Dover to dinner at seven
+o'clock; the journey very agreeable. Lord John mild and sensible; took
+off Talma very well. Mentioned Buonaparte having instructed Talma in the
+part of Nero; correcting him for being in such a bustle in giving his
+orders, and telling him they ought to be given calmly, as coming from a
+person used to sovereignty.'[1] After a fortnight in Paris the
+travellers went on to Milan, where they parted company, Moore going to
+Venice to visit Byron, and Lord John to Genoa, to renew a pleasant
+acquaintance with Madame Durazzo, an Italian lady of rank who was at one
+time well known in English society.
+
+    [Sidenote: MADAME DURAZZO]
+
+Madame Durazzo was a quick-witted and accomplished woman, and her
+vivacious and sympathetic nature was hardly less remarkable than her
+personal charm. There is evidence enough that she made a considerable
+impression upon the young English statesman, who, indeed, wrote a sonnet
+about her. Lord John's verdict on Italy and the Italians is pithily
+expressed in a hitherto unpublished extract from his journal:--'Italy is
+a delightful country for a traveller--every town full of the finest
+specimens of art, even now, and many marked by remains of antiquity near
+one another--all different. Easy travelling, books in plenty, living
+cheap and tolerably good--what can a man wish for but a little grace and
+good taste in dress amongst women? Men of science abound in Italy--the
+Papal Government discouraged them at Rome; but the country cannot be
+said to be behind the world in knowledge. Poets, too, are plenty; I
+never read their verses.'
+
+Meanwhile, the condition of England was becoming critical. Birmingham,
+Leeds, Manchester, and other great towns were filled with angry
+discontent, and turbulent mass meetings of the people were held to
+protest against any further neglect of their just demands for political
+representation. Major Cartwright advised these great unrepresented
+communities to 'send a petition in the form of a living man instead of
+one on parchment or paper,' so that he might state in unmistakable terms
+their demands to the Speaker. Sir Charles Wolseley, a Staffordshire
+baronet and a friend of Burdett, was elected with a great flourish of
+trumpets at Birmingham to act in this capacity, and Manchester
+determined also to send a representative, and on August 16, 1819, a
+great open-air meeting was called to give effect to this resolution. The
+multitude were dispersed by the military, and readers of Bamford's
+'Passages in the Life of a Radical' will remember his graphic and
+detailed description of the scene of tumult and bloodshed which
+followed, and which is known as the Peterloo Massacre. The carnage
+inspired Shelley's magnificent 'Mask of Anarchy':--
+
+    ... One fled past, a maniac maid,
+    And her name was Hope, she said:
+    But she looked more like Despair,
+    And she cried out in the air:
+
+    'My father Time is weak and grey
+    With waiting for a better day.'
+
+    [Sidenote: OIL AND VINEGAR]
+
+In those days Parliament did not sit in August, and the members of the
+Cabinet were not at hand when the crisis arose. The Prince Regent
+expressed his approbation of the conduct of the magistrates of
+Manchester as well as of that of the officers and troops of the
+cavalry, whose firmness and effectual support of the civil power
+preserved the peace of the town. The Cabinet also lost no time in giving
+its emphatic support to the high-handed action of the Lancashire
+magistrates, and Major Cartwright and other leaders of the popular
+movement became the heroes of the hour because the Liverpool
+Administration was foolish enough to turn them into political martyrs by
+prosecuting them on the charge of sedition. Lord John at this crisis
+received several letters urging his return home immediately. That his
+influence was already regarded as of some importance is evident from the
+terms in which Sir James Mackintosh addressed him. 'You are more wanted
+than anybody, not only for general service, but because your Reform must
+be immediately brought forward--if possible, as the act of the party,
+but at all events as the creed of all Whig Reformers.' Writing to Moore
+from Genoa on November 9, Lord John says: 'I am just setting off for
+London. Mackintosh has written me an oily letter, to which I have
+answered by a vinegar one; but I want you to keep me up in acerbity.'
+
+Soon after Parliament met, the famous Six Acts--usually termed the
+'Gagging Acts'--were passed, though not without strenuous opposition.
+These measures were intended to hinder delay in the administration of
+justice in the case of misdemeanour, to prevent the training of persons
+to the use of arms, to enable magistrates to seize and detain arms, to
+prevent seditious meetings, and to bring to punishment the authors of
+blasphemous and seditious libels. No meeting of more than fifty people
+was to be held without six days' notice to a magistrate; only
+freeholders or inhabitants were to be allowed even to attend; and
+adjournments were forbidden. The time and place of meeting were, if
+deemed advisable, to be changed by the local authorities, and no banners
+or flags were to be displayed. The wisdom of Lord Eldon, the patriotism
+of Lord Castlereagh, and the panic of Lord Sidmouth were responsible for
+these tyrannical enactments. On December 14 Lord John brought forward
+his first resolutions in favour of Reform. He proposed (1) that all
+boroughs in which gross and notorious bribery and corruption should be
+proved to prevail should cease to return members to Parliament; (2) that
+the right so taken away should be given to some great town or to the
+largest counties; (3) that it is the duty of the House to consider of
+further means to detect and to prevent corruption in Parliamentary
+elections; (4) that it is expedient that the borough of Grampound should
+be disfranchised. Even Castlereagh complimented him on the manner in
+which he had introduced the question, and undertook that, if Lord John
+would withdraw the resolutions and bring in a bill to disfranchise
+Grampound, he would not oppose the proposition, and to this arrangement
+Lord John consented. Shortly before the dissolution of Parliament,
+consequent upon the death of the King, in January 1820, Lord John
+obtained leave to bring in a bill for suspending the issue of writs to
+the corrupt boroughs of Penryn, Camelford, Grampound, and Barnstaple.
+But the alarm occasioned by the Cato Street Conspiracy threw back the
+movement and awakened all the old prejudices against even the slightest
+concession.
+
+At the general election of 1820 Lord John was returned for the county of
+Huntingdon. As soon as possible Lord John returned to the charge, and
+brought forward his measure for dealing with Grampound and to transfer
+the right of voting to Leeds, the franchise to be given to occupiers of
+houses rated at 5_l._ and upwards. In his 'Recollections and
+Suggestions' Lord John says: 'With a view to work my way to a change,
+not by eloquence--for I had none--but by patient toil and a plain
+statement of facts, I brought before the House of Commons the case of
+Grampound. I obtained an inquiry, and, with the assistance of Mr.
+Charles Wynn, I forced the solicitors employed in bribery to reveal the
+secrets of their employers: the case was clear; the borough was
+convicted.' Whilst the debate was proceeding Queen Caroline arrived in
+England from the Continent, and was received with much popular
+enthusiasm. Hostile measures were at once taken in the House of Commons
+against her, and though the despicable proceedings eventually came to
+nought, they effectually stopped all further discussion of the question
+of Reform for the time being.
+
+    [Sidenote: THE 'FIRST GENTLEMAN OF EUROPE']
+
+Like Canning and Brougham, Lord John took the side of the injured Queen,
+and he drew up a petition to George IV. begging him to end the further
+consideration of the Bill of Pains and Penalties against Caroline by
+proroguing Parliament. Such a request was entirely thrown away on a man
+of the character of George IV., for the King was bent on a policy of
+mean revenge; and as only the honour of a woman was concerned, the
+'first gentleman of Europe' found the Liverpool Administration
+obsequious enough to do his bidding. When at length public opinion
+prevailed and the proceedings against the Queen were withdrawn in
+November, and whilst rejoicings and illuminations were going on in
+London at the Queen's deliverance, Lord John went to Paris, remaining
+there till January. Moore was in Paris, and he was much in his company,
+and divided the rest of his time between literature and society. He
+wrote his now forgotten novel, 'The Nun of Arrouca,' during the six
+weeks which he spent in Paris. A Frenchman, visiting the poet, 'lamented
+that his friend Lord John showed to so little advantage in society from
+his extreme taciturnity, and still more from his apparent coldness and
+indifference to what is said by others. Several here to whom he was
+introduced had been much disappointed in consequence of this manner.'
+
+Lady Blessington, who was at that time living abroad, states that Lord
+John came and dined with herself and the Earl, and the comments of so
+beautiful and accomplished a woman of fashion are at least worthy of
+passing record. 'Lord John was in better health and spirits than when I
+remember him in England. He is exceedingly well read, and has a quiet
+dash of humour, that renders his observations very amusing. When the
+reserve peculiar to him is thawed, he can be very agreeable. Good sense,
+a considerable power of discrimination, a highly cultivated mind, a
+great equality of temper, are the characteristics of Lord John Russell,
+and these peculiarly fit him for taking a distinguished part in public
+life.' Lady Blessington adds that the only obstacle, in her opinion, to
+Lord John's success lays in the natural reserve of his manners, which
+might lead people 'to think him cold and proud.' This is exactly what
+happened, and only those who knew Lord John intimately were aware of the
+delicate consideration for others which lurked beneath his somewhat
+frigid demeanour.
+
+    [Sidenote: HALF A LOAF OR NO BREAD]
+
+Early in the year 1821 Lord John reintroduced his bill for the
+disfranchisement of Grampound. Several amendments were proposed, and
+one, brought forward by Mr. Stuart Wortley, limiting the right to vote
+to 20_l._ householders, was carried. Thereupon Lord John declined to
+take further charge of the measure. After being altered and pruned by
+both Houses the bill was passed, in spite of Lord Eldon, 'with tears and
+doleful predictions,' urging the peers 'to resist this first turn of the
+helm towards the whirlpool of democracy.' Grampound ceased to exist as a
+Parliamentary borough, and the county of York gained two members.
+Although Lord John supported the amended bill--on the principle that
+half a loaf is better than no bread--he at the same time announced that
+'in a future session he proposed to call attention to the claims of
+large towns to send members to this House.' He was determined to do all
+in his power to deprive what he termed the 'dead bones of a former state
+of England' of political influence, and to give representation to what
+he termed the 'living energy and industry of the England of the
+nineteenth century, with its steam-engines and its factories, its cotton
+and woollen cloths, its cutlery and its coal-mines, its wealth and its
+intelligence.' Whilst the bill about Grampound was being discussed by
+the Lords he took further action in this direction, and presented four
+resolutions for the discovery and punishment of bribery, the
+disfranchisement of corrupt boroughs, and the enfranchisement of wealthy
+and populous towns. On a division his proposals were defeated by
+thirty-one votes in a House of 279 members, and this, under all the
+circumstances, was a better result than he expected.
+
+On April 25, 1822, Lord John again tested the feeling of Parliament with
+his motion 'that the present state of the representation requires
+serious consideration.' In the course of a speech of three hours he
+startled the House by proposing that 100 new members should be added,
+and, in order that the Commons should not be overcrowded, he added
+another resolution, to the effect that a similar number of the small
+boroughs should be represented by one member instead of two. Mr. Canning
+opposed such a scheme, but complimented Lord John on the ability he had
+displayed in its advocacy, and then added: 'That the noble lord will
+carry his motion this evening I have no fear; but with the talents which
+he has shown himself to possess, and with (I sincerely hope) a long and
+brilliant career of Parliamentary distinction before him, he will, no
+doubt, renew his efforts hereafter. If, however, he shall persevere, and
+if his perseverance shall be successful, and if the results of that
+success shall be such as I cannot help apprehending, his be the triumph
+to have precipitated those results, be mine the consolation that, to the
+utmost and to the latest of my power, I have opposed them.'[2]
+
+Little persuasion was necessary to win a hostile vote, and in a House of
+433 members Lord John found himself in a minority of 164. Next year he
+renewed his attempt, but with the same result, and in 1826 he once more
+brought forward his proposals for Reform, to be defeated. Two months
+afterwards, however--May 26, 1826--undaunted by his repeated failures,
+he brought in a bill for the discovery and suppression of bribery at
+elections. The forces arrayed against him again proved too formidable,
+and Lord John, deeming it useless to proceed, abandoned the bill. He
+made one more attempt in the expiring Parliament, in a series of
+resolutions, to arrest political corruption, and when the division was
+taken the numbers were equal, whereupon the Speaker recorded his vote on
+Lord John's side. In June the House was dissolved.
+
+    [Sidenote: A WHIG OF THE NEW GENERATION]
+
+The Whigs of the new generation were meanwhile dreaming of projects
+which had never entered into the calculations of their predecessors.
+Lord John long afterwards gave expression to the views which were
+beginning to prevail, such as non-interference in the internal
+government of other nations, the necessity of peace with America and the
+acknowledgment of her Independence, the satisfaction of the people of
+Ireland by the concession of political equality, the advancement of
+religious liberty, parliamentary reform, and the unrestricted liberty of
+the press. 'Had these principles,' he declares, 'prevailed from 1770 to
+1820, the country would have avoided the American War and the first
+French Revolutionary War, the rebellion in Ireland in 1798, and the
+creation of three or four millions of national debt.'[3] Whenever
+opportunity allowed, Lord John sought in Parliament during the period
+under review to give practical effect to such convictions. He spoke in
+favour of the repeal of the Foreign Enlistment Bill, on the question of
+the evacuation of Spain by the French army, on the Alien Bill, on an
+inquiry into labourers' wages, on the Irish Insurrection Bill, on Roman
+Catholic claims and Roman Catholic endowment, and on agricultural
+distress.
+
+During the closing years of George III.'s reign and the inglorious days
+of his successor, Lord John Russell rose slowly but steadily towards
+political influence and power. His speeches attracted growing attention,
+and his courage and common sense were rewarded with the deepening
+confidence of the nation. Although he was still regarded with some
+little dread by his 'betters and his elders,' to borrow his own phrase,
+the people hailed with satisfaction the rise of so honest, clear-headed,
+and dogged a champion of peace, retrenchment, and Reform. Court and
+Cabinet might look askance at the young statesman, but the great towns
+were at his back, and he knew--in spite of all appearances to the
+contrary--that they, though yet unrepresented, were in reality stronger
+than all the forces of selfish privilege and senseless prejudice. Lord
+John had proved himself to be a man of action. The nation was beginning
+to dream that he would yet prove himself to be a man of mark.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[1] _Memoirs, Journal, and Correspondence of Thomas Moore._ Edited by
+the Right Hon. Lord John Russell, M.P.
+
+[2] Canning's Speeches.
+
+[3] _Recollections and Suggestions_, p. 43.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+WINNING HIS SPURS
+
+1826-1830
+
+     Defeated and out of harness--Journey to Italy--Back in
+     Parliament--Canning's accession to power--Bribery and
+     corruption--The repeal of the Test and Corporation Acts--The
+     struggle between the Court and the Cabinet over Catholic
+     Emancipation--Defeat of Wellington at the polls--Lord John
+     appointed Paymaster-General.
+
+
+WHIG optimists in the newspapers at the General Election of 1826
+declared that the future welfare of the country would depend much on the
+intelligence and independence of the new Parliament. Ordinary men
+accustomed to look facts in the face were not, however, so sanguine, and
+Albany Fonblanque expressed the more common view amongst Radicals when
+he asserted that if the national welfare turned on the exhibition in an
+unreformed House of Commons of such unparliamentary qualities as
+intelligence and independence, there would be ground not for hope but
+for despair. He added that he saw no shadow of a reason for supposing
+that one Parliament under the existing system would differ in any
+essential degree from another. He maintained that, while the sources of
+corruption continued to flow, legislation would roll on in the same
+course.
+
+Self-improvement was, in truth, the last thing to be expected from a
+House of Commons which represented vested rights, and the interests and
+even the caprices of a few individuals, rather than the convictions or
+needs of the nation. The Tory party was stubborn and defiant even when
+the end of the Liverpool Administration was in sight. The Test Acts were
+unrepealed, prejudice and suspicion shut out the Catholics from the
+Legislature, and the sacred rights of property triumphed over the
+terrible wrongs of the slave. The barbarous enactments of the Criminal
+Code had not yet been entirely swept away, and the municipal
+corporations, even to contemporary eyes, appeared as nothing less than
+sinks of corruption.
+
+Lord John was defeated in Huntingdonshire, and, to his disappointment,
+found himself out of harness. He had hoped to bring in his Bribery Bill
+early in the session, and under the altered circumstances he persuaded
+Lord Althorp to press the measure forward. In a letter to that statesman
+which was afterwards printed, he states clearly the evils which he
+wished to remedy. A sentence or two will show the need of redress: 'A
+gentleman from London goes down to a borough of which he scarcely before
+knew the existence. The electors do not ask his political opinions; they
+do not inquire into his private character; they only require to be
+satisfied of the impurity of his intentions. If he is elected, no one,
+in all probability, contests the validity of his return. His opponents
+are as guilty as he is, and no other person will incur the expense of a
+petition for the sake of a public benefit. Fifteen days after the
+meeting of Parliament (this being the limit for the presentation of a
+petition), a handsome reward is distributed to each of the worthy and
+independent electors.'
+
+    [Sidenote: A SARCASTIC APPEAL]
+
+In the early autumn Lord John quitted England, with the intention of
+passing the winter in Italy. The Duke of Bedford felt that his son had
+struck the nail on the head with his pithy and outspoken letter to Lord
+Althorp on political bribery, and he was not alone in thinking that Lord
+John ought not to throw away such an advantage by a prolonged absence on
+the Continent. Lord William accordingly wrote to his brother to urge a
+speedy return, and the letter is worth quoting, since incidentally it
+throws light on another aspect of Lord John's character: 'If you feel
+any ambition--which you have not; if you give up the charms of
+Genoa--which you cannot; if you could renounce the dinners and
+tea-tables and gossips of Rome--which you cannot; if you would cease to
+care about attending balls and assemblies, and dangling after
+ladies--which you cannot, there is a noble field of ambition and utility
+opened to a statesman. It is Ireland, suffering, ill-used Ireland! The
+gratitude of millions, the applause of the world, would attend the man
+who would rescue the poor country. The place is open, and must soon be
+filled up. Ireland cannot remain as she is. The Ministers feel it, and
+would gladly listen to any man who would point out the way to relieve
+her. Undertake the task; it is one of great difficulty, but let that be
+your encouragement. See the Pope's minister; have his opinion on the
+Catholic question; go to Ireland; find out the causes of her suffering;
+make yourself master of the subject. Set to work, as you did about
+Reform, by curing small evils at first.... I am pointing to the way for
+you to make your name immortal, by doing good to millions and to your
+country. But you will yawn over this, and go to some good dinner to be
+agreeable, the height of ambition with the present generation.'
+
+Meanwhile, through the influence of the Duke of Devonshire, Lord John
+was elected in November for the Irish borough of Bandon Bridge, and in
+February, fresh from prologue-writing for the private theatricals which
+Lord Normanby was giving that winter in Florence, he took his seat in
+the House of Commons. Lord Liverpool was struck down with paralysis on
+February 18, and it quickly became apparent that his case was hopeless.
+After a few weeks of suspense, which were filled with Cabinet intrigues,
+Mr. Canning received the King's commands to reconstruct the Ministry;
+but this was more easily said than done. 'Lord Liverpool's disappearance
+from the political scene,' says Lord Russell, 'gave rise to a great
+_debacle_. The fragments of the old system rushed against each other,
+and for a time all was confusion.' Six of Canning's colleagues flatly
+refused to serve under him in the new Cabinet--Peel, Wellington, Eldon,
+Westmoreland, Bathurst, and Bexley--though the latter afterwards took
+advantage of his second thoughts and returned to the fold. Although an
+opponent of Parliamentary reform and of the removal of Nonconformist
+disabilities, Canning gave his support to Catholic emancipation, to the
+demand for free trade, and the abolition of slavery. Canning's accession
+to power threw the Tory ranks into confusion. 'The Tory party,' states
+Lord Russell, 'which had survived the follies and disasters of the
+American war, which had borne the defeats and achieved the final glories
+of the French war, was broken by its separation from Mr. Canning into
+fragments, which could not easily be reunited.'
+
+    [Sidenote: CANNING IN POWER]
+
+Sydney Smith--who, by the way, had no love for Canning, and failed to a
+quite noteworthy extent to understand him--like the rest, took a gloomy
+view of the situation, which he summed up in his own inimitable fashion.
+'Politics, domestic and foreign, are very discouraging; Jesuits abroad,
+Turks in Greece, "No Poperists" in England! A panting to burn B; B
+fuming to roast C; C miserable that he can't reduce D to ashes; and D
+consigning to eternal perdition the first three letters of the
+alphabet.' Canning's tenure of power was brief and uneasy. His opponents
+were many, his difficulties were great, and, to add to all, his health
+was failing. 'My position,' was his own confession, 'is not that of
+gratified ambition.' His Administration only lasted five months, for at
+the end of that period death cut short the brilliant though erratic and
+disappointed career of a statesman of courage and capacity, who entered
+public life as a follower of Pitt, and refused in after years to pin his
+faith blindly to either political party, and so incurred the suspicions
+alike of uncompromising Whigs and unbending Tories.
+
+During the Canning Administration, Lord John's influence in the House
+made itself felt, and always along progressive lines. When the annual
+Indemnity Bill for Dissenters came up for discussion, he, in answer to a
+taunt that the Whigs were making political capital out of the Catholic
+question, and at the same time neglecting the claims of the
+Nonconformists, declared that he was ready to move the repeal of
+restrictions upon the Dissenters as soon as they themselves were of
+opinion that the moment was ripe for action. This virtual challenge, as
+will be presently seen, was recognised by the Nonconformists as a call
+to arms. Meanwhile cases of flagrant bribery at East Retford and
+Penryn--two notoriously corrupt boroughs--came before the House, and it
+was proposed to disenfranchise the former and to give in its place two
+members to Birmingham. The bill, however, did not get beyond its second
+reading. Lord John, nothing daunted, proposed in the session of 1828
+that Penryn should suffer disenfranchisement, and that Manchester should
+take its place. This was ultimately carried in the House of Commons;
+but the Peers fought shy of Manchester, and preferred to 'amend' the
+bill by widening the right of voting at Penryn to the adjacent Hundred.
+This refusal to take occasion by the hand and to gratify the political
+aspirations of the most important unrepresented town in the kingdom, did
+much to hasten the introduction of a wider scheme of reform.
+
+Power slipped for the moment on the death of Canning into the weak hands
+of Lord Goderich, who tried ineffectually to keep together a Coalition
+Ministry. Lord John's best friends appear to have been apprehensive at
+this juncture lest the young statesman, in the general confusion of
+parties, should lapse into somewhat of a political Laodicean. 'I feel a
+little anxious,' wrote Moore, 'to know exactly the colour of your
+politics just now, as from the rumours I hear of some of your brother
+"watchmen," Althorp, Milton, and the like, I begin sometimes to
+apprehend that you too may be among the fallers off. Lord Lansdowne
+tells me, however, you continue quite staunch, and for his sake I hope
+so.' But Lord John was not a 'faller off.' His eyes were fully open to
+the anomalous position in which he in common with other members of the
+party of reform had been placed under Canning and Goderich. Relief,
+however, came swiftly. Lord Goderich, after four months of feeble
+semblance of authority, resigned, finding it impossible to adjust
+differences. As a subaltern, declared one who had narrowly watched his
+career, Lord Goderich was respectable, but as a chief he proved himself
+to be despicable. The Duke of Wellington became Prime Minister, with a
+Tory Cabinet at his back, and with Peel as leader in the House of
+Commons. Thus the 'great _debacle_,' which commenced with Canning's
+accession to power--in spite of the presence in the Cabinet of
+Palmerston and Huskisson--drew to an end, and a line of cleavage was
+once more apparent between the Whigs and the Tories. With Wellington,
+Lord John had of course neither part nor lot, and when the Duke accepted
+office he promptly ranged himself in the opposite camp.
+
+    [Sidenote: RELIGIOUS EQUALITY]
+
+Ireland was on the verge of rebellion when Wellington and Peel took
+office, and in the person of O'Connell it possessed a leader of splendid
+eloquence and courage, who pressed the claims of the Roman Catholics for
+immediate relief from religious disabilities. Whilst the Government was
+deliberating upon the policy which they ought to pursue in presence of
+the stormy and menacing agitation which had arisen in Ireland, the
+Protestant Dissenters saw their opportunity, and rallied their forces
+into a powerful organisation for the total repeal of the Test and
+Corporation Acts. Their cause had been quietly making way, through the
+Press and the platform, during the dark years for political and
+religious liberty which divide 1820 from 1828, and the Protestant
+Society had kept the question steadily before the public mind. Meanwhile
+that organisation had itself become a distinct force in the State. 'The
+leaders of the Whig party now formally identified themselves with it. In
+one year the Duke of Sussex took the chair; in another Lord Holland
+occupied the same position; Sir James Mackintosh delivered from its
+platform a defence of religious liberty, such as had scarcely been given
+to the English people since the time of Locke; and Lord John Russell,
+boldly identifying himself and his party with the political interests of
+Dissenters, came forward as chairman in another year, to advocate the
+full civil and religious rights of the three millions who were now
+openly connected with one or other of the Free Churches. The period of
+the Revolution, when Somers, Halifax, Burnet, and their associates laid
+the foundations of constitutional government, seemed to have
+returned.'[4] Immediately Parliament assembled, Lord John
+Russell--backed by many petitions from the Nonconformists--gave notice
+that on February 26 it was his intention to move the repeal of the Test
+and Corporation Acts.
+
+The Test Act compelled all persons holding any office of profit and
+trust under the Crown to take the oath of allegiance, to partake of the
+Sacrament according to the rites of the Church of England, and to
+subscribe the declaration against Transubstantiation. It was an evil
+legacy from the reign of Charles II., and became law in 1673. The
+Corporation Act was also placed on the statute-book in the same reign,
+and in point of time twelve years earlier--namely, in 1661. It was a
+well-directed blow against the political ascendency of Nonconformists in
+the cities and towns. It required all public officials to take the
+Sacrament according to the rites of the Church of England, within twelve
+months of their appointment, and, whilst it excluded conscientious men,
+it proved no barrier to unprincipled hypocrites. The repeal of the Test
+and Corporation Acts had been mooted from time to time, but the forces
+of prejudice and apathy had hitherto proved invincible. Fox espoused the
+cause of the Dissenters in 1790, and moved for a committee of the whole
+House to deal with the question. He urged that men were to be judged not
+by their opinions, but by their actions, and he asserted that no one
+could charge the Dissenters with ideas or conduct dangerous to the
+State. Parliament, he further contended, had practically admitted the
+injustice of such disqualifications by passing annual Acts of
+Indemnity. He laid stress on the loyalty which the Dissenters had shown
+during the Jacobite risings of 1715 and 1745, when the High Church
+party, which now resisted their just demands, had been 'hostile to the
+reigning family, and active in exciting tumults, insurrections, and
+rebellions.' The authority of Pitt and the eloquence of Burke were put
+forth in opposition to the repeal of the Test Acts, and the panic
+awakened by the French Revolution threw Parliament into a reactionary
+mood, which rendered reform in any direction impossible. The result was
+that the question, so far as the House of Commons was concerned, was
+shirked from 1790 until 1828, when Lord John Russell took up the
+advocacy of a cause in which, nearly forty years earlier, the genius of
+Charles James Fox had been unavailingly enlisted.
+
+    [Sidenote: THE RIGHTS OF CONSCIENCE]
+
+In moving the repeal of the Test and Corporation Acts, Lord John
+recapitulated their history and advanced cogent arguments on behalf of
+the rights of conscience. It could not, he contended, be urged that
+these laws were necessary for the security of the Church, for they were
+not in force either in Scotland or in Ireland. The number and variety of
+offices embraced by the Test Act reduced the measure, so far as its
+practical working was concerned, to a palpable absurdity, as
+non-commissioned officers, as well as commissioned excisemen,
+tide-waiters, and even pedlars, were embraced in its provisions. In
+theory, at least, the penalties incurred by these different classes of
+men were neither few nor slight--forfeiture of the office,
+disqualification for any other under Government, incapacity to maintain
+a suit at law, to act as guardian or executor, or to inherit a legacy,
+and even liability to a pecuniary penalty of 500_l._! Of course, such
+ridiculous penalties were in most cases suspended, but the law which
+imposed them still disgraced the statute-book, and was acknowledged by
+all unprejudiced persons to be indefensible. Besides, the most Holy
+Sacrament of the Christian Church was habitually reduced to a mere civil
+form imposed by Act of Parliament upon persons who either derided its
+solemn meaning or might be spiritually unfit to receive it. Was it
+decent, asked Cowper in his famous 'Expostulation,' thus--
+
+    To make the symbols of atoning grace
+    An office-key, a pick-lock to a place?
+
+To such a question, put in such a form, only one answer was possible.
+Under circumstances men took the Communion, declared Lord John, for the
+purpose of qualifying for office, and with no other intent, and the
+least worthy were the most unscrupulous. 'Such are the consequences of
+mixing politics with religion. You embitter and aggravate political
+dissensions by the venom of theological disputes, and you profane
+religion with the vices of political ambition, making it both hateful to
+man and offensive to God.'
+
+    [Sidenote: THE RARITY OF CHRISTIAN CHARITY]
+
+Peel opposed the motion, and professed to regard the grievances of the
+Dissenters as more sentimental than real. Huskisson and Palmerston
+followed on the same side, whilst Althorp and Brougham lent their aid to
+the demand for religious liberty. The result of the division showed a
+majority of forty-four in favour of the motion, and the bill was
+accordingly brought in and read a second time without discussion. During
+the progress of the measure through the House of Lords, the two
+Archbishops--less fearful for the safety of the Established Church than
+some of their followers--met Lord John's motion for the repeal of the
+Acts in a liberal and enlightened manner. 'Religious tests,' said
+Archbishop Harcourt of York, 'imposed for political purposes, must in
+themselves be always liable more or less to endanger religious
+sincerity.' Such an admission, of course, materially strengthened Lord
+John Russell's hands, and prepared the way for a speedy revision of the
+law. Many who had hitherto supported the Test Act began to see that such
+measures were, after all, a failure and a sham. If their terms were so
+lax that any man could subscribe to them with undisturbed conscience,
+then they ceased to be any test at all. On the contrary, if they were
+hard and rigid, then they forced men to the most odious form of
+dissimulation. A declaration, if required by the Crown, was therefore
+substituted for the sacramental test, by which a person entering office
+pledged himself not to use its influence as a means for subverting the
+Established Church. On the motion of the Bishop of Llandaff, the words
+'on the true faith of a Christian' were inserted in the declaration--a
+clause which, by the way, had the effect, as Lord Holland perceived at
+the time, of excluding Jews from Parliament until the year 1858.
+
+Lord Winchilsea endeavoured by an amendment to shut out Unitarians from
+the relief thus afforded to conscience, but, happily, such an intolerant
+proceeding, even in an unreformed Parliament, met with no success. Lord
+Eldon fiercely attacked the measure--'like a lion,' as he said, 'but
+with his talons cut off'--but met with little support. It was felt that
+the great weight of authority as well as argument was in favour of the
+liberal policy which Lord John Russell advocated, and hence, after a
+protracted debate, the cause of religious freedom triumphed, and on May
+9, 1828, the Test and Corporation Acts were finally repealed. A great
+and forward impulse was thus given to the cause of religious equality,
+and under the same energetic leadership the party of progress set
+themselves with fresh hope to invade other citadels of privilege.
+
+The victory came as a surprise not merely to Lord John but also to the
+Nonconformists. The fact that a Tory Government was in power was
+responsible for the widespread anticipation of a bitter and protracted
+struggle. Amongst the congratulations which Lord John received, none
+perhaps was more significant than Lord Grey's generous admission that
+'he had done more than any man now living' on behalf of liberty. 'I am a
+little anxious,' wrote Moore, 'to know that your glory has done you no
+harm in the way of health, as I see you are a pretty constant attendant
+on the House. There is nothing, I fear, worse for a man's constitution
+than to trouble himself too much about the constitution of Church and
+State. So pray let me have one line to say how you are.' 'My
+constitution,' wrote back Lord John, 'is not quite so much improved as
+the Constitution of the country by late events, but the joy of it will
+soon revive me. It is really a gratifying thing to force the enemy to
+give up his first line--that none but Churchmen are worthy to serve the
+State; I trust we shall soon make him give up the second, that none but
+Protestants are.'
+
+    [Sidenote: CATHOLIC EMANCIPATION]
+
+Lord Eldon had predicted that Catholic Emancipation would follow on the
+heels of the repeal of the Test and Corporation Acts, and the event
+proved that he was right. The election of Daniel O'Connell for Clare had
+suddenly raised the question in an acute form. Although the followers of
+Canning had already left the Ministry, the Duke of Wellington and Peel
+found themselves powerless to quell the agitation which O'Connell and
+the Catholic Association had raised in Ireland by any means short of
+civil war. 'What our Ministry will do,' wrote Lord John, 'Heaven only
+knows, but I cannot blame O'Connell for being a little impatient, after
+twenty-seven years of just expectation disappointed.' The allusion was,
+of course, to Pitt's scheme at the beginning of the century to enable
+Catholics to sit in Parliament and so to reconcile the Irish people to
+the Union--a generous project which was brought to nought by the
+obstinate attitude of George III. Lord John was meditating introducing a
+measure for Catholic Emancipation, when Peel took the wind from his
+sails. George IV., however, supported by a majority of the Lords
+Spiritual and Temporal, was as stoutly opposed to concession as George
+III. Lord John Russell's words on this point are significant 'George
+III.'s religious scruples, and even his personal prejudices, were
+respected by the nation, and formed real barriers so long as he did not
+himself waive them; the religious scruples of George IV. did not meet
+with ready belief, nor did his personal dislikes inspire national
+respect nor obtain national acquiescence.' The struggle between the
+Court and the Cabinet was, however, of brief duration, and Wellington
+bore down the opposition of the Lords, and on April 13, 1829, the Roman
+Catholic Emancipation Bill became law.
+
+In June the question of Parliamentary reform was brought before
+Parliament by Lord Blandford, but his resolutions--which were the
+outcome of Tory panic concerning the probable result of Roman Catholic
+Emancipation--met with little favour, either then or when they were
+renewed at the commencement of the session of 1830. Lord Blandford had
+in truth made himself conspicuous by his opposition to the Catholic
+claims, and the nation distrusted the sudden zeal of the heir to
+Blenheim in such a cause. On February 23, 1830, Lord John Russell sought
+leave to bring in a bill for conferring the franchise upon Manchester,
+Birmingham, and Leeds, on the plea that they were the three largest
+unrepresented towns in the country. The moderate proposal was, however,
+rejected in a House of three hundred and twenty-eight members by a
+majority of forty-eight. Three months later Mr. O'Connell brought
+forward a motion for Triennial Parliaments, Universal Suffrage, and the
+adoption of the Ballot; but this was rejected. But in a House of three
+hundred and thirty-two members, only thirteen were in favour of it,
+whilst an amendment by Lord John stating that it was 'expedient to
+extend the basis of the representation of the people' was also rejected
+by a majority of ninety-six. On June 26 George IV. died, and a few weeks
+later Parliament was dissolved. At the General Election, Lord John stood
+for Bedford, and, much to his chagrin, was defeated by a single vote.
+After the declaration of the poll in August, he crossed over to Paris,
+where he prolonged his stay till November. The unconstitutional
+ordinances of July 25, 1830, had brought about a revolution, and Lord
+John Russell, who was intimate with the chief statesman concerned, was
+wishful to study the crisis on the spot, and in the recital of its
+dramatic incidents to find relief from his own political disappointment.
+
+During this visit he used his influence with General Lafayette for the
+life of Prince de Polignac, who was connected by marriage with a noble
+English family, and was about to be put on his trial. Lord John was
+intimately acquainted, not only with Lafayette, but with other leaders
+in the French political world, and his intercession, on which his
+friends in England placed much reliance, seems to have carried effectual
+weight, for the Prince's life was spared.
+
+    [Sidenote: WELLINGTON'S PROTEST AGAINST REFORM]
+
+With distress at home and revolution abroad, signs of the coming change
+made themselves felt at the General Election. Outside the pocket
+boroughs, the Ministerialists went almost everywhere to the wall, and
+'not a single member of the Duke of Wellington's Cabinet obtained a seat
+in the new Parliament by anything approaching to free and open
+election.'[5] The first Parliament of William IV. met on October 26, and
+two or three days later, in the debate on the King's Speech, Wellington
+made his now historic statement in answer to Earl Grey, who resented the
+lack of reference to Reform: 'I am not prepared to bring forward any
+measure of the description alluded to by the noble lord. I am not only
+not prepared to bring forward any measure of this nature, but I will at
+once declare that, as far as I am concerned, as long as I hold any
+station in the government of the country, I shall always feel it my duty
+to resist such measures when proposed by others.'
+
+This statement produced a feeling of dismay even in the calm atmosphere
+of the House of Lords, and the Duke, noticing the scarcely suppressed
+excitement, turned to one of his colleagues and whispered: 'What can I
+have said which seems to have made so great a disturbance?' Quick came
+the dry retort of the candid friend: 'You have announced the fall of
+your Government, that is all.' The consternation was almost comic.
+'Never was there an act of more egregious folly, or one so universally
+condemned,' says Charles Greville. 'I came to town last night (five days
+after the Duke's speech), and found the town ringing with his
+imprudence and everybody expecting that a few days would produce his
+resignation.' Within a fortnight the general expectation was fulfilled,
+for on November 16 the Duke, making a pretext of an unexpected defeat
+over Sir H. Parnell's motion regarding the Civil List, threw up the
+sponge, and Lord Grey was sent for by the King and entrusted with the
+new Administration. The irony of the situation became complete when Lord
+Grey made it a stipulation to his acceptance of office that
+Parliamentary Reform should be a Cabinet measure.
+
+Lord John, meanwhile, was a candidate for Tavistock, and when the
+election was still in progress the new Premier offered him the
+comparatively unimportant post of Paymaster-General, and, though he
+might reasonably have expected higher rank in the Government, he
+accepted the appointment. He was accustomed to assert that the actual
+duties of the Paymaster were performed by cashiers; and he has left it
+on record that the only official act of any importance that he performed
+was the pleasant task of allotting garden-plots at Chelsea to seventy
+old soldiers, a boon which the pensioners highly appreciated.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[4] _History of the Free Churches of England_, pp. 457-458, by H. S.
+Skeats and C. S. Miall.
+
+[5] _The Three Reforms of Parliament_, by William Heaton, chap. ii. p.
+38.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+A FIGHT FOR LIBERTY
+
+1830-1832
+
+     Lord Grey and the cause of Reform--Lord Durham's share in the
+     Reform Bill--The voice of the people--Lord John introduces the Bill
+     and explains its provisions--The surprise of the Tories--'Reform,
+     Aye or No'--Lord John in the Cabinet--The Bill thrown out--The
+     indignation of the country--Proposed creation of Peers--Wellington
+     and Sidmouth in despair--The Bill carried--Lord John's tribute to
+     Althorp.
+
+
+EARL GREY was a man of sixty-six when he was called to power, and during
+the whole of his public career he had been identified with the cause of
+Reform. He, more than any other man, was the founder, in 1792--the year
+in which Lord John Russell was born--of 'The Friends of the People,' a
+political association which united the forces of the patriotic societies
+which just then were struggling into existence in various parts of the
+land. He was the foe of Pitt and the friend of Fox, and his official
+career began during the short-lived but glorious Administration of All
+the Talents. During the dreary quarter of a century which succeeded,
+when the destinies of England were committed to men of despotic calibre
+and narrow capacity like Sidmouth, Liverpool, Eldon, and Castlereagh, he
+remained, through good and evil report, in deed as well as in name, a
+Friend of the People. As far back as 1793, he declared: 'I am more
+convinced than ever that a reform in Parliament might now be peaceably
+effected. I am afraid that we are not wise enough to profit by
+experience, and what has occasioned the ruin of other Governments will
+overthrow this--a perseverance in abuse until the people, maddened by
+excessive injury and roused to a feeling of their own strength, will not
+stop within the limits of moderate reformation.' The conduct of
+Ministers during the dark period which followed the fall of the Ministry
+of All the Talents in 1807, was, in Grey's deliberate opinion,
+calculated to excite insurrection, since it was a policy of relentless
+coercion and repression.
+
+He made no secret of his conviction that the Government, by issuing
+proclamations in which whole classes of the community were denounced as
+seditious, as well as by fulminating against insurrections that only
+existed in their own guilty imaginations, filled the minds of the people
+with false alarms, and taught every man to distrust if not to hate his
+neighbour. There was no more chance of Reform under the existing
+_regime_ than of 'a thaw in Zembla,' to borrow a famous simile. Cobbett
+was right in his assertion that the measures and manners of George IV.'s
+reign did more to shake the long-settled ideas of the people in favour
+of monarchical government than anything which had happened since the
+days of Cromwell. The day of the King's funeral--it was early in July
+and beautifully fine--was marked, of course, by official signs of
+mourning, but the rank and file of the people rejoiced, and, according
+to a contemporary record, the merry-making and junketing in the villages
+round London recalled the scenes of an ordinary Whit Monday.
+
+On the whole, the nation accepted the accession of the Sailor King with
+equanimity, though scarcely with enthusiasm, and for the moment it was
+not thought that the new reign would bring an immediate change of
+Ministry. The dull, uncompromising nonsense, however, which Wellington
+put into the King's lips in the Speech from the Throne at the beginning
+of November, threatening with punishment the seditious and disaffected,
+followed as it quickly was by the Duke's own statement in answer to Lord
+Grey, that no measure of Parliamentary reform should be proposed by the
+Government as long as he was responsible for its policy, awoke the storm
+which drove the Tories from power and compelled the King to send for
+Grey. The distress in the country was universal--riots prevailed,
+rick-burning was common. Lord Grey's prediction of 1793 seemed about to
+be fulfilled, for the people, 'maddened by excessive injury and roused
+to a feeling of their own strength,' seemed about to break the traces
+and to take the bit between their teeth. The deep and widespread
+confidence alike in the character and capacity of Lord Grey did more
+than anything else at that moment to calm the public mind and to turn
+wild clamour into quiet and resistless enthusiasm.
+
+    [Sidenote: LORD GREY AS LEADER]
+
+Yet in certain respects Lord Grey was out of touch with the new spirit
+of the nation. If his own political ardour had not cooled, the lapse of
+years had not widened to any perceptible degree his vision of the issues
+at stake. He was a man of stately manners and fastidious tastes, and,
+though admirably qualified to hold the position of leader of the
+aristocratic Whigs, he had little in common with the toiling masses of
+the people. He was a conscientious and even chivalrous statesman, but he
+held himself too much aloof from the rank and file of his party, and
+thin-skinned Radicals were inclined to think him somewhat cold and even
+condescending. Lord Grey lacked the warm heart of Fox, and his speeches,
+in consequence, able and philosophic though they were, were destitute
+of that unpremeditated and magical eloquence which led Grattan to
+describe Fox's oratory as 'rolling in, resistless as the waves of the
+Atlantic.' On one memorable occasion--the second reading of the Reform
+Bill in the House of Lords--Lord Grey entirely escaped from such
+oratorical restraints, and even the Peers were moved to unwonted
+enthusiasm by the strong emotion which pervaded that singularly
+outspoken appeal.
+
+His son-in-law, Lord Durham, on the other hand, had the making of a
+great popular leader, in spite of his imperious manners and somewhat
+dictatorial bearing. The head of one of the oldest families in the North
+of England, Lord Durham entered the House of Commons in the year 1813,
+at the age of twenty-one, as Mr. John George Lambton, and quickly
+distinguished himself by his advanced views on questions of foreign
+policy as well as Parliamentary reform. He married the daughter of Lord
+Grey in 1816, and gave his support in Parliament to Canning. On the
+formation of his father-in-law's Cabinet in 1830, he was appointed Lord
+Privy Seal. His popular sobriquet, 'Radical Jack,' itself attests the
+admiration of the populace, and when Lambton was raised to the peerage
+in 1828 he carried to the House of Lords the enthusiastic homage as well
+as the great expectations of the crowd. Lord Durham was the idol of the
+Radicals, and his presence in the Grey Administration was justly
+regarded as a pledge of energetic action.
+
+He would unquestionably have had the honour of introducing the Reform
+Bill in the House of Commons if he had still been a member of that
+assembly, for he had made the question peculiarly his own, and behind
+him lay the enthusiasm of the entire party of Reform. Althorp, though
+leader of the House, and in spite of the confidence which his character
+inspired, lacked the power of initiative and the Parliamentary courage
+necessary to steer the Ship of State through such rough waters. When
+Lord Grey proposed to entrust the measure to Lord John, Brougham pushed
+the claims of Althorp, and raised objections to Lord John on the ground
+that the young Paymaster-General was not in the Cabinet; but Durham
+stoutly opposed him, and urged that Lord John had the first claim, since
+he had last been in possession of the question.
+
+    [Sidenote: THE COMMITTEE OF FOUR]
+
+An unpublished paper of Lord Durham's, in the possession of the present
+Earl, throws passing light on the action, at this juncture, of the
+Ministry, and therefore it may be well to quote it. 'Shortly after the
+formation of the Government, Lord Grey asked me in the House of Lords if
+I would assist him in preparing the Reform Bill. I answered that I would
+do so with the greatest pleasure. He then said, "You can have no
+objection to consult Lord John Russell?" I replied, "Certainly not, but
+the reverse."' In consequence of this conversation, Lord Durham goes on
+to state, he placed himself in communication with Lord John, and they
+together agreed to summon to their councils Sir James Graham and Lord
+Duncannon. Thus the famous Committee of Four came into existence. Durham
+acted as chairman, and in that capacity signed the daily minutes of the
+proceedings. The meetings were held at his house in Cleveland Row, and
+he there received, on behalf of Lord Grey, the various deputations from
+different parts of the kingdom which were flocking up to impress their
+views of the situation on the new Premier. Since the measure had of
+necessity to originate in the House of Commons, and Lord John, it was
+already settled, was to be its first spokesman, Lord Durham suggested
+that Russell should draw up a plan. This was done, and it was carefully
+discussed and amended in various directions, and eventually the measure
+as finally agreed upon was submitted to Lord Grey, with a report which
+Lord Durham, as chairman, drew up, and which was signed not only by him
+but by his three colleagues. Lord Durham states, in speaking of the part
+he took as chairman of the Committee on Reform, that Lord Grey intrusted
+him with the preparation in the first instance of the measure, and that
+he called to his aid the three other statesmen. He adds: 'This was no
+Cabinet secret, for it was necessarily known to hundreds, Lord Grey
+having referred to me all the memorials from different towns and
+bodies.' Lord Durham was in advance of his colleagues on this as upon
+most questions, for he took his stand on household suffrage, vote by
+ballot and triennial Parliaments, and if he could have carried his
+original draft of the Reform Bill that measure would have been far more
+revolutionary than that which became law. His proposals in the House of
+Commons in 1821 went, in fact, much further than the measure which
+became law under Lord Grey.
+
+Lord Grey announced in the Lords on February 3 that a Reform measure had
+been framed and would be introduced in the House of Commons on March 1
+by Lord John Russell, who, 'having advocated the cause of Parliamentary
+Reform, with ability and perseverance, in days when it was not popular,
+ought, in the opinion of the Administration, to be selected, now that
+the cause was prosperous, to bring forward a measure of full and
+efficient Reform, instead of the partial measures he had hitherto
+proposed.'
+
+    [Sidenote: LEADING THE ATTACK]
+
+Petitions in favour of Reform from all parts of the kingdom poured into
+both Houses. The excitement in the country rose steadily week by week,
+mingled with expressions of satisfaction that the Bill was to be
+committed to the charge of such able hands. In Parliament speculations
+were rife as to the scope of the measure, whilst rumours of dissension
+in the Cabinet flew around the clubs. Even as late as the middle of
+February, the Duke of Wellington went about predicting that the Reform
+question could not be carried, and that the Grey Administration could
+not stand. Ministers contrived to keep their secret uncommonly well, and
+when at length the eventful day, March 1, arrived, the House of Commons
+was packed by a crowd such as had scarcely been seen there in its
+history. Troops of eager politicians came up from the country and waited
+at all the inlets of the House, whilst the leading supporters of the
+Whigs in London society gathered at dinner-parties, and anxiously
+awaited intelligence from Westminster.
+
+Lord John's speech began at six o'clock, and lasted for two hours and a
+quarter. Beginning in a low voice, he proceeded gradually to unfold his
+measure, greeted in turns by cheers of approval and shouts of derision.
+Greville says it was ludicrous to see the faces of the members for those
+places doomed to disfranchisement, as they were severally announced.
+Wetherell, a typical Tory of the no-surrender school, began to take
+notes as the plan was unfolded, but after various contortions and
+grimaces he threw down his paper, with a look of mingled despair,
+ridicule, and horror. Lord Durham, seated under the gallery, doubted the
+reality of the scene passing before his eyes. 'They are mad, they are
+mad!' was one of the running comments to Lord John's statement. The
+Opposition, on the whole, seemed inclined to laugh out of court such
+extravagant proposals, but Peel, on the contrary, looked both grave and
+angry, for he saw further than most, and knew very well that boldness
+was the best chance. 'Burdett and I walked home together,' states
+Hobhouse, 'and agreed that there was very little chance of the measure
+being carried. We thought our friends in Westminster would oppose the
+ten-pound franchise.'
+
+'I rise, sir,' Lord John commenced, 'with feelings of the deepest
+anxiety to bring forward a question which, unparalleled as it is in
+importance, is as unparalleled in points of difficulty. Nor is my
+anxiety, in approaching this question, lessened by reflecting that on
+former occasions I have brought this subject before the consideration of
+the House. For if, on other occasions, I have invited the attention of
+the House of Commons to this most important subject, it has been upon my
+own responsibility--unaided by anyone--and involving no one in the
+consequences of defeat.... But the measure which I have now to bring
+forward, is a measure, not of mine but of the Government.... It is,
+therefore, with the greatest anxiety that I venture to explain their
+intentions to this House on a subject, the interest of which is shown by
+the crowded audience who have assembled here, but still more by the deep
+interest which is felt by millions out of this House, who look with
+anxiety, with hope, and with expectation, to the result of this day's
+debate.'
+
+    [Sidenote: OLD SARUM VERSUS MANCHESTER]
+
+In the course of his argument, setting forth the need of Reform, he
+alluded to the feelings of a foreigner, having heard of British wealth,
+civilisation, and renown, coming to England to examine our institutions.
+'Would not such a foreigner be much astonished if he were taken to a
+green mound, and informed that it sent two members to the British
+Parliament; if he were shown a stone wall, and told that it also sent
+two members to the British Parliament; or, if he walked into a park,
+without the vestige of a dwelling, and was told that it, too, sent two
+members to the British Parliament? But if he were surprised at this, how
+much more would he be astonished if he were carried into the North of
+England, where he would see large flourishing towns, full of trade,
+activity, and intelligence, vast magazines of wealth and manufactures,
+and were told that these places sent no representatives to Parliament.
+But his wonder would not end here; he would be astonished if he were
+carried to such a place as Liverpool, and were there told that he might
+see a specimen of a popular election, what would be the result? He would
+see bribery employed in the most unblushing manner, he would see every
+voter receiving a number of guineas in a box as the price of his
+corruption; and after such a spectacle would he not be indeed surprised
+that representatives so chosen could possibly perform the functions of
+legislators, or enjoy respect in any degree?' In speaking of the reasons
+for giving representatives to Manchester, Leeds, Birmingham, and other
+large towns, Lord John argued: 'Because Old Sarum sent members to
+Parliament in the reign of Edward III., when it had a population to be
+benefited by it, the Government on the same principle deprived that
+forsaken place of the franchise in order to bestow the privilege where
+the population was now found.'
+
+Lord John explained that by the provisions of the bill sixty boroughs
+with less than 2,000 inhabitants were to lose the franchise; forty-seven
+boroughs, returning ninety-four members, were to lose one member each.
+Of the seats thus placed at the disposal of the Government eight were to
+be given to London, thirty-four to large towns, fifty-five to English
+counties, five to Scotland, three to Ireland, and one to Wales. The
+franchise was to be extended to inhabitants of houses rated at ten
+pounds a year, and to leaseholders and copyholders of counties. It was
+reckoned that about half a million persons would be enfranchised by the
+bill; but the number of members in the House would be reduced by
+sixty-two. Lord John laid significant stress on the fact that they had
+come to the deliberate opinion that 'no half-measures would be
+sufficient, that no trifling, no paltry reform could give stability to
+the Crown, strength to the Parliament, or satisfaction to the country.'
+Long afterwards Lord John Russell declared that the measure when thus
+first placed before the House of Commons awoke feelings of astonishment
+mingled with joy or with consternation according to the temper of the
+hearers. 'Some, perhaps many, thought that the measure was a prelude to
+civil war, which, in point of fact, it averted. But incredulity was the
+prevailing feeling, both among the moderate Whigs and the great mass of
+the Tories. The Radicals alone were delighted and triumphant. Joseph
+Hume, whom I met in the streets a day or two afterwards, assured me of
+his hearty support of the Government.' There were many Radicals,
+however, who thought that the measure scarcely went far enough, and one
+of them happily summed up the situation by saying that, although the
+Reform Bill did not give the people all they wanted, it broke up the old
+system and took the weapons from the hands of the enemies of progress.
+
+    [Sidenote: CAPITULATION OR BOMBARDMENT]
+
+Night after night the debate proceeded, and it became plain that the
+Tories had been completely taken by surprise. Meanwhile outside the
+House of Commons the people followed the debate with feverish interest.
+'Nothing talked of, thought of, dreamt of but Reform,' wrote Greville.
+'Every creature one meets asks, "What is said now? How will it go? What
+is the last news? What do you think?" And so it is from morning till
+night, in the streets, in the clubs, and in private houses.' After a
+week of controversy, leave was given to bring in the bill. On March 21,
+Lord John moved the second reading, but was met by an amendment, that
+the Reform Bill be read a second time that day six months. The House
+divided at three o'clock on the morning of the 23rd, and the second
+reading was carried by a majority of one--333-332--in the fullest House
+on record. 'It is better to capitulate than to be taken by storm,' was
+the comment of one of the cynics of the hour. Illuminations took place
+all over the country. The people were good-humoured but determined, and
+the Opposition began to recover from its fright and to declare that the
+Government could not proceed with the measure and were certain to
+resign. Peel's action--and sometimes his lack of it--was severely
+criticised by many of his own followers, and not a few of the Tories,
+unable to forgive the surrender to the claims of the Catholics, met the
+new crisis in the time-honoured spirit of Gallio. They seemed to have
+thought not only that the country was fast going to the dogs, but that
+under all the circumstances, it did not much matter.
+
+Parliament met after the usual Easter recess, and on April 18 General
+Gascoigne moved as an instruction to the committee that the number of
+members of Parliament ought not to be diminished, and after a debate
+which lasted till four o'clock in the morning the resolution was carried
+in a House of 490 members by a majority of eight. The Government thus
+suddenly placed in a minority saw their opportunity and took it. Lord
+Grey and his colleagues had begun to realise that it was impossible for
+them to carry the Reform Bill in the existing House of Commons without
+modifications which would have robbed the boon of half its worth. The
+Tories had made a blunder in tactics over Gascoigne's motion, and their
+opponents took occasion by the forelock, with the result that, after an
+extraordinary scene in the Lords, Parliament was suddenly dissolved by
+the King in person. Brougham had given the people their cry, and 'the
+bill, the whole bill, and nothing but the bill,' was the popular
+watchword during the tumult of the General Election. On the dissolution
+of Parliament the Lord Mayor sanctioned the illumination of London, and
+an angry mob, forgetful of the soldier in the statesman, broke the
+windows of Apsley House.
+
+  [Sidenote: THE FLOWING TIDE]
+
+Speaking at a political meeting two days after the dissolution, Lord
+John Russell said that the electors in the approaching struggle were
+called on not merely to select the best men to defend their rights and
+interests, but also to give a plain answer to the question, put to the
+constituencies by the King in dissolving Parliament, Do you approve, aye
+or no, of the principle of Reform in the representation? Right through
+the length and breadth of the kingdom his words were caught up, and from
+hundreds of platforms came the question, 'Reform: Aye or No?' and the
+response in favour of the measure was emphatic and overwhelming. The
+country was split into the opposing camps of the Reformers and
+anti-Reformers, and every other question was thrust aside in the
+struggle. The political unions proved themselves to be a power in the
+land, and the operatives and artisans of the great manufacturing
+centres, though still excluded from citizenship, left no stone unturned
+to ensure the popular triumph. Lord John was pressed to stand both for
+Lancashire and Devonshire; he chose the latter county, with which he
+was closely associated by family traditions as well as by personal
+friendships, and was triumphantly returned, with Lord Ebrington as
+colleague. Even in the agricultural districts the ascendency of the old
+landed families was powerless to arrest the movement, and as the results
+of the elections became known it was seen that Lord Sefton had caught
+the situation in his dry remark: 'The county members are tumbling about
+like ninepins.' Parliament assembled in June, and it became plain at a
+glance that democratic ideas were working like leaven upon public
+opinion in England. In spite of rotten boroughs, close corporations, the
+opposition of the majority of the territorial aristocracy, and the panic
+of thousands of timid people, who imagined that the British Constitution
+was imperilled, the Reformers came back in strength, and at least a
+hundred who had fought the Bill in the late Parliament were shut out
+from a renewal of the struggle, whilst out of eighty-two county members
+that were returned, only six were hostile to Reform.
+
+On June 24, Lord John Russell, now raised to Cabinet rank, introduced
+the Second Reform Bill, which was substantially the same as the first,
+and the measure was carried rapidly through its preliminary stage, and
+on July 8 it passed the second reading by a majority of 136. The
+Government, however, in Committee was met night after night by an
+irritating cross-fire of criticism; repeated motions for adjournment
+were made; there was a systematic division of labour in the task of
+obstruction. In order to promote delay, the leaders of the Opposition
+stood up again and again and repeated the same statements and arguments,
+and often in almost the same words. 'If Mr. Speaker,' wrote Jekyll,
+'outlives the Reform debate, he may defy _la grippe_ and the cholera. I
+can recommend no books, for the booksellers declare nobody reads or buys
+in the present fever. The newspapers are furious, the Sunday papers are
+talking treason by wholesale.... Peel does all he can to make his
+friends behave like gentlemen. But the nightly vulgarities of the House
+of Commons furnish new reasons for Reform, and not a ray of talent
+glimmers among them all. Double-distilled stupidity!'[6] In the midst of
+it all Russell fell ill, worn out with fatigue and excitement, and as
+the summer slipped past the people became alarmed and indignant at the
+dead-lock, and in various parts of the kingdom the attitude of the
+masses grew not merely restless but menacing. At length the tactics of
+the Opposition were exhausted, and it was possible to report progress.
+'On September 7,' is Lord John's statement, 'the debate was closed, and
+after much labour, and considerable sacrifice of health, I was able on
+that night to propose, amid much cheering, that the bill should be
+reported to the House.' The third reading was carried on September 19 by
+a majority of fifty-five. Three days later, at five in the morning on
+September 22, the question was at length put, and in a House of five
+hundred and eighty-one members the majority for Ministers was one
+hundred and nine.
+
+  [Sidenote: LORD GREY ARISES TO THE OCCASION]
+
+The bill was promptly sent up to the Peers, and Lord Grey proposed the
+second reading on October 3 in a speech of sustained eloquence. Lord
+Grey spoke as if he felt the occasion to be the most critical event in a
+political career which had extended to nearly half a century. He struck
+at once the right key-note, the gravity of the situation, the magnitude
+of the issues involved, the welfare of the nation. He made a modest but
+dignified allusion to his own life-long association with the question.
+'In 1786 I voted for Reform. I supported Mr. Pitt in his motion for
+shortening the duration of Parliaments. I gave my best assistance to the
+measure of Reform introduced by Mr. Flood before the French
+Revolution.[7] On one or two occasions I originated motions on the
+subject.' Then he turned abruptly from his own personal association with
+the subject to what he finely termed the 'mighty interests of the
+State,' and the course which Ministers felt they must take if they were
+to meet the demands of justice, and not to imperil the safety of the
+nation. He laid stress on the general discontent which prevailed, on the
+political agitation of the last twelve months, on the distress that
+reigned in the manufacturing districts, on the influence of the numerous
+political associations which had grown powerful because of that
+distress, on the suffering of the agricultural population, on the
+'nightly alarms, burnings, and popular disturbances,' as well as on the
+'general feeling of doubt and apprehension observable in every
+countenance.' He endeavoured to show that the measure was not
+revolutionary in spirit or subversive of the British Constitution, as
+many people proclaimed.
+
+Lord Grey contended that there was nothing in the measure that was not
+founded on the principles of English government, nothing that was not
+perfectly consistent with the ancient practices of the Constitution, and
+nothing that might not be adopted with absolute safety to the rights and
+privileges of all orders of the State. He made a scathing allusion to
+the 'gross and scandalous corruption practised without disguise' at
+elections, and he declared that the sale of seats in the House of
+Commons was a matter of equal notoriety with the return of nominees of
+noble and wealthy persons to that House. He laid stress on the fact that
+a few individuals under the existing system were able to turn into a
+means of personal profit privileges which had been conferred in past
+centuries for the benefit of the nation. 'It is with these views that
+the Government has considered that the boroughs which are called
+nomination boroughs ought to be abolished. In looking at these boroughs,
+we found that some of them were incapable of correction, for it is
+impossible to extend their constituency. Some of them consisted only of
+the sites of ancient boroughs, which, however, might perhaps in former
+times have been very fit places to return members to Parliament; in
+others, the constituency was insignificantly small, and from their local
+situation incapable of receiving any increase; so that, upon the whole,
+this gangrene of our representative system bade defiance to all remedies
+but that of excision.'
+
+After several nights' debate, in which Brougham, according to Lord John,
+delivered one of the greatest speeches ever heard in the House of Lords,
+the bill was at length rejected, after an all-night sitting, at twenty
+minutes past six o'clock on Saturday morning, October 8, by a majority
+of forty-one (199 to 158), in which majority were twenty-one bishops.
+Had these prelates voted the other way, the bill would have passed the
+second reading. As the carriages of the nobility rattled through the
+streets at daybreak, artisans and labourers trudging to their work
+learnt with indignation that the demands of the people had been treated
+with characteristic contempt by the Peers.
+
+  [Sidenote: THE NATION GROWS INDIGNANT]
+
+The next few days were full of wild excitement. The people were
+exasperated, and their attitude grew suddenly menacing. Even those who
+had hitherto remained calm and almost apathetic grew indignant. Wild
+threats prevailed, and it seemed as if there might be at any moment a
+general outbreak of violence. Even as it was, riots of the most
+disquieting kind took place at Bristol, Derby, and other places.
+Nottingham Castle was burnt down by an infuriated mob; newspapers
+appeared in mourning; the bells of some of the churches rang muffled
+peals; the Marquis of Londonderry and other Peers who had made
+themselves peculiarly obnoxious were assaulted in the streets; and the
+Bishops could not stir abroad without being followed by the jeers and
+execrations of the multitude. Quiet middle-class people talked of
+refusing to pay the taxes, and showed unmistakably that they had caught
+the revolutionary spirit of the hour. Birmingham, which was the
+head-quarters of the Political Union, held a vast open-air meeting, at
+which one hundred and fifty thousand people were present, and
+resolutions were passed, beseeching the King to create as many new Peers
+as might be necessary to ensure the triumph of Reform. Lord Althorp and
+Lord John Russell were publicly thanked at this gathering for their
+action, and the reply of the latter is historic: 'Our prospects are
+obscured for a moment, but, I trust, only for a moment; it is impossible
+that the whisper of a faction should prevail against the voice of a
+nation.'
+
+Meanwhile Lord Ebrington, Lord John's colleague in the representation of
+Devonshire, came to the rescue of the Government with a vote of
+confidence, which was carried by a sweeping majority. Two days later, on
+Wednesday, October 12, many of the shops of the metropolis were closed
+in token of political mourning, and on that day sixty thousand men
+marched in procession to St. James's Palace, bearing a petition to the
+King in favour of the retention of the Grey Administration. Hume
+presented it, and when he returned to the waiting crowd in the Park, he
+was able to tell them that their prayer would not pass unheeded. No
+wonder that Croker wrote shortly afterwards: 'The four M's--the Monarch,
+the Ministry, the Members, and the Multitude--all against us. The King
+stands on his Government, the Government on the House of Commons, the
+House of Commons on the people. How can we attack a line thus linked and
+supported?' Indignation meetings were held in all parts of the country,
+and at one of them, held at Taunton, Sydney Smith delivered the famous
+speech in which he compared the attempt of the House of Lords to
+restrain the rising tide of Democracy to the frantic but futile battle
+which Dame Partington waged with her mop, during a storm at Sidmouth,
+when the Atlantic invaded her threshold. 'The Atlantic was roused. Mrs.
+Partington's spirit was up. But I need not tell you that the contest was
+unequal. The Atlantic Ocean beat Mrs. Partington. Gentlemen, be at your
+ease, be quiet and steady; you will beat--Mrs. Partington.' The
+newspapers carried the witty allusion everywhere. It tickled the public
+fancy, and did much to relax the bitter mood of the nation, and
+vapouring heroics were forgotten in laughter, and indignation gave way
+to amused contempt.
+
+Parliament, which had been prorogued towards the end of October,
+reassembled in the first week of December, and on the 12th of that month
+Lord John once more introduced--for the third time in twelve months--the
+Reform Bill. A few alterations had been made in its text, the outcome
+chiefly of the facts which the new census had brought to light. In order
+to meet certain anomalies in the original scheme, Ministers, with the
+help of Thomas Drummond, who shortly afterwards honourably distinguished
+himself in Irish affairs, drew up two lists of boroughs, one for total
+disenfranchisement and the other for semi-disenfranchisement; and the
+principle on which fifty-six towns were included in the first list, and
+thirty in the second, was determined by the number of houses in each
+borough and the value of the assessed taxes. Six days later the second
+reading was passed, after three nights' discussion, by a majority of 324
+to 162. The House rose immediately for the Christmas recess, and on
+January 20 the bill reached the committee stage, and there it remained
+till March 14. The third reading took place on March 23, and the bill
+was passed by a majority of 116. Althorp, as the leader of the Commons,
+and Russell, as the Minister in charge of the measure, carried the
+Reform Bill promptly to the House of Lords, and made formal request for
+the 'concurrence of their lordships to the same.' Other men had laboured
+to bring about this result; but the nation felt that, but for the pluck
+and persistency of Russell, and the judgment and tact of Althorp,
+failure would have attended their efforts.
+
+  [Sidenote: LORD ALTHORP'S TACT]
+
+It is difficult now to understand the secret of the influence which
+Althorp wielded in the Grey Administration, but it was great enough to
+lead the Premier to ask him to accept a peerage, in order--in the crisis
+which was now at hand--to bring the Lords to their senses. Althorp was
+in no sense of the word a great statesman; in fact, his career was the
+triumph of character rather than capacity. All through the struggle,
+when controversy grew furious and passion rose high, Althorp kept a cool
+head, and his adroitness in conciliatory speech was remarkable. He was a
+moderate man, who never failed to do justice to his opponent's case, and
+his influence was not merely in the Commons; it made itself felt to
+good purpose in the Court, as well as in the country. He was a man of
+chivalrous instincts and unchallenged probity. It was one of his
+political opponents, Sir Henry Hardinge, who exclaimed, 'Althorp carried
+the bill. His fine temper did it!'
+
+Lord John Russell, like his colleagues, was fully alive to the gravity
+of the crisis. He made no secret of his conviction that, if another
+deadlock arose, the consequence would be bloodshed, and the outbreak of
+a conflict in which the British Constitution would probably perish.
+Twelve months before, the cry in the country had been, 'What will the
+Lords do?' but now an altogether different question was on men's lips,
+'What must be done with the Lords?' Government knew that the real
+struggle over the bill would be in Committee, and therefore they refused
+to be unduly elated when the second reading was carried on April 14 with
+a majority of nine, in spite of the Duke of Wellington's blustering
+heroics. Three weeks later, Lord Lyndhurst carried, by a majority of
+thirty-five, a motion for the mutilation of the bill, in spite of Lord
+Grey's assurance that it dealt a fatal blow at the measure. The Premier
+immediately moved the adjournment of the debate, and the situation grew
+suddenly dramatic. The Cabinet had made its last concession; Ministers
+determined, in Lord Durham's words, that a 'sufficient creation of Peers
+was absolutely necessary' if their resignation was not to take immediate
+effect, and they laid their views before the King. William IV., like his
+predecessor, lived in a narrow world; he was surrounded by gossips who
+played upon his fears of revolution, and took care to appeal to his
+prejudices. His zeal for Reform had already cooled, and Queen Adelaide
+was hostile to Lord Grey's measure.
+
+When, therefore, Lord Grey and Lord Brougham went down to Windsor to
+urge the creation of new Peers, they met with a chilling reception. The
+King refused his sanction, and the Ministry had no other alternative
+than to resign. William IV. took counsel with Lord Lyndhurst, and
+summoned the Duke of Wellington. Meanwhile the House of Commons at the
+instance of Lord Ebrington, again passed a vote of confidence in the
+Grey Administration, and adopted an address to His Majesty, begging him
+to call to his councils such persons only as 'will carry into effect
+unimpaired in all its essential provisions that bill for reforming the
+representation of the people which has recently passed the House of
+Commons.' Wellington tried to form a Ministry in order to carry out some
+emasculated scheme of Reform, but Peel was inexorable, and refused to
+have part or lot in the project.
+
+  [Sidenote: THE FIERCE CRY OF THE STREETS]
+
+Meanwhile the cry rang through the country, 'The bill, the whole bill,
+and nothing but the bill!' William IV. was hissed as he passed through
+the streets, and the walls blazed with insulting lampoons and
+caricatures. Signboards which displayed the King's portrait were framed
+with crape, and Queen Adelaide's likeness was disfigured with lampblack.
+Rumours of projected riots filled the town, and whispers of a plot for
+seizing the wives and children of the aristocracy led the authorities to
+order the swords of the Scots Greys to be rough-sharpened. At the last
+moment, when the attitude of the country was menacing, the King yielded,
+on May 17, and sent for Lord Grey. 'Only think,' wrote Joseph Parkes on
+May 18, 'that at three yesterday all was gloomy foreboding in the
+Cabinet, and at twenty-five minutes before five last night Lord Althorp
+did not know the King's answer till Lord Grey returned at half-past
+five--"All right." Thus on the decision of one man rests the fate of
+nations.'[8]
+
+Instead of creating new Peers, the King addressed a letter to members of
+the House of Lords who were hostile to the bill, urging them to withdraw
+their opposition. A hint from Windsor went further with the aristocracy
+in those days than any number of appeals, reasonable or just, from the
+country. About a hundred of the Peers, in angry sullen mood, shook off
+the dust of Westminster, and, in Lord John's words, 'skulked in clubs
+and country houses.' Sindbad, to borrow Albany Fonblanque's vigorous
+simile, was getting rid of the old man of the sea, not permanently,
+alas! but at least for the occasion. During the progress of these
+negotiations, the nation, now confident of victory, stood not merely at
+attention but on the alert. 'I say,' exclaimed Attwood at
+Birmingham--and the phrase expressed the situation--'the people of
+England stand at this moment like greyhounds on the slip!' Triumph was
+only a matter of time. 'Pray beg of Lord Grey to keep well,' wrote
+Sydney Smith to the Countess; 'I have no doubt of a favourable issue. I
+see an open sea beyond the icebergs.' At length the open sea was
+reached, and on June 7 the Reform Bill received the Royal Assent and
+became the law of the land, and with it the era of government by public
+opinion began. The mode by which the country at last obtained this great
+measure of redress did not commend itself to Lord John's judgment. He
+did not disguise his opinion that the creation of many new Peers
+favourable to Reform would have been a more dignified proceeding than
+the request from Windsor to noble lords to dissemble and cloak their
+disappointment. 'Whether twelve or one hundred be the number requisite
+to enable the Peers to give their votes in conformity with public
+opinion,' were his words, 'it seems to me that the House of Lords,
+sympathising with the people at large, and acting in concurrence with
+the enlightened state of the prevailing wish, represents far better the
+dignity of the House, and its share in legislation, than a majority got
+together by the long supremacy of one party in the State, eager to show
+its ill-will by rejecting bills of small importance, but afraid to
+appear, and skulking in clubs and country houses, in face of a measure
+which has attracted the ardent sympathy of public opinion.'
+
+  [Sidenote: BOWING BEFORE THE STORM]
+
+'God may and, I hope, will forgive you for this bill,' was Lord
+Sidmouth's plaintive lament to Earl Grey, 'but I do not think I ever
+can!' There lives no record of reply. The last protest of the Duke of
+Wellington, delivered just before the measure became law, was
+characteristic in many respects, and not least in its blunt honesty.
+'Reform, my lords, has triumphed, the barriers of the Constitution are
+broken down, the waters of destruction have burst the gates of the
+temple, and the tempest begins to howl. Who can say where its course
+should stop? who can stay its speed? For my own part, I earnestly hope
+that my predictions may not be fulfilled, and that my country may not be
+ruined by the measure which the noble earl and his colleagues have
+sanctioned.' Lord John Russell, on the contrary, held then the view
+which he afterwards expressed: 'It is the right of a people to represent
+its grievances: it is the business of a statesman to devise remedies.'
+In the first quarter of the present century the people made their
+grievances known. Lord Grey and his Cabinet in 1831-2 devised remedies,
+and, in Lord John's memorable phrase, 'popular enthusiasm rose in its
+strength and converted them into law.'
+
+The Reform Bill, as Walter Bagehot has shown, did nothing to remove the
+worst evils from which the nation suffered, for the simple reason that
+those evils were not political but economical. But if it left
+unchallenged the reign of protection and much else in the way of
+palpable and glaring injustice, it ushered in a new temper in regard to
+public questions. It recognised the new conditions of English society,
+and gave the mercantile and manufacturing classes, with their wealth,
+intelligence, and energy, not only the consciousness of power, but the
+sense of responsibility.
+
+  [Sidenote: A GENEROUS TRIBUTE]
+
+The political struggle under Pitt had been between the aristocracy and
+the monarchy, but that under Grey was between the aristocracy and the
+middle classes, for the claims of the democracy in the broad sense of
+the word lay outside the scope of the measure. In spite of its halting
+confidence in the people, men felt that former things of harsh
+oppression had passed away, and that the Reform Bill rendered their
+return impossible. It was at best only a half measure, but it broke the
+old exclusive traditions and diminished to a remarkable degree the power
+of the landed interest in Parliament. It has been said that it was the
+business of Lord John Russell at that crisis to save England from
+copying the example of the French Revolution, and there can be no doubt
+whatever that the measure was a safety-valve at a moment when political
+excitement assumed a menacing form. The public rejoicings were inspired
+as much by hope as by gladness. A new era had dawned, the will of the
+nation had prevailed, the spirit of progress was abroad, and the
+multitudes knew that other reforms less showy perhaps but not less
+substantial, were at hand. 'Look at England before the Reform Bill, and
+look at it now,' wrote Mr. Froude in 1874. 'Its population almost
+doubled; its commerce quadrupled; every individual in the kingdom lifted
+to a high level of comfort and intelligence--the speed quickening every
+year; the advance so enormous, the increase so splendid, that language
+turns to rhetoric in describing it.' When due allowance is made for the
+rhetoric of such a description--for alas! the 'high level of comfort'
+for every individual in the kingdom is still unattained--the substantial
+truth of such a statement cannot be gainsaid. When the battle was
+fought, Lord John was generous enough to say that the success of the
+Reform Bill in the House of Commons was due mainly to the confidence
+felt in the integrity and sound judgment of Lord Althorp. At the same
+time he never concealed his conviction that it was the multitude outside
+who made the measure resistless.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[6] _Correspondence of Mr. Joseph Jekyll_, 1818-1838. Edited, with a
+brief Memoir, by the Hon. Algernon Bourke. Pp. 272-273.
+
+[7] Flood's Reform proposals were made in 1790. His idea was to augment
+the House of Commons by one hundred members, to be elected by the
+resident householders of every county.
+
+[8] _Life of George Grote_, by Mrs. Grote, p. 80.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+THE DAWN OF A NEW ERA
+
+1833-1838
+
+     The turn of the tide with the Whigs--The two voices in the
+     Cabinet--Lord John and Ireland--Althorp and the Poor Law--The
+     Melbourne Administration on the rocks--Peel in power--The question
+     of Irish tithes--Marriage of Lord John--Grievances of
+     Nonconformists--Lord Melbourne's influence over the Queen--Lord
+     Durham's mission to Canada--Personal sorrow.
+
+
+HIGH-WATER mark was reached with the Whigs in the spring of 1833, and
+before the tide turned, two years later, Lord Grey and his colleagues
+had, in various directions, done much to justify the hopes of their
+followers. The result of the General Election in the previous December
+was seen when the first Reformed Parliament assembled at Westminster, on
+January 29, 1833. Lord Althorp, as Leader of the House of Commons, found
+himself with 485 members at his back, whilst Sir Robert Peel confronted
+him with about 170 stalwart Tories. After all, the disparity was hardly
+as great as it looked, for it was a mixed multitude which followed
+Althorp, and in its ranks were the elements of conflict and even of
+revolt. The Whigs had made common cause with the Radicals when the
+Reform Bill stood in jeopardy every hour, but the triumph of the measure
+imperilled this grand alliance. Not a few of the Whigs had been
+faint-hearted during the struggle, and were now somewhat alarmed at its
+overwhelming success. Their inclination was either to rest on their
+laurels or to make haste slowly. The Radicals, on the contrary, longed
+for new worlds to conquer. They were full of energy and enthusiasm, and
+desired nothing so much as to ride abroad redressing human wrongs. The
+traditions of the past were dear to the Whigs, but the Radicals thrust
+such considerations impatiently aside, and boasted that 1832 was the
+Year 1 of the people. It was impossible that such warring elements
+should permanently coalesce; the marvel is that they held together so
+long.
+
+  [Sidenote: REMEDIAL MEASURES]
+
+Even in the Cabinet there were two voices. The Duke of Richmond was at
+heart a Tory masquerading in the dress of a Whig. Lord Durham was a
+Radical of an outspoken and uncompromising type, in spite of his
+aristocratic trappings and his great possessions. Nevertheless, the new
+era opened, not merely with a flourish of trumpets, but with notable
+work in the realm of practical statesmanship. Fowell Buxton took up the
+work of Wilberforce on behalf of the desolate and oppressed, and lived
+to bring about the abolition of slavery; whilst Shaftesbury's charity
+began at home with the neglected factory children. Religious toleration
+was represented in the Commons by the Jewish Relief Bill, and its
+opposite in the Lords by the defeat of that measure. Althorp amended the
+Poor Laws, and, though neither he nor his colleagues would admit the
+fact, the bill rendered, by its alterations in the provisions of
+settlement and the bold attack which it made on the thraldom of labour,
+the repeal of the Corn Laws inevitable. Grant renewed the charter of the
+East India Company, but not its monopoly of the trade with the East.
+Roebuck brought forward a great scheme of education, whilst Grote
+sought to introduce the ballot, and Hume, in the interests of economy,
+but at the cost of much personal odium, assailed sinecures and
+extravagance in every shape and form. Ward drew attention to the abuses
+of the Irish Church, and did much by his exertions to lessen them; and
+Lord John Russell a year or two later brought about a civic revolution
+by the Municipal Reform Act--a measure which, next to the reform of
+Parliament, did more to broaden and uplift the political life of the
+people than any other enactment of the century. Ireland blocked the way
+of Lord Grey's Ministry, and the wild talk and hectoring attitude of
+O'Connell, and his bold bid for personal ascendency, made it difficult
+for responsible statesmen to deal calmly with the problems by which they
+were confronted.
+
+It is true that Lord John was not always on the side of the angels of
+progress and redress. He blundered occasionally like other men, and
+sometimes even hesitated strangely to give effect to his convictions,
+and therefore it would be idle as well as absurd to attempt to make out
+that he was consistent, much less infallible. The Radicals a little
+later complained that he talked of finality in reform, and supported the
+coercive measures of Stanley in Ireland, and opposed Hume in his efforts
+to secure the abolition of naval and military sinecures. He declined to
+support a proposed investigation of the pension list. He set his face
+against Tennyson's scheme for shortening the duration of Parliaments,
+and Grote had to reckon with his hostility to the adoption of the
+ballot. But in spite of it all, he was still, in Sydney Smith's happy
+phrase, to all intents and purposes 'Lord John Reformer.' No one doubted
+his honesty or challenged his motives. The compass by which Russell
+steered his course through political life might tremble, but men felt
+that it remained true.
+
+  [Sidenote: FIRST VISIT TO IRELAND]
+
+Ireland drew forth his sympathies, but he failed to see any way out of
+the difficulty. 'I wish I knew what to do to help your country,' were
+his words to Moore, 'but, as I do not, it is of no use giving her smooth
+words, as O'Connell told me, and I must be silent.' It was not in his
+nature, however, to sit still with folded hands. He held his peace, but
+quietly crossed the Channel to study the problem on the spot. It was his
+first visit to the distressful country for many years, and he wished
+Moore to accompany him as guide, philosopher, and friend. He assured the
+poet that he would allow him to be as patriotic as he pleased about 'the
+first flower of the earth and first gem of the sea' during the proposed
+sentimental journey. 'Your being a rebel,' were his words, 'may somewhat
+atone for my being a Cabinet Minister.' Moore, however, was compelled to
+decline the tempting proposal by the necessity of making ends meet by
+sticking to the hack work which that universal provider of knowledge,
+Dr. Lardner, had set him in the interests of the 'Cabinet
+Encyclopaedia'--an enterprise to which men of the calibre of Mackintosh,
+Southey, Herschell, and even Walter Scott had lent a helping hand.
+
+Lord John landed in Ireland in the beginning of September 1833, and went
+first to Lord Duncannon's place at Bessborough. Afterwards he proceeded
+to Waterford to visit Lord Ebrington, his colleague in the
+representation of Devonshire. He next found his way to Cork and
+Killarney, and he wrote again to Moore urging him to 'hang Dr. Lardner
+on his tree of knowledge,' and to join him at the eleventh hour. Moore
+must have been in somewhat reduced circumstances at the moment--for he
+was a luxurious, pleasure-loving man, who never required much persuasion
+to throw down his work--since such an appeal availed nothing. Meanwhile
+Lord John had carried Lord Ebrington back to Dublin, and they went
+together to the North of Ireland. The visit to Belfast attracted
+considerable attention; Lord John's services over the Reform Bill were
+of course fresh in the public mind, and he was entertained in orthodox
+fashion at a public dinner. This short tour in Ireland did much to open
+his eyes to the real grievances of the people, and, fresh from the scene
+of disaffection, he was able to speak with authority when the late
+autumn compelled the Whig Cabinet to throw everything else aside in
+order to devise if possible some measure of relief for Ireland. Stanley
+was Chief Secretary, and, though one of the most brilliant men of his
+time alike in deed and word, unfortunately his haughty temper and
+autocratic leanings were a grievous hindrance if a policy of coercion
+was to be exchanged for the more excellent way of conciliation.
+O'Connell opposed his policy in scathing terms, and attacked him
+personally with bitter invective, and in the end there was open war
+between the two men.
+
+  [Sidenote: POOR LAW REFORM]
+
+Lord Grey, now that Parliamentary Reform had been conceded, was
+developing into an easy-going aristocratic Whig of somewhat contracted
+sympathies, and Stanley, though still in the Cabinet, was apparently
+determined to administer the affairs of Ireland on the most approved
+Tory principles. Althorp, Russell, and Duncannon were men whose
+sympathies leaned more or less decidedly in the opposite direction, and
+therefore, especially with O'Connell thundering at the gates with the
+Irish people and the English Radicals at his back, a deadlock was
+inevitable. Durham, in ill health and chagrin, and irritated by the
+stationary, if not reactionary, attitude of certain members of the Grey
+Administration, resigned office in the spring of 1833. Goderich became
+Privy Seal, and this enabled Stanley to exchange the Irish Secretaryship
+for that of the Colonies. He had driven Ireland to the verge of revolt,
+but he had nevertheless made an honest attempt to grapple with many
+practical evils, and his Education Bill was a piece of constructive
+statesmanship which placed Roman Catholics on an equality with
+Protestants. Early in the session of 1834 Althorp introduced the Poor
+Law Amendment Act, and the measure was passed in July. The changes which
+it brought about were startling, for its enactments were drastic. This
+great economic measure came to the relief of a nation in which 'one
+person in every seven was a pauper.' The new law limited relief to
+destitution, prohibited out-door help to the able-bodied, beyond medical
+aid, instituted tests to detect imposture, confederated parishes into
+unions, and substituted large district workhouses for merely local
+shelters for the destitute. In five years the poor rate was reduced by
+three millions, and the population, set free by the new interpretation
+of 'Settlement,' were able, in their own phrase, to follow the work and
+to congregate accordingly wherever the chance of a livelihood offered.
+One great question followed hard on the heels of another.
+
+In the King's Speech at the opening of Parliament, the consideration of
+Irish tithes was recommended, for extinguishing 'all just causes of
+complaint without injury to the rights and property of any class of
+subjects or to any institution in Church or State.' Mr. Littleton
+(afterwards Lord Hatherton), who had succeeded Stanley as Irish
+Secretary accordingly introduced a new Tithe Bill, the object of which
+was to change the tithe first into a rent-charge payable by the
+landlord, and eventually into land tax. The measure also proposed that
+the clergy should be content with a sum which fell short of the amount
+to which they were entitled by law, so that riot and bloodshed might be
+avoided by lessened demands. On the second reading of the bill, Lord
+John frankly avowed the faith that was in him, a circumstance which led
+to unexpected results. He declared that, as he understood it, the aim of
+the bill was to determine and secure the amount of the tithe. The
+question of appropriation was to be kept entirely distinct. If the
+object of the bill was to grant a certain sum to the Established Church
+of Ireland, and the question was to end there, his opinion of it might
+be different. But he understood it to be a bill to secure a certain
+amount of property and revenue destined by the State to religious and
+charitable purposes, and if the State should find that it was not
+appropriated justly to the purposes of religious and moral instruction,
+it would then be the duty of Parliament to consider the necessity of a
+different appropriation. His opinion was that the revenues of the Church
+of Ireland were larger than necessary for the religious and moral
+instruction of the persons belonging to that Church, and for the
+stability of the Church itself.
+
+Lord John did not think it would be advisable or wise to mix the
+question of appropriation with the question of amount of the revenues;
+but when Parliament had vindicated the property in tithes, he should
+then be prepared to assert his opinion with regard to their
+appropriation. If, when the revenue was once secured, the assertion of
+that opinion should lead him to differ and separate from those with whom
+he was united by political connection, and for whom he entertained the
+deepest private affection, he should feel much regret; yet he should, at
+whatever cost and sacrifice, do what he should consider his bounden
+duty--namely, do justice to Ireland.
+
+  [Sidenote: UPSETTING THE COACH]
+
+He afterwards explained that this speech, which produced a great
+impression, was prompted by the attitude of Stanley concerning the
+permanence and inviolability of the Irish Church. He was, in fact,
+afraid that if Stanley's statement was allowed to pass in silence by his
+colleagues, the whole Government would be regarded as pledged to the
+maintenance in their existing shape of the temporalities of an alien
+institution. Lord John accordingly struck from his own bat, amid the
+cheers of the Radicals. Stanley expressed to Sir James Graham his view
+of the situation in the now familiar phrase, 'Johnny has upset the
+coach.' The truth was, divided counsels existed in the Cabinet on this
+question of appropriation, and Lord John's blunt deliverance, though it
+did not wreck the Ministry, placed it in a dilemma. He was urged by some
+of his colleagues to explain away what he had said, but he had made up
+his mind and was in no humour to retract.
+
+Palmerston, with whom he was destined to have many an encounter in
+coming days, thought he ought to have been turned out of the Cabinet,
+and others of his colleagues were hardly less incensed. The independent
+member, in the person of Mr. Ward, who sat for St. Albans, promptly took
+advantage of Russell's speech to bring forward a motion to the effect
+that the Church in Ireland 'exceeds the wants of the population, and
+ought to be reduced.' This proposition was elbowed out of the way by the
+appointment of a Royal Commission of Inquiry into the revenues of the
+Irish Church; but Stanley felt that his position in the Cabinet was now
+untenable, and therefore retired from office in the company of the Duke
+of Richmond, Lord Ripon, and Sir James Graham. The Radicals made no
+secret of their glee. Ward, they held, had been a benefactor to the
+party beyond their wildest dreams, for he had exorcised the evil spirits
+of the Grey Administration.
+
+Lord Grey had an opportunity at this crisis of infusing fresh vigour
+into his Ministry by raising to Cabinet rank men of progressive views
+who stood well with the country. Another course was, however, taken, for
+the Marquis of Conyngham became Postmaster-General, the Earl of Carlisle
+Privy Seal, whilst Lord Auckland went to the Admiralty, and Mr. Spring
+Rice became Colonial Secretary, and so the opportunity of a genuine
+reconstruction of the Government was lost. The result was, the
+Government was weakened, and no one was satisfied. 'Whigs, Tories, and
+Radicals,' wrote Greville, 'join in full cry against them, and the
+"Times," in a succession of bitter vituperative articles very well done,
+fires off its contempt and disgust at the paltry patching-up of the
+Cabinet.'
+
+Durham's retirement, though made on the score of ill-health, had not
+merely cooled the enthusiasm of the Radicals towards the Grey
+Administration, but had also awakened their suspicions. Lord John was
+restive, and inclined to kick over the traces; whilst Althorp, whose
+tastes were bucolic, had also a desire to depart. 'Nature,' he
+exclaimed, 'intended me to be a grazier; but men will insist on making
+me a statesman.' He confided to Lord John that he detested office to
+such an extent that he 'wished himself dead' every morning when he
+awoke. Meanwhile vested interests here, there, and everywhere, were
+uniting their forces against the Ministry, and its sins of omission as
+well as of commission were leaping to light on the platform and in the
+Press. Wellington found his reputation for political sagacity agreeably
+recognised, and he fell into the attitude of an oracle whose jeremiads
+had come true. When Lord Grey proposed the renewal of the Coercion Act
+without alteration, Lord Althorp expressed a strong objection to such a
+proceeding. He had assured Littleton that the Act would not be put in
+force again in its entirety, and the latter, with more candour than
+discretion, had communicated the intimation to O'Connell, who bruited it
+abroad.
+
+  [Sidenote: O'CONNELL THROWS DOWN THE GAUNTLET]
+
+Lord John had come to definite convictions about Ireland, and he was
+determined not to remain in the Cabinet unless he was allowed to speak
+out. On June 23 the Irish Tithe Bill reached the stage of committee, and
+Littleton drew attention to the changes which had been introduced into
+the measure--slight concessions to public opinion which Lord John felt
+were too paltry to meet the gravity of the case. O'Connell threw down
+the gauntlet to the Ministry, and asked the House to pass an amendment
+asserting that the surplus revenues of the Church ought to be applied to
+purposes of public utility. Peel laid significant stress on the divided
+counsels in the Ministry, and accused Lord John of asserting that the
+Irish Church was the greatest grievance of which the nation had ever had
+to complain. The latter repudiated such a charge, and explained that
+what he had said was that the revenues of the Church were too great for
+its stability, thereby implying that he both desired and contemplated
+its continued existence. Although not unwilling to support a mild
+Coercion Bill, if it went hand in hand with a determined effort to deal
+with abuses, he made it clear that repressive enactments without such an
+effort at Reform were altogether repugnant to his sense of justice. He
+declared that Coercion Acts were 'peculiarly abhorrent to those who
+pride themselves on the name of Whigs;' and he added that, when such a
+necessity arose, Ministers were confronted with the duty of looking
+'deeper into the causes of the long-standing and permanent evils' of
+Ireland. I am not prepared to continue the government of Ireland
+without fully probing her condition; I am not prepared to propose bills
+for coercion, and the maintenance of a large force of military and
+police, without endeavouring to improve, so far as lies in my power, the
+condition of the people. I will not be a Minister to carry on systems
+which I think founded on bigotry and prejudice. Be the consequence what
+it may, I am content to abide by these opinions, to carry them out to
+their fullest extent, not by any premature declaration of mere opinion,
+but by going on gradually, from time to time improving our institutions,
+and, without injuring the ancient and venerable fabrics, rendering them
+fit and proper mansions for a great, free, and intelligent people.' Such
+a speech was worthy of Fox, and it recalls a passage in Lord John's
+biography of that illustrious statesman. Fox did his best in the teeth
+of prejudice and obloquy to free Ireland from the thraldom which
+centuries of oppression had created: 'In 1780, in 1793, and in 1829,
+that which had been denied to reason was granted to force. Ireland
+triumphed, not because the justice of her claims was apparent, but
+because the threat of insurrection overcame prejudice, made fear
+superior to bigotry, and concession triumphant over persecution.'[9]
+
+  [Sidenote: CROSS CURRENTS]
+
+Even O'Connell expressed his admiration of this bold and fearless
+declaration, and the speech did much to increase Lord John's reputation,
+both within and without the House of Commons. In answer to a letter of
+congratulation, he said that his friends would make him, by their
+encouragement--what he felt he was not by nature--a good speaker. 'There
+are occasions,' he added, 'on which one must express one's feelings or
+sink into contempt. I own I have not been easy during the period in
+which I thought it absolutely necessary to suspend the assertion of my
+opinions in order to secure peace in this country.' Lord John's attitude
+on this occasion threw into relief his keen sense of political
+responsibility, no less than the honesty and courage which were
+characteristic of the man. A day or two later the Cabinet drifted on to
+the rocks. The policy of Coercion was reaffirmed in spite of Althorp's
+protests, and in spite also of Littleton's pledge to the contrary to
+O'Connell. Generosity was not the strong point of the Irish orator, and,
+to the confusion of Littleton and the annoyance of Grey, he insisted on
+taking the world into his confidence from his place in Parliament. This
+was the last straw. Lord Althorp would no longer serve, and Lord Grey,
+harassed to death, determined no longer to lead. After all, 'Johnny' was
+only one of many who upset the coach, which, in truth, turned over
+because its wheels were rotten. On the evening of June 29 a meeting of
+the Cabinet was held, and, in Russell's words, 'Lord Grey placed before
+us the letters containing his own resignation and that of Lord Althorp,
+which he had sent early in the morning to the King. He likewise laid
+before us the King's gracious acceptance of his resignation, and he gave
+to Lord Melbourne a sealed letter from his Majesty. Lord Melbourne, upon
+opening this letter, found in it an invitation to him to undertake the
+formation of a Government. Seeing that nothing was to be done that
+night, I left the Cabinet and went to the Opera.'
+
+Lord Melbourne was sent for in July, and took his place at the head of a
+Cabinet which remained practically unaltered. He had been Home Secretary
+under Grey, and Duncannon was now called to fill that post. The first
+Melbourne Administration was short-lived, for when it had existed four
+months Earl Spencer died, and Althorp, on his succession to the peerage,
+was compelled to relinquish his leadership of the House of Commons.
+William IV. cared little for Melbourne, and less for Russell, and, as he
+wished to pick a quarrel with the Whigs, since their policy excited his
+alarm, he used Althorp for a pretext. Lord Grey had professed to regard
+Althorp as indispensable to the Ministry, and the King imagined that
+Melbourne would adopt the same view. Although reluctant to part with
+Althorp, who eagerly seized the occasion of his accession to an earldom
+to retire from official life, Melbourne refused to believe that the
+heavens would fall because of that fact.
+
+There was no pressing conflict of opinion between the King and his
+advisers, but William IV. nevertheless availed himself of the accident
+of Althorp's elevation to the peerage to dismiss the Ministry. The
+reversion of the leadership in the Commons fell naturally to Lord John,
+and Melbourne was quick to recognise the fact. 'Thus invited,' says Lord
+John Russell, 'I considered it my duty to accept the task, though I told
+Lord Melbourne that I could not expect to have the same influence with
+the House of Commons which Lord Althorp had possessed. In conversation
+with Mr. Abercromby I said, more in joke than in earnest, that if I were
+offered the command of the Channel Fleet, and thought it my duty to
+accept, I should not refuse it.' It was unlike Sydney Smith to treat the
+remark about taking command of the Channel Fleet seriously, when 'he
+elaborated a charge' against Lord John on the Deans and Chapters
+question; but even the witty Canon could lose his temper sometimes.
+
+  [Sidenote: WILLIAM IV. DEFENDER OF THE FAITH]
+
+The King, however, had strong opinions on the subject of Lord John's
+qualifications, and he expressed in emphatic terms his disapproval. The
+nation trusted Lord John, and had come to definite and flattering
+conclusions about him as a statesman, but at Windsor a different opinion
+prevailed. The King, in fact, made no secret to Lord Melbourne, in the
+famous interview at Brighton, of his conviction that Lord John Russell
+had neither the ability nor the influence to qualify him for the task;
+and he added that he would 'make a wretched figure' when opposed in the
+Commons by men like Peel and Stanley. His Majesty further volunteered
+the remark that he did not 'understand that young gentleman,' and could
+not agree to the arrangement proposed. William, moreover, took occasion
+to pose as a veritable, as well as titular, Defender of the Faith, for,
+on the authority of Baron Stockmar, the King 'considered Lord John
+Russell to have pledged himself to certain encroachments on the Church,
+which his Majesty had made up his mind and expressed his determination
+to resist.' As Russell was clearly quite out of the reckoning, Melbourne
+suggested two other names. But the King had made up his mind on more
+subjects than one, and next morning, Lord Melbourne found himself in
+possession of a written paper, which informed him his Majesty had no
+further occasion either for his services or for those of his colleagues.
+
+William IV. acted within his constitutional rights, but such an exercise
+of the royal prerogative was, to say the least, worthy of George III. in
+his most uninspired mood. Althorp regarded the King's action as the
+'greatest piece of folly ever committed,' and Lord John, in reply to the
+friendly note which contained this emphatic verdict, summoned his
+philosophy to his aid in the following characteristic rejoinder: 'I
+suppose everything is for the best in this world; otherwise the only
+good which I should see in this event would be that it saves me from
+being sadly pommelled by Peel and Stanley, to say nothing of O'Connell.'
+Wellington, who was hastily summoned by the King, suggested that Sir
+Robert Peel should be entrusted with the formation of a new Government.
+
+Sir Robert Peel was accordingly sent for in hot haste from Rome to form
+a new Ministry. On his arrival in London in December 1834, he at once
+set about the formation of a Cabinet. This is Jekyll's comment: 'Our
+crisis has been entertaining, and Peel is expected to-day. I wish he
+could have remained long enough at Rome to have learnt mosaic, of which
+parti-coloured materials our Cabinets have been constructed for twenty
+years, and for want of cement have fallen to pieces. The Whigs squall
+out, "Let us depart, for the Reformers grow too impatient." The Tories
+squall out, "Let us come in, and we will be very good boys, and become
+Reformers ourselves." However, the country is safe by the Reform Bill,
+for no Minister can remain in office now by corrupt Parliaments; he must
+act with approbation of the country or lose his Cabinet in a couple of
+months.' At the General Election which followed, Peel issued his
+celebrated address to the electors of Tamworth, in which he declared
+himself favourable to the reform of 'proved abuses,' and to the carrying
+out of such measures 'gradually, dispassionately, and deliberately,' in
+order that it might be lasting. Lord John was returned again for South
+Devon; but on the reassembling of Parliament the Liberal majority had
+dwindled from 314 to 107. It was during his election tour that he
+delivered an address at Totnes, which Greville described as not merely
+'a very masterly performance,' but 'one of the cleverest and most
+appropriate speeches' he had ever read, and for which his friends
+warmly complimented him. It was a powerful and humorous examination of
+the Tories' professed anxiety for Reform, and of the prospects of any
+Reform measures being carried out by their instrumentality.
+
+  [Sidenote: LEADER OF THE OPPOSITION]
+
+Lord John now became leader of the Opposition, though the Duke of
+Bedford dreaded the strain, and expostulated with his son on his
+acceptance of so irksome and laborious a task. 'You will have to conduct
+and keep in order a noisy and turbulent pack of hounds which, I think,
+you will find it quite impossible to restrain.' The Duke of Bedford's
+fears were not groundless, and Lord John afterwards confessed that, in
+the whole period during which he had led the Liberal party in the House
+of Commons, he never had so difficult a task. The forces under his
+command consisted of a few stalwart Radicals, a number of Whigs of the
+traditional and somewhat stationary type, and some sixty Irish members.
+Nevertheless, he promptly assumed an aggressive attitude, and his first
+victory as leader of the Opposition was won on the question of the
+choice of a new Speaker, when Mr. Abercromby was placed in the chair in
+preference to the Ministerial candidate. As the session went on, Lord
+John's resources in attack grew more and more marked, but he was foiled
+by the lack of cohesion amongst his followers. It became evident that,
+unless all sections of the Opposition were united as one man, the
+Government of Sir Robert Peel could not be overthrown. Alliance with the
+Radicals and the Irish party, although hateful to the old-fashioned
+Whigs, was in fact imperative. Lord John summoned a meeting of the
+Opposition at Lord Lichfield's house; the support of the Radicals and
+Irish was secured, and then the leader marshalled his forces for what he
+hoped would prove a decisive victory. His expectations were not
+disappointed, for early in April he brought forward a motion for the
+appropriation of the surplus revenues of the Irish Church to general
+moral and religious purposes, and won with a majority of twenty-seven
+votes (285 to 258). Sir Robert Peel forthwith resigned, and the Whigs
+were avenged for their cavalier dismissal by the King.
+
+On the day after the Prime Minister's resignation, Lord John Russell was
+married--April 11, 1835, at St. George's, Hanover Square--to Adelaide,
+Lady Ribblesdale, the widow of the second bearer of that title. The
+respite from political strife was of short duration, for at the end of
+forty-eight hours he was summoned from Woburn to take the seals of the
+Home Office in the second Melbourne Administration. The members of the
+new Cabinet presented themselves to their constituents for re-election,
+and Lord John suffered defeat in Devonshire. A seat was, however, found
+for him at Stroud, and in May he was back again in the House of Commons.
+The first measure of importance introduced by him, on June 5, was the
+Municipal Reform Act--a measure which embodied the results of the
+Commission on the subject appointed by Lord Grey. The bill swept away a
+host of antiquated and absurd privileges of corporate cities and towns,
+abolished the authority of cliques of freemen, rectified a variety of
+abuses, and entrusted municipal government to the hands of all
+taxpayers. Lord John piloted the measure through the Commons, and fought
+almost single-handed the representatives of vested rights. After a long
+contest with the Opposition and the Lords, he had the satisfaction of
+passing the bill, in a somewhat modified form, through its final stages
+in September, though the Peers, as usual, opposed it as long as they
+dared, and only yielded at last when Peel in the one House and
+Wellington in the other recommended concession.
+
+  [Sidenote: A POPULAR OVATION]
+
+The Irish Tithes Bill was subsequently introduced, and, though it now
+included the clauses for the appropriation of certain revenues, it
+passed the Commons by a majority of thirty-seven. The Lords, however,
+struck out the appropriation clauses, and the Government in consequence
+abandoned the measure. The Irish Municipal Bill shared a similar fate,
+and Lord John's desire to see justice done in Ireland was brought for
+the moment to naught. The labours of the session had been peculiarly
+arduous, and in the autumn his health suffered from the prolonged
+strain. His ability as a leader of the House of Commons, in spite of the
+dismal predictions of William IV. and the admonitions of paternal
+solicitude, was now recognised by men of all shades of opinion, though,
+of course, he had to confront the criticism alike of candid friends and
+equally outspoken foes. He recruited his energies in the West of
+England, and, though he had been so recently defeated in Devonshire,
+wherever he went the people, by way of amends, gave him an ovation.
+Votes of thanks were accorded to him for his championship of civil and
+religious liberty, and in November he was entertained at a banquet at
+Bristol, and presented with a handsome testimonial, raised by the
+sixpences of ardent Reformers.
+
+Parliament, in the Speech from the Throne, when the session of 1836
+began, was called upon to take into early consideration various measures
+of Reform. The programme of the Ministry, like that of many subsequent
+administrations, was not lacking in ambition. It was proposed to deal
+with the antiquated and vexatious manner in which from time immemorial
+the tithes of the English Church had been collected. The question of
+Irish tithes was also once more to be brought forward for solution; the
+municipal corporations of Ireland and the relief of its poor were to be
+dealt with in the light of recent legislation for England in the same
+direction. Improvements in the practical working of the administration
+of justice, 'more especially in the Court of Chancery,' were
+foreshadowed, and it was announced that the early attention of
+Parliament would also be called to certain 'grievances which affect
+those who dissent from the doctrines or discipline of the Established
+Church.' Such a list of measures bore on its very face the unmistakeable
+stamp of Lord John Russell's zeal for political redress and religious
+toleration. Early in the session he brought forward two measures for the
+relief of Nonconformists. One of them legalised marriages in the
+presence of a registrar in Nonconformist places of worship, and the
+other provided for a general civil registration of births, marriages,
+and deaths. His original proposal was that marriage in church as well as
+chapel should only take place after due notice had been given to the
+registrar. The bishops refused to entertain such an idea, and the House
+of Lords gave effect to their objections, with the result that the
+registrar was bowed out of church, though not out of chapel, where
+indeed he remains to this day. The Tithe Commutation Act and three other
+measures--one for equalising the incomes of prelates, rearranging
+ancient dioceses and creating new sees; another for the better
+application of the revenues of the Church to its general purposes; and a
+third to diminish pluralities--bore witness to his ardour for
+ecclesiastical reform. The first became law in 1836, and the other two
+respectively in 1838 and 1839. He lent his aid also to the movement for
+the foundation on a broad and liberal basis of a new university in
+London with power to confer degrees--a concession to Nonconformist
+scholarship and liberal culture generally, which was the more
+appreciated since Oxford and Cambridge still jealously excluded by their
+religious tests the youth of the Free Churches.
+
+The Tithe Commutation Act was passed in June; it provided for the
+exchange of tithes into a rent-charge upon land payable in money, but
+according to a sliding scale which varied with the average price of corn
+during the seven preceding years. In the opinion of Lord Farnborough, to
+no measure since the Reformation has the Church owed so much peace and
+security. The Irish Municipal Bill was carried in the course of the
+session through the Commons, but the Lords rendered the measure
+impossible; and though the Irish Poor Law Bill was carried, a different
+fate awaited Irish Tithes. This measure was introduced for the fifth
+time, but in consequence of the King's death, on June 20, and the
+dissolution of Parliament which followed, it had to be abandoned.
+Between 1835 and 1837 Lord John, as Home Secretary, brought about many
+changes for the better in the regulation of prisons, and especially in
+the treatment of juvenile offenders. By his directions prisoners in
+Newgate, from metropolitan counties, were transferred to the gaol of
+each county. Following in the steps of Sir Samuel Romilly, he also
+reduced the number of capital crimes, and, later on, brought about
+various prison reforms, notably the establishment of a reformatory for
+juvenile offenders.
+
+  [Sidenote: THE QUEEN'S ACCESSION]
+
+The rejoicings over Queen Victoria's accession in the summer of 1837
+were quickly followed by a General Election. The result of this appeal
+to the country was that the Liberal majority in the House of Commons
+was reduced to less than forty. Lord John was again returned for Stroud,
+and on that occasion he delivered a speech in which he cleverly
+contrasted the legislative achievements of the Tories with those of the
+Whigs. He made a chivalrous allusion to the 'illustrious Princess who
+has ascended the Throne with purest intentions and the justest desires.'
+One passage from his speech merits quotation: 'We have had glorious
+female reigns. Those of Elizabeth and Anne led us to great victories.
+Let us now hope that we are going to have a female reign illustrious in
+its deeds of peace--an Elizabeth without her tyranny, an Anne without
+her weakness.... I trust that we may succeed in making the reign of
+Victoria celebrated among the nations of the earth and to all posterity,
+and that England may not forget her precedence of teaching the nations
+how to live.'
+
+  [Sidenote: LORD MELBOURNE AND THE COURT]
+
+Lord Melbourne had never been a favourite with William, but from the
+first he stood high in the regard of the young Queen. Her Majesty was
+but eighteen when she ascended the throne upon which her reign has shed
+so great a lustre; she had been brought up in comparative seclusion, and
+her knowledge of public affairs was, of necessity, small. Lord Melbourne
+at that time was approaching sixty, and the respect which her Majesty
+gave to his years was heightened by the quick recognition of the fact
+that the Prime Minister was one of the most experienced statesmen which
+the country at that moment possessed. He was also a man of ready wit,
+and endowed with the charm of fine manners, and under his easy
+nonchalance there lurked more earnest and patriotic conviction than he
+ever cared to admit. 'I am sorry to hurt any man's feelings,' said
+Sydney Smith, 'and to brush aside the magnificent fabric of levity and
+gaiety he has reared; but I accuse our Minister of honesty and
+diligence.' Ridiculous rumours filled the air during the earliest years
+of her Majesty's reign concerning the supposed undue influence which
+Lord Melbourne exerted at Court. The more advanced Radicals complained
+that he sought to render himself indispensable to the sovereign, and
+that his plan was to surround her with his friends, relations, and
+creatures, and so to obtain a prolonged tenure of power. The Tories also
+grumbled, and made no secret of the same ungenerous suspicions. They
+knew neither her Majesty nor Lord Melbourne who thus spoke. At the same
+time, it must be admitted that Lord Melbourne was becoming more and more
+out of touch with popular aspirations, and the political and social
+questions which were rapidly coming to the front were treated by him in
+a somewhat cavalier manner.
+
+Russell had his own misgivings, and was by no means inclined to lay too
+much stress on the opinions of philosophical Radicals of the type of
+Grote. At the same time, he urged upon Melbourne the desirability of
+meeting the Radicals as far as possible, and he laid stress on the fact
+that they, at least, were not seeking for grounds of difference with the
+Premier. 'There are two things which I think would be more acceptable
+than any others to this body--the one to make the ballot an open
+question, the other to remove Tories from the political command of the
+army.' Lord Melbourne, however, believed that the ballot would create
+many evils and cure none. Lord John yielded to his chief, but in doing
+so brought upon himself a good deal of angry criticism, which was
+intensified by an unadvised declaration in the House of Commons. In his
+speech on the Address he referred to the question of Reform, and
+declared that it was quite impossible for him to take part in further
+measures of Reform. The people of England might revise the Act of 1832,
+or agitate for a new one; but as for himself, he refused to be
+associated with any such movement. A storm of expostulation and angry
+protest broke out; but the advanced Reformers failed to move Lord John
+from the position which he had taken. So they concentrated their
+hostility in a harmless nickname, and Lord John for some time forward
+was called in Radical circles and certain journalistic publications,
+'Finality Jack.' This honest but superfluous and embarrassing
+deliverance brought him taunts and reproaches, as well as a temporary
+loss of popularity. It was always characteristic of Lord John to speak
+his mind, and he sometimes did it not wisely but too well. Grote wrote
+in February 1838: 'The degeneracy of the Liberal party, and their
+passive acquiescence in everything, good or bad, which emanates from the
+present Ministry, puts the accomplishment of any political good out of
+the question; and it is not worth while to undergo the fatigue of a
+nightly attendance in Parliament for the simple purpose of sustaining
+Whig Conservatism against Tory Conservatism. I now look back wistfully
+to my unfinished Greek history.' Yet Lord Brougham, in the year of the
+Queen's accession, declared that Russell was the 'stoutest Reformer of
+them all.'
+
+  [Sidenote: LORD DURHAM AND CANADA]
+
+The rebellion in Canada was the first great incident in the new reign,
+and the Melbourne Cabinet met the crisis by proposals--which were moved
+by Lord John in the Commons, and adopted--for suspending the Canadian
+Constitution for the space of four years. The Earl of Durham, at the
+beginning of 1838, was appointed Governor-General with extraordinary
+powers, and he reluctantly accepted the difficult post, trusting, as he
+himself said, to the confidence and support of the Government, and to
+the forbearance of those who differed from his political views. No one
+doubts that Durham acted to the best of his judgment, though everyone
+admits that he exceeded at least the letter of his authority; and no one
+can challenge, in the light of the subsequent history of Canada, the
+greatness and far-reaching nature of his services, both to the Crown and
+to the Dominion. Relying on the forbearance and support, in the faith of
+which he had accepted his difficult commission, the Governor-General
+took a high hand with the rebels; but his ordinances were disallowed,
+and he was practically discredited and openly deserted by the
+Government. When he was on the point of returning home, a broken-hearted
+man, in failing health, it was Lord John Russell who at length stood up
+in Durham's defence. Speaking on the Durham Indemnity Bill, Lord John
+said: 'I ask you to pass this Bill of Indemnity, telling you that I
+shall be prepared when the time comes, not indeed to say that the terms
+or words of the ordinances passed by the Earl of Durham are altogether
+to be justified, but that, looking at his conduct as a whole, I shall be
+ready to take part with him. I shall be ready to bear my share of any
+responsibility which is to be incurred in these difficult
+circumstances.' The generous nature of this declaration was everywhere
+recognised, and by none more heartily than Lord Durham. 'I do not
+conceal from you that my feelings have been deeply wounded by the
+conduct of the Ministry. From you, however, and you alone of them all,
+have I received any cordial support personally; and I feel, as I have
+told you in a former letter, very grateful to you.'
+
+Meanwhile Lord John Russell had been called upon to oppose Mr. Grote's
+motion in favour of the ballot. Although the motion was lost by 315 to
+198 votes, the result was peculiarly galling to Lord John, for amongst
+the majority were those members who were usually opposed to the
+Government, whilst the minority was made up of Lord Melbourne's
+followers. But the crisis threatening the Ministry passed away when a
+motion of want of confidence in Lord Glenelg, the head of the Colonial
+Office, was defeated by twenty-nine votes. The Irish legislation of the
+Government as represented by the Tithe Bill did not prosper, and it
+became evident that, in order to pass the measure, the Appropriation
+Clause must be abandoned. Although Lord John Russell emphatically
+declared in 1835 that no Tithe Bill could be effective which did not
+include an Appropriation Clause, he gave way to the claims of political
+expediency, and further alienated the Radicals by allowing a measure
+which had been robbed of its potency to pass through Parliament. Lord
+Melbourne's Government accomplished during the session something in the
+direction of Irish Reform by the passage of the Poor Law, but it failed
+to carry the Municipal Bill, which in many respects was the most
+important of the three.
+
+The autumn, which witnessed on both sides of the Atlantic the excitement
+over Lord Durham's mission to Canada, was darkened in the home of Lord
+John by the death at Brighton, on November 1, of his wife. His first
+impulse was to place the resignation of his office and of leadership in
+the Commons in the hands of his chief. Urgent appeals from all quarters
+were made to him to remain at his post, and, though his own health was
+precarious, cheered by the sympathy of his colleagues and of the
+country, he resumed his work after a few weeks of quiet at Cassiobury.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[9] Russell's _Life of Fox_, vol. i. p. 242.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+THE TWO FRONT BENCHES
+
+1840-1845
+
+     Lord John's position in the Cabinet and in the Commons--His
+     services to Education--Joseph Lancaster--Lord John's Colonial
+     Policy--Mr. Gladstone's opinion--Lord Stanmore's recollections--The
+     mistakes of the Melbourne Cabinet--The Duke of Wellington's opinion
+     of Lord John--The agitation against the Corn Laws--Lord John's view
+     of Sir Robert Peel--The Edinburgh Letter--Peel's dilemma--Lord
+     John's comment on the situation.
+
+
+THE truth was, Lord John could not be spared, and his strong sense of
+duty triumphed over his personal grief. One shrewd contemporary observer
+of men and movements declared that Melbourne and Russell were the only
+two men in the Cabinet for whom the country cared a straw. The opinion
+of the man in the street was summed up in Sydney Smith's assertion that
+the Melbourne Government could not possibly exist without Lord John, for
+the simple reason that five minutes after his departure it would be
+dissolved into 'sparks of liberality and splinters of reform.' In 1839
+the Irish policy of the Government was challenged, and, on the motion of
+Lord Roden, a vote of censure was carried in the House of Lords. When
+the matter came before the Commons, Lord John delivered a speech so
+adroit and so skilful that friends and foes alike were satisfied, and
+even pronounced Radicals forgot to grumble.
+
+Lord John's speech averted a Ministerial crisis, and on a division the
+Government won by twenty-two votes. A month later the affairs of Jamaica
+came up for discussion, for the Government found itself forced, by the
+action of the House of Assembly in refusing to adopt the Prisons Act
+which had been passed by the Imperial Legislature, to ask Parliament to
+suspend the Constitution of the colony for a period of five years; and
+on a division they gained their point by a majority of only five votes.
+The Jamaica Bill was an autocratic measure, which served still further
+to discredit Lord Melbourne with the party of progress. Chagrined at the
+narrow majority, the Cabinet submitted its resignation to her Majesty,
+who assured Lord John that she had 'never felt more pain' than when she
+learnt the decision of her Ministers. The Queen sent first for
+Wellington, and afterwards, at his suggestion, for Peel, who undertook
+to form an Administration; but when her Majesty insisted on retaining
+the services of the Whig Ladies-in-Waiting, Sir Robert declined to act,
+and the former Cabinet was recalled to office, though hardly with flying
+colours.
+
+Education, to hark back for a moment, was the next great question with
+which Lord John dealt, for, in the summer of 1839, he brought in a bill
+to increase the grant to elementary schools from 20,000_l._ a year to
+30,000_l._--first made in 1833--and to place it under the control of the
+Privy Council, as well as to subject the aided schools to inspection. 'I
+explained,' was his own statement, 'in the simplest terms, without any
+exaggeration, the want of education in the country, the deficiencies of
+religious instruction, and the injustice of subjecting to the penalties
+of the criminal law persons who had never been taught their duty to God
+and man.' His proposals, particularly with regard to the establishment
+of a Normal school, were met with a storm of opposition. This part of
+the scheme was therefore abandoned; 'but the throwing out of one of our
+children to the wolf,' remarks Lord John, 'did little to appease his
+fury!' At length the measure, in its modified shape, was carried in the
+Commons; but the House of Lords, led on this occasion by the Archbishop
+of Canterbury, by a majority of more than a hundred, condemned the
+scheme entirely. Dr. Blomfield, Bishop of London, at this juncture came
+forward as peacemaker, and, at a private meeting at Lansdowne House,
+consisting of the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Bishops of London and
+Salisbury, Lord Lansdowne, and Lord John Russell, the dispute was
+amicably adjusted, on the basis of the reports of the Inspectors of
+Schools being sent to the Bishops as well as to the Committee of Privy
+Council, and co-operation between the Bishops and the Committee in the
+work of education.
+
+  [Sidenote: JOSEPH LANCASTER]
+
+The Duke of Bedford was one of the first men of position in the country
+to come to the aid of Joseph Lancaster--a young Quaker philanthropist,
+who, in spite of poverty and obscurity, did more for the cause of
+popular education in England in the early years of the century than all
+the privileged people in the country.[10] Here a floating straw of
+reminiscence may be cited, since it throws momentary light on the
+mischievous instincts of a quick-witted boy. Lord John, looking back
+towards the close of his life, said: 'One of my earliest recollections
+as a boy at Woburn Abbey is that of putting on Joseph Lancaster's broad
+hat and mimicking his mode of salutation.'
+
+Other changes were imminent. Lord Normanby had proved himself to be a
+popular Viceroy of Ireland; indeed, O'Connell asserted that he was one
+of the best Englishmen that had ever been sent across St. George's
+Channel in an official capacity. He was now Colonial Secretary; and, in
+spite of his virtues, he was scarcely the man for such a position--at
+all events, at a crisis in which affairs required firm handling. He
+managed matters so badly that the Under-Secretary (Mr. Labouchere,
+afterwards Lord Taunton) was in open revolt. The cards were accordingly
+shuffled in May 1839, and, amongst other and less significant changes,
+Normanby and Russell changed places. Lord John quickly made his presence
+felt at the Colonial Office. He was a patient listener to the permanent
+officials; indeed, he declared that he meant to give six months to
+making himself master of the new duties of his position. Like all men of
+the highest capacity, Lord John was never unwilling to learn. He held
+that the Imperial Government was bound not merely by honour, but by
+enlightened self-interest, to protect the rights and to advance the
+welfare of the Colonies. His words are significant, and it seems well to
+quote them, since they gather up the policy which he consistently
+followed: 'If Great Britain gives up her supremacy from a niggardly
+spirit of parsimony, or from a craven fear of helplessness, other Powers
+will soon look upon the Empire, not with the regard due to an equal, as
+she once was, but with jealousy of the height she once held, without the
+fear she once inspired. To build up an empire extending over every sea,
+swaying many diverse races, and combining many forms of religion,
+requires courage and capacity; to allow such an empire to fall to pieces
+is a task which may be performed by the poor in intellect, and the
+pusillanimous in conduct.'
+
+  [Sidenote: COLONIAL POLICY]
+
+When Lord John was once asked at the Colonial Office by an official of
+the French Government how much of Australia was claimed as the dominion
+of Great Britain, he promptly answered, 'The whole.' The visitor, quite
+taken aback, found it expedient to take his departure. Lord John
+vigorously assailed the view that colonies which had their own
+parliaments, framed on the British model, were virtually independent,
+and, therefore, had no right to expect more than moral help from the
+Mother Country. During his tenure of office New Zealand became part of
+the British dominions. By the treaty of Waitangi, the Queen assumed the
+sovereignty, and the new colony was assured of the protection of
+England. Lord John assured the British Provinces of North America that,
+so long as they wished to remain subjects of the Queen, they might
+confidently rely on the protection of England in all emergencies.
+
+Mr. Gladstone has in recent years done justice to the remarkable
+prescience, and scarcely less remarkable administrative skill, which
+Lord John brought to bear at a critical juncture in the conduct of the
+Colonial policy of the Melbourne Government. He lays stress on the
+'unfaltering courage' which Russell displayed in meeting, as far as was
+then possible, the legitimate demand for responsible self-government. It
+is not, therefore, surprising that, to borrow Mr. Gladstone's words,
+'Lord John Russell substituted harmony for antagonism in the daily
+conduct of affairs for those Colonies, each of which, in an infancy of
+irrepressible vigour, was bursting its swaddling clothes. Is it
+inexcusable to say that by this decision, which was far ahead of the
+current opinion of the day, he saved the Empire, possibly from
+disruption, certainly from much embarrassment and much discredit.'[11]
+Lord John was a man of vision. He saw, beyond most of his
+contemporaries, the coming magnitude of the Empire, and he did his best
+to shape on broad lines and to far-reaching issues the policy of England
+towards her children beyond the seas. Lord John recognised in no
+churlish or half-hearted spirit the claims of the Colonies, nor did he
+stand dismayed by the vision of Empire. 'There was a time when we might
+have stood alone,' are his words. 'That time has passed. We conquered
+and peopled Canada, we took possession of the whole of Australia, Van
+Dieman's Land, and New Zealand. We have annexed India to the Crown.
+There is no going back. For my part, I delight in observing the
+imitation of our free institutions, and even our habits and manners, in
+colonies at a distance from the Palace of Westminster.' He trusted the
+Colonies, and refused to believe that all the wisdom which was
+profitable to direct their affairs was centred in Downing Street. His
+attitude was sympathetic and generous, and at the same time it was
+candid and firm.
+
+Lord Stanmore's recollections of his father's colleague go back to this
+period, and will be read with interest: 'As a boy of ten or twelve I
+often saw Lord John. His half-sister, Lady Louisa Russell, was the wife
+of my half-brother, Lord Abercorn, and Lord John was a frequent guest at
+Lord Abercorn's villa at Stanmore, where my father habitually passed his
+Saturdays and Sundays during the session, and where I almost wholly
+lived. My first conscious remembrance of Lord John dates from the summer
+of 1839, and in that and the following years I often saw him at the
+Priory. Towards the close of 1839 Lord John lost his first wife, and the
+picture of his little figure, in deep mourning, walking by the side of
+my father on the gravel walks about the house in the spring and summer
+of 1840 is one vividly impressed on my recollection. His manner to
+children was not unpleasant, and I well remember his pausing, an amused
+listener to a childish and vehement political discussion between his
+step-daughter, Miss Lister, and myself--a discussion which he from time
+to time stirred up to increased animation by playfully mischievous
+suggestions.'
+
+  [Sidenote: A HOSTILE RESOLUTION]
+
+Early in the session of 1840, the Ministry was met by a vote of want of
+confidence, and in the course of the discussion Sir James Graham accused
+Lord John of encouraging sedition by appointing as magistrate one of the
+leaders of the Chartist agitation at Newport. Lord John, it turned out,
+had appointed Mr. Frost, the leader in question, on the advice of the
+Lord-Lieutenant, and he was able to prove that his own speech at
+Liverpool had been erroneously reported. The hostile resolution was
+accordingly repelled, and the division resulted in favour of the
+Government. For six years Turkey and Egypt had been openly hostile to
+each other, and in 1839 the war had been pushed to such extremities that
+Great Britain, Austria, Russia, and Prussia entered into a compact to
+bring about--by compulsion if necessary--a cessation of hostilities.
+Lord Holland and Lord Clarendon objected to England's share in the
+Treaty of July 1840, but Lord Palmerston compelled the Cabinet to
+acquiesce by a threat of resignation, and Lord John, at this crisis,
+showed that he was strongly in favour of his colleague's policy. The
+matter, however, was by no means settled, for once more a grave division
+of opinion in the party arose as to the wisdom of practically throwing
+away our alliance with France. Althorp--now Lord Spencer--reminded his
+former colleagues that that nation was most fitted to be our ally of any
+in Europe, on the threefold ground of situation, institutions, and
+civilisation.
+
+Lord John drew up a memorandum and submitted it to his colleagues, in
+which he recognised the rights of France, and proposed to summon her,
+under given conditions, to take measures with the other Powers to
+preserve the peace of Europe. The personal ascendency of Lord Palmerston
+on questions of foreign policy was, however, already so marked that Lord
+Melbourne--now his brother-in-law, was reluctant to insist on
+moderation. Lord John, however, stood firm, and the breaking up of the
+Government seemed inevitable. During the crisis which followed, Lord
+Palmerston, striking, as was his wont, from his own bat, rejected, under
+circumstances which Mr. Walpole has explained in detail in his Life of
+Lord John Russell, a proposal for a conference of the allied Powers.
+Lord John had already entered his protest against any one member of the
+Cabinet being allowed to conduct affairs as he pleased, without
+consultation or control, and he now informed Lord Melbourne in a letter
+dated November 1, 1840--which Mr. Walpole prints--that Palmerston's
+reply to Austria compelled him to once more consider his position, as he
+could not defend in the House of Commons measures which he thought
+wrong. Lord Melbourne promptly recognised that Russell was the only
+possible leader in the Commons, and he induced Lord Palmerston to admit
+his mistake over the despatch to Metternich, and in this way the
+misunderstanding was brought to an end. Meanwhile, the fortunes of the
+war in the East turned against Ibrahim Pasha, and Palmerston's policy,
+though not his manner of carrying it out, was justified.
+
+  [Sidenote: DIVIDED COUNSELS]
+
+The closing years of the Melbourne Administration were marked not only
+by divided counsels, but by actual blunders of policy, and in this
+connection it is perhaps enough to cite the Opium war against China and
+the foolhardy invasion of Afghanistan. At home the question of Free
+Trade was coming rapidly to the front, and the Anti-corn Law League,
+which was founded in Manchester in 1838, was already beginning to prove
+itself a power in the land. As far back as 1826, Hume had taken up his
+parable in Parliament against the Corn Laws as a blight on the trade of
+the country; and two years after the Reform Bill was passed he had
+returned to the attack, only to find, however, that the nation was still
+wedded to Protection. Afterwards, year after year, Mr. Villiers drew
+attention to the subject, and moved for an inquiry into the working of
+the Corn Laws. He declared that the existing system was opposed by the
+industry, the intelligence, and the commerce of the nation, and at
+length, in a half-hearted fashion, the Government found itself
+compelled, if it was to exist at all, to make some attempt to deal with
+the problem. Lord Melbourne, and some at least of his colleagues, were
+but little interested in the question, and they failed to gauge the
+feeling of the country.
+
+In the spring of 1841 action of some kind grew inevitable, and the
+Cabinet determined to propose a fixed duty of eight shillings per
+quarter on wheat, and to reduce the duty on sugar. Lord John opened the
+debate on the latter proposal in a speech which moved even Greville to
+enthusiasm; but neither his arguments nor his eloquence produced the
+desired impression on the House, for the Government was defeated by
+thirty-six votes. Everyone expected the Ministry at once to face the
+question of dissolution or resignation; but Melbourne was determined to
+cling to office as long as possible, in spite of the growing
+difficulties and even humiliations of his position. On June 4, the day
+on which Lord John was to bring forward his proposal for a fixed duty on
+wheat, Sir Robert Peel carried a vote of want of confidence by a
+majority of one, and, as an appeal to the country was at length
+inevitable, Parliament was dissolved a few days later. The Melbourne
+Ministry had outstayed its welcome. The manner in which it had left Lord
+Durham in the lurch over his ill-advised ordinances had aroused
+widespread indignation, for the multitude at least could not forget the
+greatness of his services to the cause of Reform. If the dissolution had
+come two or three years earlier, the Government might have gone to the
+country without fear; but in 1841, both at home and abroad, their
+blunders and their vacillation had alienated confidence, and it was not
+difficult to forecast the result. The General Election brought Lord John
+a personal triumph. He was presented with a requisition signed by
+several thousand persons, asking him to contest the City of London, and
+after an exciting struggle he was returned, though with only a narrow
+majority; and during the political vicissitudes of the next eighteen
+years London was faithful to him.
+
+Lord John Russell was essentially a home-loving man, and the gloom which
+bereavement had cast over his life in the autumn of 1839 was at best
+only partially dispelled by the close and sympathetic relations with his
+family. It was, therefore, with satisfaction that all his friends, both
+on his own account and that of his motherless young children, heard of
+his approaching second marriage. Immediately after the election for the
+City, Lord John was married to Lady Fanny Elliot, second daughter of the
+Earl of Minto, a union which brought him lasting happiness.
+
+  [Sidenote: 'A HOST IN HIMSELF']
+
+Parliament met in the middle of August, and the Government were defeated
+on the Address by a majority of ninety-one, and on August 28 Lord John
+found himself once more out of harness. In his speech in the House of
+Commons announcing the resignation of the Government, he said that the
+Whigs under Lord Grey had begun with the Reform Act, and that they were
+closing their tenure of power by proposals for the relief of commerce.
+The truth was, the Melbourne Administration had not risen to its
+opportunities. Its fixed duty on corn was a paltry compromise. The
+leaders of the party needed to be educated up to the level of the
+national demands. Opposition was to bring about unexpected political
+combinations and new political opportunities, and the years of conflict
+which were dawning were also to bring more clearly into view Lord John
+Russell's claims to the Liberal leadership. When the Melbourne
+Administration was manifestly losing the confidence of the nation,
+Rogers the poet was walking one day with the Duke of Wellington in Hyde
+Park, and the talk turned on the political situation. Rogers remarked,
+'What a powerful band Lord John Russell will have to contend with!
+There's Peel, Lord Stanley, Sir James Graham----;' and the Duke
+interrupted him at this point with the laconic reply, 'Lord John Russell
+is a host in himself.'
+
+Protection had triumphed at the General Election, and Sir Robert Peel
+came to power as champion of the Corn Laws. The Whigs had fallen between
+two stools, for the country was not in a humour to tolerate vacillation.
+The Melbourne Cabinet had, in truth, in the years which had witnessed
+its decline and fall, spoken with the voice of Jacob, but stretched
+forth the hands of Esau. The Radicals shook their heads, scouted the
+Ministry's deplorable efforts at finance, and felt, to say the least,
+lukewarm about their spirited foreign policy. 'I don't thank a man for
+supporting me when he thinks me right,' was the cynical confession of a
+statesman of an earlier generation; 'my gratitude is with the man who
+supports me when he thinks me wrong.' Melbourne was doubtless of the
+same mind; but the man in the crowd, of Liberal proclivities, was, for
+the most part, rather disgusted with the turn which affairs had taken,
+and the polling booths made it plain that he thought the Prime Minister
+wrong, and, that being the case, he was not obliging enough to return
+him to power. The big drum had been successfully beaten, moreover, at
+the General Election by the defenders of all sorts and sizes of vested
+interests, sinecures, monopolies, and the like, and Sir Robert
+Peel--though not without personal misgivings--accordingly succeeded
+Melbourne as First Lord, whilst Stanley, now the hope of stern unbending
+Tories, took Russell's place as Secretary for the Colonies.
+
+The annals of the Peel Administration of course lie outside the province
+of this monograph; they have already been told with insight and vigour
+in a companion volume, and the temptation to wander at a tangent into
+the history of the Queen's reign--especially with Lord John out of
+office--must be resisted in deference to the exigencies of space. In the
+Peel Cabinet the men who had revolted under Melbourne, with the
+exception of the Duke of Richmond, were rewarded with place and power.
+Lord Ripon, who was spoken of at the time with scarcely disguised
+contempt as a man of tried inefficiency, became President of the Board
+of Trade. Sir James Graham, a statesman who was becoming somewhat
+impervious to new ideas, and who as a Minister displayed little tact in
+regard to either movements or men, was appointed Home Secretary.
+Stanley, who had proved himself to be a strong man in the wrong camp,
+and therefore the evil genius of his party, now carried his
+unquestionable skill, and his brilliant powers of debate, as well as his
+imperious temper and contracted views, to the service of the Tories. One
+other man held a prominent place in Peel's Cabinet, and proved a tower
+of strength in it--Lord Aberdeen, who was Secretary for Foreign Affairs,
+and who did much to maintain the peace of Europe when the Tahiti
+incident and the Spanish marriages threatened embroilment. Lord
+Aberdeen, from 1841 to 1846, guided the foreign policy of England with
+ability and discretion, and, as a matter of fact, steered the nation
+through diplomatic quarrels which, if Lord Palmerston had been at the
+Foreign Office, would probably have ended in war. This circumstance
+heightens the irony of his subsequent career.
+
+  [Sidenote: THE POLITICAL OUTLOOK]
+
+The outlook, political and social, when Peel took office and Russell
+confronted him as leader of the Opposition, was gloomy and full of
+hazard. The times, in Peel's judgment, were 'out of joint,' and this
+threw party Government out of joint and raised issues which confused
+ordinary minds. The old political catchwords 'Peace, retrenchment, and
+reform,' no longer awoke enthusiasm. Civil and religious liberty were
+all very well in their way, but they naturally failed to satisfy men and
+women who were ground down by economic oppression, and were famished
+through lack of bread. The social condition of England was deplorable,
+for, though the Reform Bill had brought in its wake measures of relief
+for the middle classes, it had left the artisans and the peasants almost
+where it found them. In spite of the new Poor Law and other enactments,
+the people were burdened with the curse of bitter and hopeless poverty,
+and the misery and squalor in which they were permitted to live threw a
+menacing shadow over the fair promise of the opening years of the young
+Queen's reign. The historians of the period are responsible for the
+statement that in Manchester, for example, one-tenth of the population
+lived in cellars; even in the rural districts, the overcrowding, with
+all its attending horrors in the direction of disease and vice, was
+scarcely less terrible, for in one parish in Dorset thirty-six persons
+dwelt, on an average, in each house. The wonder is, not that the
+Anti-Corn Law League under such circumstances grew strong and the demand
+for the People's Charter rang through the land, but that the masses in
+town and country alike bore the harsh servitude of their lot with the
+patience that was common, and with the heroism that was not rare.
+
+  [Sidenote: PEEL'S OPEN MIND]
+
+Lord John Russell never refused to admit the ability of Peel's
+Administration. He described it as powerful, popular, and successful. He
+recognised the honesty of his great rival, his openness of mind, the
+courage which he displayed in turning a deaf ear to the croakers in his
+own Cabinet, and the genuine concern which he manifested for the
+unredressed grievances of the people. In his 'Recollections' he lays
+stress on the fact that Sir Robert Peel did not hesitate, when he
+thought such a step essential to the public welfare, to risk the fate of
+his Ministry on behalf of an unpopular measure. Ireland was a stone of
+stumbling in his path, and long after he had parted with his old ideas
+of Protestant ascendency he found himself confronted with the suspicion
+of the Roman Catholics, who, in Lord John's words, 'obstinately refused
+favours at Peel's hands, which they would have been willing to accept
+from a Liberal Administration.' The allusion is, of course, to the
+Maynooth Grant--a measure of practical relief to the Irish Catholics,
+which would, without doubt, have thrown Sir Robert Peel out of office if
+he had been left to the tender mercies of his own supporters. Disraeli
+was fond of asserting that Peel lacked imagination, and there was a
+measure of truth in the charge. He was a great patriotic statesman,
+haunted by no foolish bugbear of consistency, but willing to learn by
+experience, and courageous enough to follow what he believed to be
+right, with unpolitical but patriotic scorn of consequence. Men with
+stereotyped ideas, who persisted in interpreting concession, however
+just, as weakness, and reform, however urgent, as revolution, were
+unable to follow such a leader.
+
+Peel might lack imagination, but he never lacked courage, and the
+generosity of vision which imposed on courage great and difficult tasks
+of statesmanship. He could educate himself--for he kept an open
+mind--and was swift to seize and to interpret great issues in the
+affairs of the nation; but it was altogether a different matter for him
+to educate his party. In the spring of 1845, Sir Robert Peel determined
+to meet the situation in Ireland by bold proposals for the education of
+the Catholic priesthood. Almost to the close of the eighteenth century
+the Catholics were compelled by the existing laws to train young men
+intended for the work of the priesthood in Ireland in French colleges,
+since no seminary of the kind was permitted in Ireland. The French
+Revolution overthrew this arrangement, and in 1795, by an Act of the
+Irish Parliament, Maynooth College was founded, and was supported by
+annual grants, which were continued, though not without much
+opposition, by the Imperial Parliament after the Union. On April 3, Sir
+Robert Peel brought forward his measure for dealing in a generous manner
+with the needs and claims of this great institution. He proposed that
+the annual grant should be raised from 9,000_l._ to upwards of
+26,000_l._, that a charter of incorporation should be given, and that
+the trustees should be allowed to hold land to the value of 3,000_l._ a
+year. He also proposed that the new endowment should be a charge upon
+the Consolidated Fund, so that angry discussions of the kind in which
+bigotry and prejudice delight might be avoided. Moreover, in order to
+restore and enlarge the college buildings, Sir Robert finally proposed
+an immediate and separate grant of 30,000_l._ Few statesmen were more
+sensitive than Peel, but, convinced of the justice of such a concession,
+he spoke that day amid the angry opposition of the majority of his usual
+supporters and the approving cheers of his ordinary opponents.
+
+Peel was not the man to falter, although his party was in revolt. He had
+gauged the forces which were arrayed in Ireland against the authority of
+Parliament; he stated in his final words on the subject that there was
+in that country a formidable confederacy, which was prepared to go any
+lengths against a hard interpretation of the supremacy of England. 'I do
+not believe that you can break it up by force; I believe you can do much
+by acting in a spirit of kindness, forbearance, and generosity.' At once
+a great storm of opposition arose in Parliament, on the platform, and in
+the Press. The Carlton Club found itself brought into sudden and
+unexpected agreement with many a little Bethel up and down the country,
+for the champions of 'No Surrender' in Pall Mall were of one mind with
+those of 'No Popery' in Exeter Hall. Society for the moment, according
+to Harriet Martineau, seemed to be going mad, and she saw enough to
+convince her that it was not the extent of the grant that was deprecated
+so much as an advance in that direction at all. Public indignation ran
+so high that in some instances members of Parliament were called upon to
+resign their seats, whilst Dublin--so far at least as its sentiments
+were represented by the Protestant Operative Association--was for
+nothing less than the impeachment of the unhappy Prime Minister.
+Sectarian animosity, whipped into fury by rhetorical appeals to its
+prejudices, encouraged the paper trade by interminable petitions to
+Parliament; and three nights were spent in debate in the Lords and six
+in the Commons over the second reading of the bill.
+
+  [Sidenote: HOW PEEL TRIUMPHED]
+
+Lord John Russell was assailed with threatening letters as soon as it
+was known that he intended to help Peel to outweather the storm of
+obloquy which he was called to encounter. Sir Robert's proposals were
+welcomed by him as a new and worthy departure from the old repressive
+policy. It was because he thought that such a measure would go far to
+conciliate the Catholics of Ireland, as well as to prove to them that
+any question which touched their interests and welfare was not a matter
+of unconcern to the statesmen and people of England, that he gave--with
+a loyalty only too rare in public life--his powerful support to a
+Minister who would otherwise have been driven to bay by his own
+followers. It was, in fact, owing to Lord John's action that Peel
+triumphed over the majority of his own party, and his speech in support
+of the Ministry, though not remarkable for eloquence, was admirable
+alike in temper and in tact, and was hailed at the moment as a presage
+of victory. 'Peel lives, moves, and has his being through Lord John
+Russell,' was Lord Shaftesbury's comment at the moment. Looking back at
+the crisis from the leisure of retirement, Lord John Russell declared
+that the Maynooth Act was a work of wisdom and liberality, and one which
+ought always to be remembered to the honour of the statesman who
+proposed and carried it. The controversy over the Maynooth Grant
+revealed how great was the gulf between Peel and the majority of the
+Tories, and Greville, as usual, in his own incisive way hit off the
+situation. 'The truth is that the Government is Peel, that Peel is a
+Reformer and more of a Whig than a Tory, and that the mass of his
+followers are prejudiced, ignorant, obstinate, and selfish.' Peel
+declared that he looked with indifference on a storm which he thought
+partly fanatical and partly religious in its origin, and he added that
+he was careless as to the consequences which might follow the passing of
+the Maynooth Bill, so far at least as they concerned his own position.
+
+Meanwhile another and far greater question was coming forward with
+unsuspected rapidity for solution. The summer of 1845 was cold and wet,
+and its dark skies and drenching showers were followed by a miserable
+harvest. With the approach of autumn the fields were flooded and the
+farmers in consequence in despair. Although England and Scotland
+suffered greatly, the disaster fell with still greater force on Ireland.
+As the anxious weeks wore on, alarm deepened into actual distress, for
+there arose a mighty famine in the land. The potato crop proved a
+disastrous failure, and with the approach of winter starvation joined
+its eloquence to that of Cobden and Bright in their demand for the
+repeal of the Corn Laws. In speaking afterwards of that terrible crisis,
+and of the services which Cobden and himself were enabled to render to
+the nation, John Bright used these memorable words: 'Do not suppose
+that I wish you to imagine that he and I were the only persons engaged
+in this great question. We were not even the first, though afterwards,
+perhaps, we became before the public the foremost, but there were others
+before us, and we were joined, not by scores, but by hundreds, and
+afterwards by thousands, and afterwards by countless multitudes, and
+afterwards famine itself, against which we had warred, joined us, and a
+great Minister was converted, and minorities became majorities, and
+finally the barrier was entirely thrown down.'
+
+  [Sidenote: COBDEN'S PREDICTION]
+
+Quite early in the history of the Anti-Corn-Law League, Cobden had
+predicted, in spite of the apathy and opposition which the derided
+Manchester school of politics then encountered, at a time when Peel and
+Russell alike turned a deaf ear to its appeals, that the repeal of the
+Corn Laws would be eventually carried in Parliament by a 'statesman of
+established reputation.' Argument and agitation prepared the way for
+this great measure of practical relief, but the multitude were not far
+from the mark when they asserted that it was the rain that destroyed the
+Corn Laws.[12] The imperative necessity of bringing food from abroad if
+the people were not to perish for lack of bread brought both Sir Robert
+Peel and Lord John Russell almost at the same moment to the conclusion
+that this great economic problem must at once be faced. Peel declared in
+1847 that towards the end of 1845 he had reached the conclusion that the
+repeal of the Corn Laws was indispensable to the public welfare. If
+that was so, he seems to have kept his opinion to himself, for as late
+as November 29, in the memorandum which he sent to his colleagues, there
+is no hint of abolition. On the contrary, Sir Robert, who was always
+fond of setting forth three alternatives of action, wrote as follows:
+'Time presses, and on some definite course we must decide. Shall we
+undertake without suspension to modify the existing Corn Law? Shall we
+resolve to maintain the existing Corn Law? Shall we advise the
+suspension of that law for a limited period? My opinion is for the last
+course, admitting as I do that it involves the necessity for the
+immediate consideration of the alterations to be made in the existing
+Corn Law; such alterations to take effect after the period of
+suspension. I should rather say it involves the question of the
+principle and degree of protection to agriculture.'[13] As to the
+justice of the demand for Free Trade, Peel, there can be no doubt, was
+already convinced; but his party was regarded as the stronghold of
+Protection, and he knew enough of the men who sat behind him to be fully
+alive to the fact that they still clung tenaciously to the fallacies
+which Adam Smith had exploded. 'We had ill luck,' were Lord Aberdeen's
+words to the Queen; 'if it had not been for the famine in Ireland, which
+rendered immediate measures necessary, Sir Robert would have prepared
+the party gradually for the change.'[14]
+
+  [Sidenote: THE 'EDINBURGH LETTER']
+
+Cobden, it is only fair to state, made no secret of his conviction that
+the question of the repeal of the Corn Laws was safer in the hands of
+Sir Robert than of Lord John. Peel might be less versed in
+constitutional questions, but he was more in touch with the
+manufacturing classes, and more familiar with economic conditions. Sir
+Robert, however, was sore let and hindered by the weaklings of his own
+Cabinet, and the rats did not disguise their intention of quitting the
+ship. Lord John Russell, who was spending the autumn in Scotland, was
+the first 'responsible statesman' to take decisive action, for whilst
+Peel, hampered by the vacillation and opposition of his colleagues,
+still hesitated, Russell took the world into his confidence in his
+historic 'Edinburgh Letter,' dated November 22, 1845, to his
+constituents in London. It was a bold and uncompromising declaration of
+policy, for the logic of events had at length convinced Lord John that
+any further delay was dangerous. He complained that Her Majesty's
+Ministers had not only met, but separated, without affording the nation
+any promise of immediate relief. He pointed out that the existing duties
+on corn were so contrived that, the worse the quality of the wheat, the
+higher was the duty. 'When good wheat rises to seventy shillings a
+quarter, the average price of all wheat is fifty-seven or fifty-eight
+shillings, and the duty fourteen or fifteen shillings a quarter. Thus
+the corn barometer points to fair, while the ship is bending under a
+storm.' He reviewed the course of recent legislation on the subject, and
+declared that he had for years endeavoured to obtain a compromise. He
+showed that Peel had opposed in 1839, 1840, and 1841, even qualified
+concession, and he added the stinging allusion to that statesman's
+attitude on other great questions of still earlier date. 'He met the
+proposition for diminished Protection in the same way in which he had
+met the offer of securities for Protestant interests in 1817 and
+1825--in the same way in which he met the proposal to allow Manchester,
+Leeds, and Birmingham to send members to Parliament in 1830.' Finally,
+Lord John announced his conviction that it was no longer worth while to
+contend for a fixed duty, and his vigorous attack on the Ministry ended
+with a call to arms. 'Let us unite to put an end to a system which has
+been proved to be the blight of commerce, the bane of agriculture, the
+source of bitter divisions among classes, the cause of penury, fever,
+mortality, and crime among the people. The Government appear to be
+waiting for some excuse to give up the present Corn Law. Let the people,
+by petition, by address, by remonstrance, afford them the excuse they
+seek.'
+
+  [Sidenote: THE 'POISONED CHALICE']
+
+Sir Robert, when this manifesto appeared, had almost conquered the
+reluctance of his own Cabinet to definite action; but his position grew
+now untenable in consequence of the panic of Stanley and the Duke of
+Buccleuch. Lord John's speech was quickly followed by a Ministerial
+crisis, and Peel, beset by fightings without and fears within his
+Cabinet, had no alternative but resignation. He accordingly relinquished
+office on December 5, and three days later Lord John, much to his own
+surprise, was summoned to Windsor and entrusted with the task of forming
+a new Ministry. He was met by difficulties which, in spite of
+negotiations, proved insurmountable, for Howick, who had succeeded in
+the previous summer to his distinguished father's earldom, refused to
+serve with Palmerston. Lord Grey raised another point which might
+reasonably have been conceded, for he urged that Cobden, as the leader
+of the Anti-Corn-Law League, ought to have the offer of a seat in the
+Cabinet. Lord John was unable to bring about an amicable understanding,
+and therefore, as the year was closing, he was compelled to inform her
+Majesty of the fact, and to hand back what Disraeli theatrically
+described as the 'poisoned chalice' to Sir Robert. 'It is all at an
+end,' wrote Lord John to his wife. 'Power may come, some day or other,
+in a less odious shape.'
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[10] Justice has never yet been done to the founder of the Lancasterian
+system of education. Joseph Lancaster was a remarkable man who aroused
+the conscience of the nation, and even the dull intelligence of George
+III., to the imperative need of popular education.
+
+[11] 'The Melbourne Government: its Acts and Persons,' by the Right Hon.
+W. E. Gladstone, M.P. _The Nineteenth Century_, January 1890, p. 50.
+
+[12] 'The Corn Law of 1815 was a copy of the Corn Law of 1670--so little
+had economic science grown in England during all those years. The Corn
+Law of 1670 imposed a duty on the importation of foreign grain which
+amounted almost literally to a prohibition.'--_Sir Robert Peel_, by
+Justin McCarthy, M.P., chapter xii. p. 136.
+
+[13] _The Croker Papers_, edited by Louis Jennings, vol. iii. p. 35.
+
+[14] _Life of the Prince Consort_, by Sir Theodore Martin, vol. i. p.
+317.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+FACTION AND FAMINE
+
+1846-1847
+
+     Peel and Free Trade--Disraeli and Lord George Bentinck lead the
+     attack--Russell to the rescue--Fall of Peel--Lord John summoned to
+     power--Lord John's position in the Commons and in the country--The
+     Condition of Ireland question--Famine and its deadly work--The
+     Russell Government and measures of relief--Crime and coercion--The
+     Whigs and Education--Factory Bill--The case of Dr. Hampden.
+
+
+LORD STANLEY'S place in the 'organised hypocrisy,' as the Protectionists
+termed the last Ministry of Sir Robert Peel, was taken by Mr. Gladstone.
+Sir Robert Peel resumed office in the closing days of December, and all
+the members of his old Cabinet, on the principle of bowing to the
+inevitable, returned with him, except the Duke of Buccleuch and Lord
+Stanley, who resolutely declined to have part or lot in the new
+departure which the Premier now felt called upon to make. The Duke of
+Wellington, though hostile to Free Trade, determined to stand by Peel;
+but he did not disguise the fact that his only reason for remaining in
+office was for the sake of the Queen. He declared that he acted as the
+'retained servant of the monarchy,' for he did not wish her Majesty to
+be placed under the necessity of taking members of the Anti-Corn-Law
+League, or, as he put it, 'Cobden & Co.,' for her responsible advisers.
+
+  [Sidenote: THE QUEEN'S SPEECH]
+
+The opening days of 1846 were full of political excitement, and were
+filled with all kinds of rumours. Wellington, on January 6, wrote: 'I
+don't despair of the Corn Laws,' and confessed that he did not know what
+were the intentions of Sir Robert Peel concerning them.[15] Peel kept
+his own counsel, though the conviction grew that he had persuaded
+himself that in boldness lay the chance as well as the duty of the hour.
+Peel, like Russell, was converted to Free Trade by the logic of events,
+and he determined at all hazards to avow the new faith that was in him.
+Parliament was opened by the Queen in person on January 22, and the
+Speech from the Throne laid stress on the privation and suffering in
+Ireland, and shadowed forth the repeal of prohibitive and the relaxation
+of protective duties. The debate on the Address was rendered memorable
+by Peel's explanations of the circumstances under which the recent
+crisis had arisen. He made a long speech, and the tone of it, according
+to Lord Malmesbury, was half threatening and half apologetic. It was a
+manly, straightforward statement of the case, and Sir Robert made it
+plain that he had accepted the views of the Manchester school on the
+Corn Laws, and was prepared to act without further hesitation on his
+convictions. One significant admission was added. He stated before he
+sat down that it was 'no easy task to insure the harmonious and united
+action of an ancient monarchy, a proud aristocracy, and a reformed House
+of Commons.'
+
+New interests were, in fact, beginning to find a voice in Parliament,
+and that meant the beginning of the principle of readjustment which is
+yet in progress. A few days later the Prime Minister explained his
+financial plans for the year, and in the course of them he proposed the
+gradual repeal of the Corn Laws. Free trade in corn was, in fact, to
+take final effect after an interval of three years. Meanwhile the
+sliding scale was to be abandoned in favour of a fixed duty of ten
+shillings the quarter on corn, and other concessions for the relief not
+only of agriculture but of manufactures and commerce were announced. The
+principle of Free Trade was, in fact, applied not in one but in many
+directions, and from that hour its legislative triumph was assured. In
+the course of the protracted debate which followed, Disraeli, with all
+the virulence of a disappointed place-hunter, attacked Sir Robert Peel
+with bitter personalities and barbed sarcasm. On this occasion, throwing
+decency and good taste to the winds, and, to borrow a phrase of his own,
+'intoxicated with the exuberance of his own verbosity,' and with no lack
+of tawdry rhetoric and melodramatic emphasis, he did his best to cover
+with ridicule and to reduce to confusion one of the most chivalrous and
+lofty-minded statesmen of the Queen's reign.
+
+  [Sidenote: OUTCAST PROTECTIONISTS]
+
+Disraeli's audacity in attack did much to revive the drooping courage of
+the Protectionist party, the leadership of which fell for the moment
+into the hands of Lord George Bentinck, a nobleman more renowned at
+Newmarket than at Westminster. Once saddled with authority, Lord George
+developed some capacity for politics; but his claims as a statesman were
+never serious, though Disraeli, in the political biography which he
+published shortly after his friend's sudden death, gives him credit for
+qualities of mind of which the nation at large saw little evidence.
+After long and tedious discussion, extending over some twenty nights,
+the Free Trade Bill was carried through the Commons by a majority of
+ninety-eight votes, and in the Lords it passed the second reading by
+forty-seven votes. Croker--true to the dismal suggestion of his
+name--promptly took up his parable against Sir Robert. He declared that
+the repeal of the Corn Laws meant a schism in the great landed interest
+and broad acres, in his view, were the only solid foundation on which
+the government of the nation could possibly be based. He asked, how was
+it possible to resist the attack on the Irish Church and the Irish Union
+after the surrender of the Corn Laws? He wanted to know how
+primogeniture, the Bishops, the House of Lords, and the Crown itself
+were to be maintained, now that the leader of the Conservative party had
+truckled to the League. Sir Robert Peel, he added, had imperilled these
+institutions of the country more than Cobbett or O'Connell; he had
+broken up the old interests, divided the great families, and thrown
+personal hostility into the social life of half the counties of
+England--and all to propitiate Richard Cobden. Such was the bitter cry
+of the outcast Protectionist, and similar vapourings arose in cliques
+and clubs all over the land. The abolition of the Corn Laws was the last
+measure of Sir Robert Peel's political life, and he owed the victory,
+which was won amid the murmurs and threats of his own followers, to the
+support which his political antagonists gave him, under the leadership
+of Lord John Russell, who recognised both the wisdom and the expediency
+of Sir Robert's course.
+
+Meanwhile the dark winter of discontent which privation had unhappily
+brought about in Ireland had been marked by many crimes of violence, and
+at length the Government deemed it imperative to ask Parliament to grant
+them additional powers for the suppression of outrage. The measure met
+with the opposition alike of Lord John Russell and Daniel O'Connell.
+The Government moved the second reading of the Irish Coercion Bill, and
+the Protectionists, who knew very well not only the views of Daniel
+O'Connell, but of Smith O'Brien, saw their opportunity and promptly took
+it. Lord George Bentinck had supported the Coercion Bill on its
+introduction in the spring, and had done so in the most unmistakable
+terms. He was not the man, however, to forego the mean luxury of
+revenge, and neither he nor Disraeli could forgive what they regarded as
+Sir Robert's great betrayal of the landed interest. He now had the
+audacity to assert that Peel had lost the confidence of every honest man
+both within and without the House of Commons, and in spite of his
+assurances of support he ranged himself for the moment with Russell and
+O'Connell to crush the Administration. The division took place on June
+25, and in a House of 571 members the Ministry was defeated by a
+majority of 73. The defeat of the Government was so crushing that Whigs
+and Protectionists alike, on the announcement of the figures, were too
+much taken aback to cheer. 'Anything,' said Sir Robert, 'is preferable
+to maintaining ourselves in office without a full measure of the
+confidence of this House.'
+
+  [Sidenote: THE RUSSELL CABINET]
+
+Lord John had triumphed with the help of the Irish, whom Peel had
+alienated; but the great Minister's downfall had in part been
+accomplished by the treachery of those who abandoned him with clamour
+and evil-speaking in the hour of need. Defeat was followed within a week
+by resignation, and on July 4 Peel, writing from the leisured seclusion
+of Drayton Manor, 'in the loveliest weather,' was magnanimous enough to
+say, 'I have every disposition to forgive my enemies for having
+conferred on me the blessing of the loss of power.' Lord John was
+summoned to Windsor, and kissed hands on July 6. He became Prime
+Minister when the condition of affairs was gloomy and menacing, and the
+following passage from his wife's journal, written on July 14, conjures
+up in two or three words a vivid picture of the difficulties of the
+hour: 'John has much to distress him in the state of the country. God
+grant him success in his labours to amend it! Famine, fever, trade
+failing, and discontent growing are evils which it requires all his
+resolution, sense of duty, and love for the public to face.' Lord
+Palmerston was, of course, inevitable as Foreign Secretary in the new
+Administration; Sir Charles Wood became Chancellor of the Exchequer, and
+Sir George Grey, Home Secretary. Earl Grey's scruples were at length
+satisfied, and he became Secretary to the Colonies; whilst Lord
+Clarendon took office as President of the Board of Trade, and Lord
+Lansdowne became President of the Council. Among the lesser lights of
+the Ministry were Sir J. C. Hobhouse, Mr. Milner Gibson, Mr. Fox Maule,
+Lord Morpeth, and Mr. (afterwards Lord) Macaulay. Sir James Graham was
+offered the Governor-Generalship of India, but he had aspirations at
+Westminster, which, however, were never fulfilled, and declined the
+offer. The Tory party was demoralised and split up into cliques by
+suspicion and indignation. Stanley was in the House of Lords by this
+time, Peel was in disgrace, and Lord George Bentinck was already
+beginning to cut a somewhat ridiculous figure, whilst nobody as yet was
+quite prepared to take Disraeli seriously. 'We are left masters of the
+field,' wrote Palmerston, with a touch of characteristic humour, 'not
+only on account of our own merits, which, though we say it ourselves,
+are great, but by virtue of the absence of any efficient competitors.'
+
+The new Ministry began well. Lord John's address to his constituents in
+the City made an excellent impression, and was worthy of the man and the
+occasion. 'You may be assured that I shall not desert in office the
+principles to which I adhered when they were less favourably received. I
+cannot indeed claim the merit either of having carried measures of Free
+Trade as a Minister, or of having so prepared the public mind by any
+exertions of mine as to convert what would have been an impracticable
+attempt into a certain victory. To others belong those distinctions. But
+I have endeavoured to do my part in this great work according to my
+means and convictions, first by proposing a temperate relaxation of the
+Corn Laws, and afterwards, when that measure has been repeatedly
+rejected, by declaring in favour of total repeal, and using every
+influence I could exert to prevent a renewal of the struggle for an
+object not worth the cost of conflict. The Government of this country
+ought to behold with an impartial eye the various portions of the
+community engaged in agriculture, in manufactures, and in commerce. The
+feeling that any of them is treated with injustice provokes ill-will,
+disturbs legislation, and diverts attention from many useful and
+necessary reforms. Great social improvements are required: public
+education is manifestly imperfect; the treatment of criminals is a
+problem yet undecided; the sanitary condition of our towns and villages
+has been grossly neglected. Our recent discussions have laid bare the
+misery, the discontent, and outrages of Ireland; they are too clearly
+authenticated to be denied, too extensive to be treated by any but the
+most comprehensive means.'
+
+  [Sidenote: EVER A FIGHTER]
+
+Lord John had been thirty-three years in the House of Commons when he
+became for the first time Prime Minister. The distinction of rank and of
+an historic name gave him in 1813, when government by great families
+was still more than a phrase, a splendid start. The love of liberty
+which he inherited as a tradition grew strong within him, partly through
+his residence in Edinburgh under Dugald Stewart, partly through the
+generous and stimulating associations of Holland House, but still more,
+perhaps, because of the tyranny of which he was an eye-witness during
+his travels as a youth in Italy and Spain at a period when Europe lay
+under the heel of Napoleon. Lord John was ever a fighter, and the
+political conflicts of his early manhood against the triple alliance of
+injustice, bigotry, and selfish apathy in the presence of palpable
+social abuses lent ardour to his convictions, tenacity to his aims, and
+boldness to his attitude in public life. Although an old Parliamentary
+hand, he was in actual years only fifty-four when he came to supreme
+office in the service of the State, but he had already succeeded in
+placing great measures on the Statute Book, and he had also won
+recognition on both sides of the House as a leader of fearless courage,
+open mind, and great fertility of resource alike in attack and in
+defence. Peel, his most formidable rival on the floor of the Commons,
+hinted that Lord John Russell was small in small things, but, he added
+significantly that, when the issues grew great, he was great also.
+Everyone who looks at Lord John's career in its length and breadth must
+admit the justice of such a criticism. On one occasion he himself said,
+in speaking of the first Lord Halifax, that the favourite of Charles II.
+had 'too keen a perception of errors and faults to act well with
+others,' and the remark might have been applied to himself. There were
+times when Lord John, by acting hastily on the impulse of the moment,
+landed his colleagues in serious and unlooked for difficulties, and
+sometimes it happened that in his anxiety to clear his own soul by
+taking an independent course, he compromised to a serious extent the
+position of others.
+
+Lord Melbourne's cynical remark, to the effect that nobody did anything
+very foolish except from some strong principle, carries with it a
+tribute to motive as well as a censure on action, and it is certain that
+the promptings to which Lord John yielded in the questionable phases of
+his public career were not due to the adroit and calculating temper of
+self-interest. His weaknesses were indeed, after all, trivial in
+comparison to his strength. He rose to the great occasion and was
+inspired by it. All that was formal and hesitating in manner and speech
+disappeared, and under the combined influence of the sense of
+responsibility and the excitement of the hour 'languid Johnny,' to
+borrow Bulwer Lytton's phrase, 'soared to glorious John.' Palmerston,
+like Melbourne, was all things to all men. His easy nonchalance, sunny
+temper, and perfect familiarity with the ways of the world and the
+weaknesses of average humanity, gave him an advantage which Lord John,
+with his nervous temperament, indifferent health, fastidious tastes, shy
+and rather distant bearing, and uncompromising convictions, never
+possessed. Russell's ethical fervour and practical energetic bent of
+mind divided him sharply from politicians who lived from hand to mouth,
+and were never consumed by a zeal for reform in one direction or
+another; and these qualities sometimes threw him into a position of
+singular isolation. The wiles and artifices by which less proud and less
+conscientious men win power, and the opportune compliments and unwatched
+concessions by which too often they retain it, lay amongst the things to
+which he refused to stoop.
+
+  [Sidenote: HIS PRACTICAL SAGACITY]
+
+Men might think Lord John taciturn, angular, abrupt, tenacious, and
+dogmatic, but it was impossible not to recognise his honesty, public
+spirit, pluck in the presence of difficulty, and high interpretation of
+the claims of public duty which marked his strenuous and indomitable
+career. His qualifications for the post of Prime Minister were not open
+to challenge. He was deeply versed in constitutional problems, and had
+received a long and varied training in the handling of great affairs. He
+possessed to an enviable degree the art of lucid exposition, and could
+render intricate proposals luminous to the public mind. He was a shrewd
+Parliamentary tactician, as well as a statesman who had worthily gained
+the confidence of the nation. He was ready in debate, swift to see and
+to seize the opportunity of the hour. He was full of practical sagacity,
+and his personal character lent weight to his position in the country.
+In the more militant stages of his career, and especially when he was
+fighting the battles of Parliamentary reform and religious liberty, he
+felt the full brunt of that 'sullen resistance to innovation,' as well
+as that 'unalterable perseverance in the wisdom of prejudice,' which
+Burke declared was characteristic of the English race. The natural
+conservatism of growing years, it must be frankly admitted, led
+eventually in Lord John's case, as in that of the majority of mankind,
+to the slackening of interest in the new problems of a younger
+generation, but to the extreme verge of life he remained far too great a
+statesman and much too generous a man ever to lapse into the position of
+a mere _laudator temporis acti_. Lord John did not allow the few
+remaining weeks of a protracted and exhaustive session to elapse without
+a vigorous attempt to push the principle of Free Trade to its logical
+issues. He passed a measure which rendered the repeal of the Corn Laws
+total and immediate, and he carried, with the support of Peel and in
+spite of the opposition of Bentinck and Disraeli, the abolition of
+protection to sugar grown in the British Colonies.
+
+Ireland quickly proved itself to be a stone of stumbling and a rock of
+offence to the new Administration. Lord John's appointment of Lord
+Bessborough--his old colleague, Duncannon, in the Committee on Reform in
+1830--as viceroy was popular, for he was a resident Irish landlord, and
+a man who was genuinely concerned for the welfare of the people.
+O'Connell trusted Lord Bessborough, and that, in the disturbed condition
+of the country, counted for much. The task of the new viceroy was hard,
+even with such support, and though Bessborough laboured manfully and
+with admirable tact to better the social condition of the people and to
+exorcise the spirit of discord, the forces arrayed against him proved
+resistless when famine came to their aid. As the summer slipped past,
+crime and outrage increased, and the prospect for the approaching winter
+grew not merely gloomy but menacing. Peel had been turned out of office
+because of his Irish Arms Bill, and Bessborough was no sooner installed
+in Dublin than he made urgent representations to the Cabinet in Downing
+Street as to the necessity of adopting similar repressive measures, in
+view of the prevailing lawlessness and the contempt for life and
+property which in the disaffected districts were only too common. In
+August the crisis was already so acute that the Government, yielding to
+the fears of its Irish advisers, stultified itself by proposing the
+renewal of the Arms Bill until the following spring. The step was ill
+advised, and provoked much hostile criticism. Lord John did not relish
+the measure, but Lord Bessborough declared that Ireland could not be
+governed for the moment without it, and as he also talked of throwing
+up his appointment, and was supported in this view of the situation by
+Mr. Labouchere (afterwards Lord Taunton), who at that time was Chief
+Secretary, the Prime Minister gave way and introduced in the House of
+Commons proposals which were out of keeping with his own antecedents,
+and which he personally disliked. In speaking of Sir Robert Peel's
+Coercion Bill in his published 'Recollections,' Lord John makes no
+secret of his own attitude towards the measure. 'I objected to the Bill
+on Irish grounds. I then thought, and I still think, that it is wrong to
+arrest men and put them in prison on the ground that they _may_ be
+murderers and housebreakers. They may be, on the other hand, honest
+labourers going home from their work.' On the contrary, he thought that
+every means ought to be promptly taken for discovering the perpetrators
+of crime and bringing them to justice, and he also believed in giving
+the authorities on the spot ample means of dealing with the reign of
+terror which agrarian outrages had established.
+
+  [Sidenote: THE IRONY OF THE SITUATION]
+
+If O'Connell had been at Lord John's side at that juncture, England
+might have sent a practical message of good-will to Ireland instead of
+falling back on the old policy of coercion. O'Connell had learnt to
+trust Russell--as far, at least, as it was possible for a leader of the
+Irish people to trust a Whig statesman--and Russell, on the other hand,
+was beginning to understand not merely O'Connell, but the forces which
+lay behind him, and which rendered him, quite apart from his own
+eloquence and gifts, powerful. Unfortunately, the Liberator was by this
+time broken in health, and the Young Ireland party were already in
+revolt against his authority, a circumstance which, in itself, filled
+the Premier with misgivings, and led him to give way, however
+reluctantly, to the demand of the viceroy for repressive measures. Lord
+John was, in fact, only too well aware that force was no remedy. He
+wished, as much as O'Connell, to root up the causes which produced
+crime. Young Ireland, however, seemed determined to kick over the traces
+at the very time when the Liberator was inducing the Whigs to look at
+the question in a practical manner. Lord John knew, to borrow his own
+expression, that the 'armoury of penal legislation was full of the
+weapons of past battles, and yet the victory of order and peace had not
+been gained.' The Liberal party set its face against coercion in any
+shape or form, and the Government withdrew a proposal which they ought
+never to have introduced. This course had scarcely been taken when a new
+and terrible complication of the social problem in Ireland arose.
+
+  [Sidenote: THE IRISH FAMINE]
+
+Famine suddenly made its presence felt, and did so in a manner which
+threw the privation and scarcity of the previous winter altogether into
+the shade. The potato crop was a disastrous failure, and, as the summer
+waned, the distress of an impoverished and thriftless race grew acute.
+The calamity was as crushing as it was rapid. 'On July 27,' are Father
+Mathew's words, 'I passed from Cork to Dublin, and this doomed plant
+bloomed in all the luxuriance of an abundant harvest. Returning on
+August 3 I beheld with sorrow one wide waste of putrefying vegetation.'
+A million and a half of acres were at the moment under cultivation, and
+the blight only spared a quarter of them, whilst, to make matters worse,
+the oat crop, by an unhappy coincidence, proved to a startling extent
+insufficient. The financial loss in that disastrous harvest, in the
+reckoning of experts, amounted to between fifteen and sixteen millions
+sterling. Fever and dysentery made fatal inroads on the dwindling
+strength of the gaunt and famished peasantry, and in one district alone,
+out of a population of 62,000 inhabitants, no less than 5,000 persons
+died, directly or indirectly, of starvation in the course of three
+months. 'All our thoughts,' wrote O'Connell, 'are engrossed with two
+topics--endeavouring to keep the people from outbreaks, and endeavouring
+to get food for them.' In many instances the landlords seemed robbed of
+the characteristics of ordinary humanity, for the ruthless process of
+eviction was carried on with a high hand, and old men and children were
+left unsheltered as well as unfed.
+
+Property had neglected its duties, but, as usual, did not neglect its
+rights, and in that terrible crisis it overrode the rights of humanity.
+Many of the landowners, however, manfully did their best to stay the
+plague, but anything which they could accomplish seemed a mockery amid
+the widespread distress. Readers of Sir Gavan Duffy's 'Four Years of
+Irish History' will recall his vivid description of the manner in which
+some of the landowners, however, saw their cruel opportunity, and
+accordingly 'closed on the people with ejectments, turned them on the
+road, and plucked down their roof-trees,' and also that still more
+painful passage which describes how women with dead children in their
+arms were seen begging for a coffin to bury them. Relief committees
+were, of course, started; the Friends, in particular, busied themselves
+in practical efforts to cope with the distress, and Mr. W. E. Forster,
+who went to Ireland to distribute relief, declared that his wonder was,
+as he passed from village to village, not that the people died, but that
+so many contrived to live.
+
+The Russell Government met the crisis with courage, though scarcely with
+adequate understanding. Ireland remembered with bitterness their Arms
+Bill and their repressive measures. Public feeling ran high over some of
+their proposals, for the people resented Lord John's modification of Sir
+Robert Peel's plan by which the cost of public works was to be defrayed
+by the State and district in which employment was given. Lord John
+determined that the cost should be met in the first instance by
+Government loans, which were to be repaid with an almost nominal
+interest by the people of the district. This was interpreted to mean
+that Ireland was to bear her own burdens, and in her impoverished state
+was to be saddled with the financial responsibilities inseparable from
+so pitiable a collapse of prosperity. Bread riots and agrarian
+disturbances grew common, and the Government met them with rather more
+than becoming sternness, instead of dealing promptly with the
+land-tenure system which lay at the root of so much of the misery. At
+the beginning of the session of 1847 it was stated that 10,000,000_l._
+would be required to meet the exigencies of the situation. Lord George
+Bentinck proposed a grant of 16,000,000_l._ for the construction of
+Irish railways, but Lord John made the question one of personal
+confidence in himself, and threatened resignation if it passed. His
+chief objection to the proposal was based on the fact that seventy-five
+per cent. of the money spent in railway construction would not reach the
+labouring classes. Lord George Bentinck's motion was rejected by a
+sweeping majority, though at a subsequent stage in the session the
+Government consented to advance a substantial sum to three Irish
+railways--a concession which exposed them to the usual taunts of
+inconsistency.
+
+  [Sidenote: MEASURES OF RELIEF]
+
+Measures were also introduced for promoting emigration to the colonies,
+and for the suspension of certain clauses of the Navigation Laws which
+hindered the importation of foreign corn. At one time during the
+distress there were no less than six hundred thousand men employed on
+public works in Ireland, and the Government found it no easy task to
+organise this vast army of labour, or to prevent abuses. Lord
+Bessborough urged that the people should be employed in the improvement
+of private estates, but Lord John met this proposal with disapproval,
+though he at length agreed that the drainage of private land should come
+within the scope of public works. It was further determined to lend
+money in aid of the improvement of private property, the operation of
+the Irish Poor Law was also extended, and in other directions energetic
+measures were taken for the relief of the prevailing destitution. Lord
+John was a keen observer both of men and of movements, and the
+characteristics of the peasantry, and more particularly the personal
+helplessness of the people, and the lack of concerted action among them,
+impressed him. 'There are some things,' he declared, 'which the Crown
+cannot grant and which Parliament cannot enact--the spirit of
+self-reliance and the spirit of co-operation. I must say plainly that I
+should indeed despair of this task were it not that I think I see
+symptoms in the Irish people both of greater reliance on their own
+energies and exertions, and of greater intelligence to co-operate with
+each other. Happy will it be, indeed, if the Irish take for their maxim,
+"Help yourselves and Heaven will help you," and then I think they will
+find there is some use in adversity.'
+
+Lord John Russell's Irish policy has often been misunderstood, and not
+seldom misrepresented, but no one who looks all the facts calmly in the
+face, or takes into account the difficulties which the famine threw in
+his path, will be inclined to harsh criticism. Lady Russell's journal
+at this period reveals how great was her husband's anxiety in view of
+the evil tidings from Ireland, and one extract may be allowed to speak
+for itself. After stating that her husband has much to distress him in
+the state of the country, these words follow: 'God grant him success in
+his labours to amend it--famine, fever, trade failing, and discontent
+growing are evils which it requires all his resolution, sense of duty,
+and love for the public to face. I pray that he may, and believe that he
+will, one day be looked back to as the greatest benefactor of unhappy
+Ireland.' When once the nature of the calamity became apparent, Lord
+John never relaxed his efforts to grapple with the emergency, and,
+though not a demonstrative man, there is proof enough that he felt
+acutely for the people, and laboured, not always perhaps wisely, but at
+least well, for the amelioration of their lot. He was assailed with a
+good deal of personal abuse, and was credited with vacillation and
+apathy, especially in Ireland, where his opponents, acting in the
+capacity of jurymen at inquests on the victims of the famine, sometimes
+went so far as to bring in a verdict of wilful murder against the Prime
+Minister. It is easy enough after the event to point out better methods
+than those devised at the imperious call of the moment by the Russell
+Administration, but there are few fair-minded people in the present day
+who would venture to assert that justice and mercy were not in the
+ascendent during a crisis which taxed to the utmost the resources of
+practical statesmanship.
+
+  [Sidenote: LORD CLARENDON IN IRELAND]
+
+The new Parliament assembled in November, and a Committee of both Houses
+was appointed to take into consideration the depressed condition of
+trade, for symptoms of unmistakable distress were apparent in the great
+centres of industry. Ireland, moreover, still blocked the way, and Lord
+Clarendon, who had succeeded to the viceroyalty, alarmed at the
+condition of affairs, pressed for extraordinary powers. The famine by
+this time was only a memory, but it had left a large section of the
+peasantry in a sullen and defiant mood. As a consequence stormy
+restlessness and open revolt made themselves felt. Armed mobs, sometimes
+five hundred and even a thousand strong, wandered about in lawless
+fashion, pounced upon corn and made raids on cattle, and it seemed
+indeed at times as if life as well as property was imperilled. Lord
+Clarendon was determined to make the disaffected feel that the law could
+not be set aside with impunity. He declared that the majority of these
+disturbers of the peace were not in actual distress, and he made no
+secret of his opinion that their object was not merely intimidation but
+plunder. 'I feel,' were his words as the autumn advanced, 'as if I was
+at the head of a provisional government in a half-conquered country.'
+
+It is easy to assert that Lord Clarendon took a panic-stricken view
+of the situation, and attempts have again and again been made to
+mitigate, if not to explain away, the dark annals of Irish crime.
+The facts, however, speak for themselves, and they seemed at the moment
+to point to such a sinister condition of affairs that Lord John Russell
+felt he had no option but to adopt repressive measures. Sir George
+Grey stated in Parliament that the number of cases of fatal bloodshed
+during the six summer months of 1846 was sixty-eight, whilst in the
+corresponding period in 1847 it had increased to ninety-six. Shooting
+with intent to slay, which in the six months of 1846 had numbered
+fifty-five, now stood at 126. Robbery under arms had also grown with
+ominous rapidity, for in the contrasted half-years of 1846 and 1847
+deeds of violence of this kind were 207 and 530 respectively, whilst
+outrage in another of its most cruel and despicable forms--the firing of
+dwelling-houses--revealed, under the same conditions of time, 116 acts
+of incendiarism in 1847, as against fifty-one in the previous year.
+The disaffected districts of Clare, Limerick, and Tipperary made the
+heaviest contribution to this dismal catalogue of crime; but far beyond
+their borders though with diminished force, the lawless spirit
+prevailed.
+
+Mr. Spencer Walpole, in his standard and authoritative 'Life of Lord
+John Russell,' has shown, by an appeal to his correspondence with Lord
+Clarendon, how reluctant the Prime Minister was to bring forward a new
+Arms Bill. He has also made it plain that it was only the logic of
+events which finally convinced the Prime Minister of the necessity in
+any shape for such a measure. Mr. Walpole has also vindicated, at
+considerable length, Lord John from the familiar charge of having
+adopted in power the proposals which led to the overthrow of the Peel
+Administration. He lays stress on the fact that the Arms Bill, which the
+Government carried at the close of 1847 by a sweeping majority, was, to
+a noteworthy extent, different from that which Sir Robert sought to
+impose on Ireland twelve months earlier, and which the Whigs met with
+strenuous and successful opposition. In Mr. Walpole's words, the new
+proposals 'did not contain any provision for compensating the victims of
+outrages at the expense of the ratepayers; they did not render persons
+congregated in public-houses or carrying arms liable to arrest; above
+all, they did not comprise the brutal clause which made persons out of
+doors at night liable to transportation.' The condition of Ireland was,
+indeed, so menacing that the majority of the English people of all
+shades of political opinion were of one mind as to the necessity for
+stern measures. Sir Robert Peel, with no less candour than chivalry,
+declared that the best reparation which could be made to the last
+Government would be to assist the present Government in passing such a
+law. Perhaps still more significant were the admissions of Mr. John
+Bright. At the General Election the young orator had been returned to
+Parliament, not for a Sleepy Hollow like Durham, which had first sent
+him, but for the commanding constituency of Manchester, and almost at
+once he found himself in opposition to the views of a vast number of the
+inhabitants. He was requested to present a petition against the bill
+signed by more than 20,000 persons in Manchester. In doing so he took
+the opportunity of explaining in the House of Commons the reasons which
+made it impossible for him--friend of peace and goodwill as he assuredly
+was--to support its prayer. He declared that the unanimous statements of
+all the newspapers, the evidence of men of all parties connected with
+Ireland, as well as the facts which were placed before them with
+official authority, made it plain beyond a doubt that the ordinary law
+was utterly powerless, and, therefore, he felt that the case of the
+Government, so far as the necessity for such a bill was concerned, was
+both clear and perfect.
+
+  [Sidenote: JOHN BRIGHT AND IRISH AFFAIRS]
+
+Mr. Bright drew attention to the fact that assassinations in Ireland
+were not looked upon as murders, but rather as executions; and that some
+of them at least were not due to sudden outbursts of passion, but were
+planned with deliberation and carried out in cold blood. He saw no
+reason to doubt that in certain districts public sentiment was 'depraved
+and thoroughly vitiated;' and he added that, since the ordinary law had
+failed to meet the emergency the Government had a case for the demand
+they made for an extension of their present powers, and he thought that
+the bill before the House was the less to be opposed since, whilst it
+strengthened the hands of the Executive, it did not greatly exceed or
+infringe the ordinary law. Mr. Bright at the same time, it is only fair
+to add, made no secret of his own conviction that the Government had not
+grappled with sufficient courage with its difficulties, and he
+complained of the delay which had arisen over promised legislation of a
+remedial character.
+
+Lord John himself was persuaded, some time before Mr. Bright made this
+speech, that it was useless to attempt to meet the captious and selfish
+objections on the question of agrarian reform of the landlord class;
+and, as a matter of fact, he had already drawn up, without consulting
+anyone, the outline of a measure which he described to Lord Clarendon as
+a 'plan for giving some security and some provision to the miserable
+cottiers, who are now treated as brute beasts.' Years before--to be
+exact, in the spring of 1844--he had declared in the House of Commons
+that, whilst the Government of England was, as it ought to be, a
+Government of opinion, the Government of Ireland was notoriously a
+Government of force. Gradually he was forced to the view that centuries
+of oppression and misunderstanding, of class hatred and opposite aims,
+had brought about a social condition which made it necessary that
+judicial authority should have a voice between landlord and tenant in
+every case of ejectment. Lord John's difficulties in dealing with
+Ireland were complicated by the distrust of three-fourths of the people
+of the good intentions of English statesmanship. Political agitators,
+great and small, of the Young Ireland school, did their best to deepen
+the suspicions of an impulsive and ignorant peasantry against the
+Whigs, and Lord John was personally assailed, until he became a sort of
+bogie-man to the lively and undisciplined imagination of a sensitive but
+resentful race.
+
+  [Sidenote: THE TREASON FELONY ACT]
+
+Even educated Irishmen of a later generation have, with scarcely an
+exception, failed to do justice either to the dull weight of prejudice
+and opposition with which Lord John had to contend in his efforts to
+help their country, or to give him due credit for the constructive
+statesmanship which he brought to a complicated and disheartening
+task.[16] Lord John Russell was, in fact, in some directions not only in
+advance of his party but of his times; and, though it has long been the
+fashion to cavil at his Irish policy, it ought not to be forgotten, in
+common fairness, that he not only passed the Encumbered Estates Act of
+1848, but sought to introduce the principle of compensation to tenants
+for the improvements which they had made on their holdings. Vested
+interests proved, however, too powerful, and Ireland stood in her own
+light by persistent sedition. The revolutionary spirit was abroad in
+1848 not only in France, but in other parts of Europe, and the Irish,
+under Mr. Smith O'Brien, Mr. John Mitchel, and less responsible men,
+talked at random, with the result that treasonable conspiracy prevailed,
+and the country was brought to the verge of civil war. The Irish
+Government was forced by hostile and armed movements to proclaim certain
+districts in which rebellion was already rampant. The Treason Felony Act
+made it illegal, and punishable with penal servitude, to write or speak
+in a manner calculated to provoke rebellion against the Crown. This
+extreme stipulation was made at the instance of Lord Campbell. Such an
+invasion of freedom of speech was not allowed to pass unchallenged, and
+Lord John, who winced under the necessity of repression, admitted the
+force of the objection, so far as to declare that this form of irksome
+restraint should not be protracted beyond the necessity of the hour. He
+was not the man to shirk personal danger, and therefore, in spite of
+insurrection and panic, and the threats of agitators who were seeking to
+compass the repeal of the Union by violent measures, he went himself to
+Dublin to consult with Lord Clarendon, and to gather on the spot his own
+impressions of the situation. He found the country once more
+overshadowed by the prospects of famine, and he came to the conclusion
+that the population was too numerous for the soil, and subsequently
+passed a measure for promoting aided emigration. He proposed also to
+assist from the public funds the Roman Catholic clergy, whose livelihood
+had grown precarious through the national distress; but, in deference to
+strong Protestant opposition, this method of amelioration had to be
+abandoned. The leaders of the Young Ireland party set the authorities at
+defiance, and John Mitchel, a leader who advocated an appeal to physical
+force, and Smith O'Brien, who talked wildly about the establishment of
+an Irish Republic, were arrested, convicted, and transported. O'Connell
+himself declared that Smith O'Brien was an exceedingly weak man, proud
+and self-conceited and 'impenetrable to advice.' 'You cannot be sure of
+him for half an hour.' The force of the movement was broken by cliques
+and quarrels, until the spirit of disaffection was no longer formidable.
+In August, her Majesty displayed in a marked way her personal interest
+in her Irish subjects by a State visit to Dublin. The Queen was
+received with enthusiasm, and her presence did much to weaken still
+further the already diminishing power of sedition.
+
+  [Sidenote: SCHOOLS AND SCHOOLMASTERS]
+
+The question of education lay always close to the heart of Lord John
+Russell, who found time even amid the stress of 1847 to advance it. The
+Melbourne Administration had vested the management of Parliamentary
+grants in aid of education in a committee of the Privy Council. In spite
+of suspicion and hostility, which found expression both in Parliament
+and in ecclesiastical circles, the movement extended year by year and
+slowly pervaded with the first beginnings of culture the social life of
+the people. Lord John had taken an active part in establishing the
+authority of the Privy Council in education; he had watched the rapid
+growth of its influence, and had not forgotten to mark the defects which
+had come to light during the six years' working of the system. He
+therefore proposed to remodel it, and took steps in doing so to better
+the position of the teacher, as well as to render primary education more
+efficient. Paid pupil teachers accordingly took the place of unpaid
+monitors, and the opportunity of gaining admittance after this practical
+apprenticeship to training colleges, where they might be equipped for
+the full discharge of the duties of their calling, was thrown open to
+them. As a further inducement, teachers who had gone through this
+collegiate training received a Government grant in addition to the usual
+salary. Grants were also for the first time given to schools which
+passed with success through the ordeal of official inspection.
+
+The passing of the Factory Bill was another effort in the practical
+redress of wrongs to which Lord John Russell lent his powerful aid. The
+measure, which will always be honourably associated with the names of
+Lord Shaftesbury and Mr. Fielden, was a victory for labour which was
+hailed with enthusiasm by artisans and operatives throughout the land.
+It came as a measure of practical relief, not merely to men, but to
+upwards of three hundred and sixty-three thousand women and children,
+employed in monotonous tasks in mill and manufactory. Another change
+which Lord John Russell was directly instrumental in bringing about was
+the creation of the Poor Law Commission into a Ministerial Department,
+responsible to Parliament, and able to explain its work and to defend
+its policy at Westminster, through the lips of the President of the Poor
+Law Board. Regulations were at the same time made for workhouse control,
+meetings of guardians, and the like. The great and ever-growing needs of
+Manchester were recognised in 1847 by the creation of the Bishopric.
+Parliament was dissolved on July 23, and as the adoption of Free Trade
+had left the country for the moment without any great question directly
+before it, no marked political excitement followed the appeal to the
+people. The Conservative party was in truth demoralised by the downfall
+of Peel, and the new forces which were soon to shape its course had as
+yet scarcely revealed themselves, though Lord Stanley, Lord George
+Bentinck, and Mr. Disraeli were manifestly the coming men in Opposition.
+If the general election was distinguished by little enthusiasm either on
+one side or the other, it yet brought with it a personal triumph to Lord
+John, for he was returned for the City at the head of the poll. The
+Government itself not only renewed its strength, but increased it as a
+result of the contest throughout the country. At the same time the
+hostility of the opponents of Free Trade was seen in the return of two
+hundred and twenty-six Protectionists, in addition to one hundred and
+five Conservatives of the new school of Bentinck and Disraeli.
+
+  [Sidenote: DIFFICULTIES OF A PLAIN ENGLISHMAN]
+
+In other directions, meanwhile, difficulties had beset the Government.
+The proposed appointment of a Broad Churchman of advanced views, in the
+person of Dr. Hampden, Regius Professor at Oxford, to the vacant see of
+Hereford filled the High Church party with indignant dismay. Dr. Newman,
+with the courage and self-sacrifice which were characteristic of the
+man, had refused by this time to hold any longer an untenable position,
+and, in spite of his brilliant prospects in the English Church, had
+yielded to conscience and submitted to Rome. Dr. Pusey, however,
+remained, and under his skilful leadership the Oxford Movement grew
+strong, and threw its spell in particular over devout women, whose
+aesthetic instincts it satisfied, and whose aspirations after a
+semi-conventual life it met.[17] Lord John had many of the
+characteristics of the plain Englishman. He understood zealous
+Protestants, and, as his rejected scheme for aiding the priests in
+Ireland itself shows, he was also able to apprehend the position of
+earnest Roman Catholics. He had, however, not so learnt his Catechism or
+his Prayer Book as to understand that the Reformation, if not a crime,
+was at least a blunder, and therefore, like other plain Englishmen, he
+was not prepared to admit the pretensions and assumptions of a new race
+of nondescript priests. Thirteen prelates took the unusual course of
+requesting the Prime Minister to reconsider his decision, but Lord
+John's reply was at once courteous and emphatic. 'I cannot sacrifice the
+reputation of Dr. Hampden, the rights of the Crown, and what I believe
+to be the true interests of the Church, to a feeling which I believe to
+have been founded on misapprehension and fomented by prejudice.'
+Although Dr. Pusey did not hesitate to declare that the affair was 'a
+matter of life and death,'[18] ecclesiastical protest availed nothing,
+and Dr. Hampden was in due time consecrated.
+
+Neither agrarian outrages in Ireland nor clerical agitation in England
+hindered, in the session of 1848, the passing of measures of social
+improvement. The Public Health Act, which was based on the
+representations of Sir Edwin Chadwick and Dr. Southwood Smith, grappled
+with the sanitary question in cities and towns, and thus improved in a
+variety of directions the social life of the people. It had hitherto
+been the fashion of Whigs and Tories alike to neglect practical measures
+of this kind, even though they were so closely linked to the health and
+welfare of the community.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[15] _The Croker Papers_, vol. iii. ch. xxiv. p. 53.
+
+[16] Judge O'Connor Morris, in his interesting retrospect, _Memories and
+Thoughts of a Life_, just published, whilst severely criticising the
+Whig attitude towards Ireland, admits that Russell's Irish policy was
+not only 'well-meant,' but in the main successful.
+
+[17] The first Anglican Sisterhood was founded by Dr. Pusey in London in
+the spring of 1845.
+
+[18] _Life of E. B. Pusey, D.D._, by H. P. Liddon, D.D., vol. iii. p.
+160.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+IN ROUGH WATERS
+
+1848-1852
+
+     The People's Charter--Feargus O'Connor and the crowd--Lord
+     Palmerston strikes from his own bat--Lord John's view of the
+     political situation--Death of Peel--Palmerston and the Court--'No
+     Popery'--The Durham Letter--The invasion scare--Lord John's remark
+     about Palmerston--Fall of the Russell Administration.
+
+
+ENGLAND in 1848 was not destined to escape an outbreak of the
+revolutionary spirit, though the Chartist movement, in spite of the
+panic which it awakened, was never really formidable. The overthrow and
+flight of Louis Philippe, the proclamation in March of the French
+Republic on the basis of universal suffrage and national workshops, and
+the revolutionary movements and insurrections in Austria and Italy,
+filled the artisans and operatives of this country with wild dreams, and
+led them to rally their scattered and hitherto dispirited forces. Within
+six years of the passing of the Reform Bill, in fact, in the autumn
+after the Queen's accession, the working classes had come to the
+conclusion that their interests had been largely overlooked, and that
+the expectations they had cherished in the struggle of 1831-32 had been
+falsified by the apathy and even the reaction which followed the
+victory. Not in one, but in all the great civil and religious struggles
+of the century, they had borne the brunt of the battle; and yet they
+had been thrust aside when it came to the dividing of the spoil.
+
+The middle classes were in a different position: their aspirations were
+satisfied, and they were quite prepared, for the moment at least, to
+rest and be thankful. The sleek complacency of the shopkeeper, moreover,
+and his hostility to further agitation, threw into somewhat dramatic
+relief the restless and sullen attitude of less fortunate conscripts of
+toil. Food was dear, wages were low, work was slack, and in the great
+centres of industry the mills were running half-time, and so keen was
+the struggle for existence that the operatives were at the mercy of
+their taskmasters, and too often found it cruel. Small wonder if social
+discontent was widespread, especially when it is remembered that the
+people were not only hopeless and ill-fed, but housed under conditions
+which set at defiance even the most elementary laws of health. More than
+to any other man in the ranks of higher statesmanship the people looked
+to Lord Durham, the idol of the pitmen of the North, for the redress of
+their wrongs, and no statesman of that period possessed more courage or
+more real acquaintance with the actual needs of the people. Lord Durham,
+though a man of splendid ability, swift vision, and generous sympathy,
+had, unhappily, the knack of making enemies, and the fiery impetuosity
+of his spirit brought him more than once into conflict with leaders
+whose temperament was cold and whose caution was great. The rebellion in
+Canada withdrew Lord Durham from the arena of English politics at the
+beginning of 1838. Then it was that the people recognised to the full
+the temper of the statesmen that were left, and the fact that, if
+deliverance was to come from political and social thraldom, they must
+look to themselves and organise their strength.
+
+The representatives of the working classes in 1838 formulated their
+demand for radical political reform in the famous six points of the
+People's Charter. This declaration claimed manhood suffrage; the
+division of the country into equal electoral districts; vote by ballot;
+annual Parliaments; the abolition of property qualification for a seat
+in the House of Commons; and payment of members of Parliament for their
+services. The People's Charter took the working classes by storm: it
+fired their imagination, inspired their hopes, and drew them in every
+manufacturing town and district into organised association.
+
+  [Sidenote: A SORRY CHAMPION]
+
+The leader of the movement was Feargus O'Connor, an Irish barrister and
+journalist, who had entered Parliament in 1832 as a follower of
+O'Connell and as member for Cork. He quarrelled, however, with the Irish
+leader, a circumstance which was fatal to success as an agitator in his
+own country. Restless and reckless, he henceforth carried his energy and
+devoted his eloquence to the Chartist movement in England, and in 1847
+the popular vote carried him once more to the House of Commons as member
+for Nottingham. He copied the tactics of O'Connell, but had neither the
+judgment nor the strength of the Irish dictator. He seems, indeed, to
+have been rather a poor creature of the vainglorious, bombastic type. A
+year or two later he became hopelessly insane, and in the vaporing
+heroics and parade of gasconade which marked him as the champion of the
+Chartists in the spring of 1848 it is charitable now to discover the
+first seeds of his disorder. However that may be, he was a nine-days'
+wonder, for from All Fools' Day to the morning of April 10 society in
+London was in a state of abject panic. The troubles in Ireland, the
+insurrections and rumours of insurrection on the Continent, the
+revolution in France, the menacing discontent in the provinces, and the
+threatening attitude of the working men in the metropolis, were enough
+to cause alarm among the privileged classes, and conscience made
+cowards, not certainly of them all, but of the majority.
+
+Literature enough and to spare, explanatory, declamatory and the like,
+has grown around a movement which ran like an unfed river, until it lost
+itself in the sand. Three men of genius took up their parable about what
+one of them called the 'Condition of England Question,' and in the pages
+of Carlyle's 'Chartism' and 'Past and Present,' Disraeli's 'Sybil,' and
+last, but not least, in Kingsley's 'Alton Locke,' the reader of to-day
+is in possession of sidelights, vivid, picturesque, and dramatic, on
+English society in the years when the Chartists were coming to their
+power, and in the year when they lost it. Lord John was at first in
+favour of allowing the Chartists to demonstrate to their hearts'
+content. He therefore proposed to permit them to cross Westminster
+Bridge, so that they might deliver their petition at the doors of
+Parliament. He thought that the police might then prevent the re-forming
+of the procession, and scatter the crowd in the direction of Charing
+Cross. Lord John had done too much for the people to be afraid of them,
+and he refused to accept the alarmist view of the situation. But the
+consternation was so widespread, and the panic so general, that the
+Government felt compelled on April 6 to declare the proposed meeting
+criminal and illegal, to call upon all peaceably disposed citizens not
+to attend, and to take extraordinary precautions. It was, however,
+announced that the right of assembly would be respected; but, on the
+advice of Wellington, only three of the leaders were to be allowed to
+cross the bridge. The Bank, the Tower, and the neighbourhood of
+Kennington Common meanwhile were protected by troops of cavalry and
+infantry, whilst the approaches to the Houses of Parliament and the
+Government offices were held by artillery.
+
+  [Sidenote: LONDON IN TERROR]
+
+The morning of the fateful 10th dawned brightly, but no one dared
+forecast how the evening would close, and for a few hours of suspense
+there was a reign of terror. Many houses were barricaded, and in the
+West End the streets were deserted except by the valiant special
+constables, who stood at every corner in defence of law and order. The
+shopkeepers, who were not prepared to take joyfully the spoiling of
+their goods, formed the great mass of this citizen army--one hundred and
+fifty thousand strong. There were, nevertheless, recruits from all
+classes, and in the excitement and peril of the hour odd men rubbed
+shoulders. Lord Shaftesbury, for instance, was on duty in Mount Street,
+Grosvenor Square, with a sallow young foreigner for companion, who was
+afterwards to create a more serious disturbance on his own account, and
+to spring to power as Napoleon III. Thomas Carlyle preferred to play the
+part of the untrammelled man in the street, and sallied forth in search
+of food for reflection. He wanted to see the 'revolution' for himself,
+and strode towards Hyde Park, determined, he tells us, to walk himself
+into a glow of heat in spite of the 'venomous cold wind' which called
+forth his anathemas. The Chelsea moralist found London, westward at
+least, safe and quiet, in spite of 'empty rumours and a hundred and
+fifty thousand oaths of special constables.' He noticed as he passed
+Apsley House that even the Duke had taken the affair seriously, in his
+private as well as his public capacity, for all the iron blinds were
+down. The Green Park was closed. Mounted Guardsmen stood ready on
+Constitution Hill. The fashionable carriage had vanished from
+Piccadilly. Business everywhere was at a standstill, for London knew not
+what that day might bring forth. Presently the rain began to fall, and
+then came down in drenching showers. In spite of their patriotic
+fervour, the special constables grew both damp and depressed. Suddenly a
+rumour ran along the streets that the great demonstration at Kennington
+Common had ended in smoke, and by noon the crowd was streaming over
+Westminster Bridge and along Whitehall, bearing the tidings that the
+march to the House of Commons had been abandoned. Feargus O'Connor had,
+in fact, taken fright, and presently the petition rattled ingloriously
+to Westminster in the safe but modest keeping of a hackney cab. The
+shower swept the angry and noisy rabble homewards, or into neighbouring
+public-houses, and ridicule--as the evening filled the town with
+complacent special constables and their admiring wives and
+sweethearts--did even more than the rain to quench the Chartist
+agitation. It had been boldly announced that one hundred and fifty
+thousand people would meet at Kennington. Less than a third of that
+number assembled, and a considerable part of the crowd had evidently
+been attracted by curiosity. Afterwards, when the monster petition with
+its signatures was examined, it was found to fall short of the boasted
+'five million' names by upwards of three millions. Many of those which
+did appear were palpably fictitious; indeed the rude wit of the London
+apprentice was responsible for scores of silly signatures. Lord John's
+comment on the affair was characteristic. After stating that no great
+numbers followed the cab which contained the petition, and that there
+was no mob at the door of the House of Commons, he adds: 'London
+escaped the fate of Paris, Berlin, and Vienna. For my own part, I saw
+in these proceedings a fresh proof that the people of England were
+satisfied with the Government under which they had the happiness to
+live, did not wish to be instructed by their neighbours in the
+principles of freedom, and did not envy them either the liberty they had
+enjoyed under Robespierre, or the order which had been established among
+them by Napoleon the Great.'
+
+  [Sidenote: PALMERSTON'S OPPORTUNITY]
+
+Lord John's allusion to Paris, Berlin, and Vienna suggests foreign
+politics, and also the growing lack of harmony between Lord Palmerston
+on the one hand and the Court and Cabinet on the other. Although he long
+held the highest office under the Crown, Lord Palmerston's chief claim
+to distinction was won as Foreign Minister. He began his official career
+as a Tory in the Portland Administration of 1807, and two years
+later--at the age of five-and-twenty--was appointed Secretary at War in
+the Perceval Government. He held this post for the long term of eighteen
+years, and when Canning succeeded to power still retained it, with a
+seat in the Cabinet. Palmerston was a liberal Tory of the school of
+Canning, and, when Lord Grey became Premier in 1830, was a man of
+sufficient mark to be entrusted with the seals of the Foreign Office,
+though, until his retirement in 1834, Grey exercised a controlling voice
+in the foreign policy of the nation. It was not until Grey was succeeded
+by Melbourne that Palmerston began to display both his strength and his
+weakness in independent action.
+
+He saw his opportunity and took it. He knew his own mind and disliked
+interference, and this made him more and more inclined to be heedless of
+the aid, and almost of the approval, of his colleagues. Under a
+provokingly pleasant manner lurked, increasingly, the temper of an
+autocrat. Melbourne sat lightly to most things, and not least to
+questions of foreign policy. He was easily bored, and believed in
+_laissez-faire_ to an extent which has never been matched by any other
+Prime Minister in the Queen's reign. The consequence was that for seven
+critical years Palmerston did what was right in his own eyes, until he
+came to regard himself not merely as the custodian of English interests
+abroad, but almost as the one man in the Cabinet who was entitled to
+speak with authority concerning them. If the responsibility of the first
+Afghan war must rest chiefly on his shoulders, it is only fair to
+remember that he took the risk of a war with France in order to drive
+Ibrahim Pacha out of Syria. From first to last, his tenure at the
+Foreign Office covered a period of nearly twenty years. Though he made
+serious mistakes, he also made despots in every part of the world afraid
+of him; whilst struggling nationalities felt that the great English
+Minister was not oblivious of the claims of justice, or deaf to the
+appeal for mercy. Early in the Russell Administration Lord Palmerston's
+high-handed treatment of other members of the Cabinet provoked angry
+comment, and Sir Robert Peel did not conceal his opinion that Lord John
+gave his impetuous colleague too much of his own way. The truth was, the
+Premier's hands, and heart also, were in 1846 and 1847 full of the Irish
+famine, and Lord Palmerston took advantage of the fact. Moreover, Lord
+John Russell was, broadly speaking, in substantial agreement with his
+Foreign Minister, though he cordially disliked his habit of taking swift
+and almost independent action.
+
+  [Sidenote: CLIMBING DOWN]
+
+At the beginning of 1848 Palmerston seemed determined to pick a quarrel
+with France, and in February drew up a threatening despatch on the
+difficulty which had arisen between our Ambassador (Lord Normanby) and
+Louis Philippe, which brought matters to a crisis. Louis Philippe had
+acted a dishonourable part over the Spanish marriages, and Palmerston
+was prepared to go out of his way to humiliate France. At the last
+moment, the affair came to Lord John's knowledge through Lord Clarendon,
+with the result that the communication was countermanded. Lord
+Palmerston appears to have taken the rebuff, humiliating as it was, with
+characteristic nonchalance, and it produced little more than a momentary
+effect. The ignominious flight of Louis Philippe quickly followed, and
+the revolution in France was the signal in Vienna for a revolt of the
+students and artisans, which drove Metternich to find refuge in England
+and the Emperor Ferdinand to seek asylum in the Tyrol. Austrians,
+Hungarians, and Slavs only needed an opportunity, such as the 'year of
+revolutions' afforded, to display their hostility to one another, and
+the racial jealousy brought Austria and Hungary to open war. In Milan,
+in Naples, and Berlin the revolutionary spirit displayed itself, and in
+these centres, as well as in Switzerland, changes in the direction of
+liberty took place.
+
+Lord John Russell, in an important document, which Mr. Walpole has
+printed, and which bears date May 1, 1848, has explained his own view of
+the political situation in Europe at that moment. After a lucid and
+impressive survey of the changes that had taken place in the map of
+Europe since the Congress of Vienna, Lord John lays down the principle
+that it is neither becoming nor expedient for England to proclaim that
+the Treaties of 1815 were invalid. On the contrary, England ought rather
+to promote, in the interests of peace and order, the maintenance of the
+territorial divisions then made. At the same time, England, amid the
+storm, ought not to persist in clinging to a wreck if a safe spar is
+within her reach. He recognised that Austria could hardly restore her
+sway in Italy, and was not in a position to confront the cost of a
+protracted war, in which France was certain to take sides against her.
+He, therefore, thought it advisable that English diplomacy should be
+brought to bear at Vienna, so as to 'produce a frank abandonment of
+Lombardy and Venice on the part of Austria.' He declared that it was not
+to the advantage of England to meddle with the internal affairs of
+Spain; but he thought there was a favourable chance of coming to an
+understanding with Germany, where the Schleswig-Holstein question
+already threatened disturbance. 'It is our interest,' are the final
+words of this significant State paper, 'to use our influence as speedily
+and as generally as possible to settle the pending questions and to fix
+the boundaries of States. Otherwise, if war once becomes general, it
+will spread over Germany, reach Belgium, and finally sweep England into
+its vortex. Should our efforts for peace succeed, Europe may begin a new
+career with more or less of hope and of concord; should they fail, we
+must keep our sword in the scabbard as long as we can, but we cannot
+hope to be neutral in a great European war. England cannot be
+indifferent to the supremacy of France over Germany and Italy, or to the
+advance of Russian armies to Constantinople; still less to the
+incorporation of Belgium with a new French Empire.'
+
+  [Sidenote: OUR POLICY ABROAD]
+
+As usual, Lord Palmerston had his own ideas and the courage of them.
+Within three weeks of the Russell Memorandum to the Cabinet he
+accordingly stood out in his true colours as a frank opportunist. The
+guiding rule of his foreign policy, he stated, was to promote and
+advance, as far as lay in his power, the interests of the country as
+opportunity served and as necessity arose. 'We have no everlasting union
+with this or that country--no identification of policy with another. We
+have no natural enemies--no perpetual friends. When we find a Power
+pursuing that course of policy which we wish also to promote, for the
+time that Power becomes our ally; and when we find a country whose
+interests are at variance with our own, we are involved for a time with
+the Government of that country. We find no fault with other nations for
+pursuing their interests; and they ought not to find fault with us, if,
+in pursuing our interests, our course may be different from theirs.'
+
+Lord Palmerston held that the real policy of this country was to be the
+champion of justice and right, though professing no sympathy with the
+notion that England ought to become, to borrow his own expression, the
+Quixote of the world. 'I hold that England is a Power sufficiently
+strong to steer her own course, and not to tie herself as an unnecessary
+appendage to the policy of any other Government.' He declared that, if
+he might be allowed to gather into one sentence the principle which he
+thought ought to guide an English statesman, he would adopt the
+expression of Canning, and say that with every British Minister the
+interests of England ought to be the shibboleth of his policy.
+Unfortunately, Lord Palmerston, in spite of such statements, was too
+much inclined to throw the moral weight of England into this or that
+scale on his own responsibility, and, as it often seemed to
+dispassionate observers, on the mere caprice of the hour. He took up the
+position that the interests of England were safe in his hands, and
+magnified his office, sometimes to the annoyance of the Court and often
+to the chagrin of the Cabinet. No matter what storm raged, Palmerston
+always contrived to come to the surface again like a cork. He never lost
+his self-possession, and a profound sense of his own infallibility
+helped him, under difficulties and rebuffs which would have knocked the
+spirit out of other men, to adopt the attitude of the patriotic
+statesman struggling with adversity. When the session of 1849 closed he
+was in an extremely difficult position, in consequence of the growing
+dislike in high quarters to his policy, and the coolness which had
+sprung up between himself and the majority of his colleagues; yet we
+find him writing a jaunty note to his brother in the strain of a man who
+had not only deserved success but won it. 'After the trumpetings of
+attacks that were to demolish first one and then another of the
+Government--first me, then Grey, then Charles Wood--we have come
+triumphantly out of the debates and divisions, and end the session
+stronger than we began it.'[19]
+
+  [Sidenote: STRAINED RELATIONS]
+
+Lord Palmerston's passion for personal ascendency was not to be
+repressed, and in the electric condition of Europe it proved perilous as
+well as embarrassing to the Russell Administration. Without the
+knowledge of the Queen or his colleagues, Lord Palmerston, for instance,
+sent a letter to Sir H. Bulwer advising an extension of the basis of the
+Spanish Government, an act of interference which caused so much
+irritation at Madrid that the Spanish Government requested the British
+Ambassador to leave the country. Happily, the breach with Madrid was
+repaired after a few months' anxiety on the part of Palmerston's
+colleagues. The Queen's sense of the indiscretion was apparent in the
+request to Lord Palmerston to submit in future all his despatches to the
+Prime Minister. Other occasions soon arose which increased distrust at
+Windsor, and further strained friendly relations between the Prime
+Minister and the Foreign Secretary. The latter's removal to some less
+responsible post was contemplated, for her Majesty appeared to
+disapprove of everything Lord Palmerston did. Without detailing the
+various circumstances which awakened the Queen's displeasure, it is
+sufficient to draw attention to one event--known in the annals of
+diplomacy as the 'Don Pacifico' affair--which threatened the overthrow
+of the Ministry.
+
+Two British subjects demanded in vain compensation from the Greek
+Government for damage to their property. Lord Palmerston came to their
+defence, and sent private instructions to the Admiral of the British
+fleet at the Dardanelles to seize Greek vessels by way of reprisal,
+which was promptly done. The tidings fell like a thunderbolt upon
+Downing Street. France and Russia made angry protests, and war was
+predicted. At length an offer of mediation from Paris was accepted, and
+the matter was arranged in London. Lord Palmerston, however, omitted to
+inform the English Minister at Athens of the settlement, and, whilst
+everyone in England rejoiced that the storm had blown over, the Admiral
+was laying an embargo on other ships, and at last forced the Greek
+Government to grant compensation. France, indignant at such cavalier
+treatment, recalled M. Drouyn de Lhuys from London, and again the
+war-cloud lowered. Lord Palmerston had the audacity to state in the
+House of Commons that the French Minister had returned to Paris in order
+'presumably to be the medium of communication between the two
+Governments as to these matters.' The truth came out on the morrow, and
+Lord John, in the discreet absence of his colleague, was forced to
+explain as best he might the position of affairs. Although he screened
+Lord Palmerston as far as he was able, he determined to make a change at
+the Foreign Office.
+
+  [Sidenote: PEEL AND PALMERSTON]
+
+In June 1850, Lord Stanley challenged the foreign policy of Lord
+Palmerston in the House of Lords, and carried, by a majority of
+thirty-seven, a resolution of censure. Mr. Roebuck, in the Commons, met
+the hostile vote by a resolution of confidence, and, after four nights'
+debate, secured a majority of forty-six. Lord Palmerston made an able
+defence of his conduct of affairs, and Lord John Russell, who differed
+from him not so much in the matter as in the manner of his decisions,
+not merely refused to leave his colleague in the lurch, but came
+vigorously to his support. The debate was rendered memorable on other
+grounds. Sir Robert Peel, in the course of it, delivered his last speech
+in Parliament. The division, which gave Palmerston a fresh tenure of
+power, was taken at four o'clock on the morning of Saturday, June 29.
+Peel left the House to snatch a few hours' sleep before going at noon to
+a meeting which was to settle the disputed question as to the site of
+the Great Exhibition. He kept his appointment; but later in the day he
+was thrown from his horse on Constitution Hill, and received injuries
+which proved fatal on the night of July 2. His death was a national
+calamity, for at sixty-two he was still in the fulness of his strength.
+There will always be a diversity of judgment concerning his career;
+there is but one opinion about his character. Few statesmen have gone to
+their grave amid more remarkable expressions of regret. Old and young
+colleagues, from the Duke of Wellington to Mr. Gladstone, betrayed by
+their emotion no less than by their words, their grief over the loss of
+a leader who followed his conscience even at the expense of the collapse
+of his power. Lord John Russell, the most distinguished, without doubt,
+of Sir Robert's opponents on the floor of the House, paid a generous
+tribute to his rival's memory. He declared that posterity would regard
+Sir Robert Peel as one of the greatest and most patriotic of statesman.
+He laid stress on that 'long and large experience of public affairs,
+that profound knowledge, that oratorical power, that copious yet exact
+memory, with which the House was wont to be enlightened, interested, and
+guided.' When the offer of a public funeral was declined, in deference
+to Sir Robert's known wishes, Lord John proposed and carried a
+resolution for the erection of a statue in Westminster Abbey. He also
+marked his sense of the loss which the nation had sustained, in the
+disappearance of an illustrious man, by giving his noble-minded and
+broken-hearted widow the refusal of a peerage.
+
+Meanwhile, Lord Palmerston, on the strength of the vote of confidence in
+the Commons, was somewhat of a popular hero. People who believe that
+England can do no wrong, at least abroad, believed in him. His audacity
+delighted the man in the club. His pluck took the platform and much of
+the press by storm. The multitude relished his peremptory despatches,
+and were delighted when he either showed fight or encouraged it in
+others. In course of time 'Pam' became the typical fine old English
+gentleman of genial temper but domineering instincts. Prince Albert
+disliked him; he was too little of a courtier, too much of an off-handed
+man of affairs. Windsor, of course, received early tidings of the
+impression which was made at foreign Courts by the most independent and
+and cavalier Foreign Minister of the century. Occasionally he
+needlessly offended the susceptibilities of exalted personages abroad as
+well as at home. At length the Queen, determined no longer to be put in
+a false position, drew up a sharply-worded memorandum, in which explicit
+directions were given for the transaction of business between the Crown
+and the Foreign Office. 'The Queen requires, first, that Lord Palmerston
+will distinctly state what he proposes in a given case, in order that
+the Queen may know as distinctly to what she is giving her royal
+sanction; secondly, having once given her sanction to a measure, that it
+be not arbitrarily altered or modified by the Minister. Such an act she
+must consider as failing in sincerity towards the Crown, and justly to
+be visited by the exercise of her constitutional right of dismissing
+that Minister. She expects to be kept informed of what passes between
+him and the Foreign Ministers before important decisions are taken,
+based upon that intercourse; to receive the foreign despatches in good
+time; and to have the drafts for her approval sent to her in sufficient
+time to make herself acquainted with their contents before they must be
+sent off.'
+
+No responsible adviser of the Crown during the reign had received such
+emphatic censure, and in August 1850 people were talking as if
+Palmerston was bound to resign. He certainly would have done so if he
+had merely consulted his own feelings; but he declared that to resign
+just then would be to play into the hands of the political adversaries
+whom he had just defeated, and to throw over his supporters at the
+moment when they had fought a successful battle on his behalf. Lord
+Palmerston, therefore, accepted the Queen's instructions with unwonted
+meekness. He assured her Majesty that he would not fail to attend to the
+directions which the memorandum contained, and for a while harmony was
+restored. In the autumn of 1851 Louis Kossuth arrived in England, and
+met with an enthusiastic reception, of the kind which was afterwards
+accorded in London to another popular hero, in the person of Garibaldi.
+Lord Palmerston received Kossuth at the Foreign Office, and, contrary to
+the wishes of the Queen and Prime Minister, deputations were admitted,
+and addresses were presented, thanking Palmerston for his services in
+the cause of humanity, whilst in the same breath allusions to the
+Emperors of Austria and Russia as 'odious and detestable assassins' were
+made. Almost before the annoyance created by this fresh act of
+indiscretion had subsided, Lord Palmerston was guilty of a still more
+serious offence.
+
+  [Sidenote: THE _COUP D'ETAT_]
+
+Louis Napoleon had been elected President of the French Republic by five
+and a half million votes. He was thought to be ambitious rather than
+able, and he had pledged himself to sustain the existing Constitution.
+He worked for his own hand, however, and accordingly conciliated first
+the clergy, then the peasants, and finally the army, by fair promises,
+popular acts, and a bold policy. On December 2, 1851, when his term of
+office was expiring, Napoleon suddenly overthrew the Assembly, which had
+refused a month or two previously to revise the Constitution in order to
+make the President eligible for re-election, and next morning all Europe
+was startled with tidings of the _Coup d'Etat_. Both the English Court
+and Cabinet felt that absolute neutrality must be observed during the
+tumult which followed in Paris, and instructions to that effect were
+accordingly transmitted to Lord Normanby. But when that diplomatist made
+known this official communication, he was met with the retort that Lord
+Palmerston, in a conversation with the French Ambassador in London, had
+already declared that the _Coup d'Etat_ was an act of self-defence, and
+in fact was the best thing under the circumstances for France. Lord
+Palmerston, in a subsequent despatch to Lord Normanby, which was not
+submitted either to the Queen or the Prime Minister, reiterated his
+opinion.
+
+  [Sidenote: 'THERE WAS A PALMERSTON!']
+
+Under these circumstances, Lord John Russell had no alternative except
+to dismiss Lord Palmerston. He did so, as he explained when Parliament
+met in February, on the ground that the Foreign Secretary had
+practically put himself, for the moment, in the place of the Crown. He
+had given the moral approbation of England to the acts of the President
+of the Republic of France, though he knew, when he was doing so, that he
+was acting in direct opposition to the wishes of the sovereign and the
+policy of the Government. Lord John stated in the House of Commons that
+he took upon himself the sole and entire responsibility of advising her
+Majesty to require the resignation of Lord Palmerston. He added that,
+though the Foreign Secretary had neglected what was due to the Crown and
+his colleagues, he felt sure that he had not intended any personal
+disrespect. Greville declared that, in all his experience of scenes in
+Parliament, he could recall no such triumph as Lord Russell achieved on
+this occasion, nor had he ever witnessed a discomfiture more complete
+than that of Palmerston. Lord Dalling, another eye-witness of the
+episode, has described, from the point of view of a sympathiser with
+Palmerston, the manner in which he seemed completely taken by surprise
+by the 'tremendous assault' which Lord John, by a damaging appeal to
+facts, made against him. In his view, Russell's speech was one of the
+most powerful to which he had ever listened, and its effect was
+overwhelming. Disraeli, meeting Lord Dalling by chance next day on the
+staircase of the Russian Embassy, exclaimed as he passed, with
+significant emphasis, 'There _was_ a Palmerston!' The common opinion at
+the clubs found expression in a phrase which passed from lip to lip,
+'Palmerston is smashed;' but, though driven for the moment to bay, the
+dismissed Minister was himself of another mind.
+
+Lord Palmerston was offered the Irish Viceroyalty, but he declined to
+take such an appointment. He accepted his dismissal with a
+characteristic affectation of indifference, and in the course of a
+laboured defence of his action in the House of Commons, excused his
+communication to the French Ambassador on the plea that it was only the
+expression of an opinion on passing events, common to that 'easy and
+familiar personal intercourse, which tends so usefully to the
+maintenance of friendly relations with foreign Governments.' Lady
+Russell wrote down at the time her own impressions of this crisis in her
+husband's Cabinet, and the following passage throws a valuable sidelight
+on a memorable incident in the Queen's reign: 'The breach between John
+and Lord Palmerston was a calamity to the country, to the Whig party,
+and to themselves; and, although it had for some months been a
+threatening danger on the horizon, I cannot but feel that there was
+accident in its actual occurrence. Had we been in London or at Pembroke
+Lodge, and not at Woburn Abbey, at the time, they would have met, and
+talked over the subject of their difference; words spoken might have
+been equally strong, but would have been less cutting than words
+written, and conciliatory expressions on John's part would have led the
+way to promises on Lord Palmerston's.... They two kept up the character
+of England, as the sturdy guardians of her rights against other nations,
+and the champions of freedom and independence abroad. They did so both
+before and after the breach of 1851, which was, happily, closed in the
+following year, when they were once more colleagues in office. On
+matters of home policy Lord Palmerston remained the Tory he had been in
+his earlier days, and this was the cause of many a trial to John.'
+
+The Russell Administration, as the Premier himself frankly recognised,
+was seriously weakened by the dismissal of Lord Palmerston; and its
+position was not improved when Lord Clarendon, on somewhat paltry
+grounds, refused the Foreign Office. Lord John's sagacity was shown by
+the prompt offer of the vacant appointment to Lord Granville, who, at
+the age of thirty-six, entered the Cabinet, and began a career which was
+destined to prove a controlling force in the foreign policy of England
+in the Victorian era.
+
+  [Sidenote: ROME AND OXFORD]
+
+Meanwhile fresh difficulties had arisen. In the autumn of 1850--a year
+which had already been rendered memorable in ecclesiastical circles by
+the Gorham case--Pius IX. issued a Bull by which England became a
+province of the Roman Catholic Church. Dr. Wiseman was created Cardinal
+Archbishop of Westminster, and England was divided into twelve sees with
+territorial titles. The assumption by Pius IX. of spiritual authority
+over England was a blunder; indeed, no better proof in recent times of
+the lack of infallibility at Rome could well be discovered. One swallow,
+proverbially, does not make a spring; and when Newman took refuge in
+flight, other leaders of the Oxford Movement refused to accept his logic
+and to follow his example. Englishmen have always resented anything in
+the shape of foreign dictation, and deep in the national heart there yet
+survives a rooted hostility to the claims of the Vatican. Napoleon's
+_Coup d'Etat_, which followed quickly on the heels of this dramatic act
+of Papal aggression, scarcely took the nation more completely by
+surprise. No Vatican decree could well have proved more unpopular, and
+even Canon Liddon is obliged to admit that the bishops, with one
+solitary exception, 'threw the weight of their authority on the side of
+popular and short-sighted passion.'[20]
+
+Pius IX. knew nothing of the English character, but Cardinal Wiseman, at
+least, could not plead ignorance of the real issues at stake; and
+therefore his grandiloquent and, under all the circumstances, ridiculous
+pastoral letter, which he dated 'From out of the Flaminian Gate at
+Rome,' was justly regarded as an insult to the religious convictions of
+the vast majority of the English people. Anglicans and Nonconformists
+alike resented such an authoritative deliverance, and presently the old
+'No Popery' cry rang like a clarion through the land. Dr. Newman, with
+the zeal of a pervert, preached a sermon on the revival of the Catholic
+Church, and in the course of it he stated that the 'people of England,
+who for so many years have been separated from the See of Rome, are
+about, of their own will, to be added to the Holy Church.' The words
+were, doubtless, spoken in good faith, for the great leader of the
+Oxford Movement naturally expected that those who had espoused his
+views, like honest men, would follow his example. Dr. Pusey, however,
+was a more astute ecclesiastical statesman than Cardinal Wiseman. He was
+in favour of a 'very moderate' declaration against Rome, for the
+resources of compromise were evidently in his eyes not exhausted. The
+truth was, Pusey and Keble, by a course of action which to this day
+remains a standing riddle to the Papacy on the one hand, and to
+Protestantism on the other, threw dust in the eyes of Pius IX., and
+were the real authors of Papal aggression. Lord John Russell saw this
+quite clearly, and in proof of such an assertion it is only necessary to
+appeal to his famous Durham Letter. He had watched the drift of
+ecclesiastical opinion, and had seen with concern that the tide was
+running swiftly in the direction of Rome.
+
+England had renounced the Papal supremacy for the space of 300 years,
+and had grown strong in the liberty which had followed the downfall of
+such thraldom. Oxford had taught Rome to tempt England; the leaders of
+the so-called Anglican revival were responsible for the flourish of
+trumpets at the Vatican. Lord John's ecclesiastical appointments called
+forth sharp criticism. He was a Protestant of the old uncompromising
+type, with leanings towards advanced thought in Biblical criticism. He
+knew, moreover, what Puritanism had done for the English nation in the
+seventeenth century, and made no secret of his conviction that it was
+the Nonconformists, more than any other class, who had rendered civil
+and religious liberty possible. He moreover knew that in his own time
+they, more than any other part of the community, had carried the Reform
+Bill, brought about the abolition of slavery, and established Free
+Trade. He had been brought into contact with their leaders, and was
+beginning to perceive, with the nation at large, how paltry and
+inadequate were the claims of a rigid Churchmanship, since the true
+apostolical succession is a matter of altitude of spiritual devotion,
+and borrows none of its rights from the pretensions of clerical caste.
+
+  [Sidenote: THE DURHAM LETTER]
+
+The Durham Letter was written from Downing Street, on November 4, 1850.
+It gained its name because it was addressed to the Premier's old friend
+Dr. Maltby, Bishop of Durham, and appeared in the newspapers on the day
+on which it was dated. Lord John declared that he had not only promoted
+to the utmost of his power the claims of Roman Catholics to all civil
+rights, but had deemed it not merely just, but desirable, that that
+Church should impart religious instruction to the 'numerous Irish
+immigrants in London and elsewhere, who, without such help, would have
+been left in heathen ignorance.' He believed that this might have been
+accomplished without any such innovation as that which the Papacy now
+contemplated. He laid stress on the assumption of power made in all the
+documents on the subject which had come from Rome, and he protested
+against such pretensions as inconsistent with the Queen's supremacy,
+with the rights of the bishops and clergy, and with the spiritual
+independence of the nation. He confessed that his alarm was not equal to
+his indignation, since Englishmen would never again allow any foreign
+prince or potentate to impose a yoke on their minds and consciences. He
+hinted at legislative action on the subject, and then proceeded to take
+up his parable against the Tractarians in the following unmistakeable
+terms: 'There is a danger, however, which alarms me much more than the
+aggression of a foreign sovereign. Clergymen of our Church who have
+subscribed the Thirty-nine Articles and have acknowledged in explicit
+terms the Queen's supremacy, have been the most forward in leading their
+flocks, step by step, to the verge of the precipice. The honour paid to
+saints, the claim of infallibility for the Church, the superstitious use
+of the sign of the Cross, the muttering of the Liturgy so as to disguise
+the language in which it was written, the recommendation of auricular
+confession, and the administration of penance and absolution--all these
+things are pointed out by clergymen as worthy of adoption, and are now
+openly reprehended by the Bishop of London in his Charge to the clergy
+of his diocese. What, then, is the danger to be apprehended from a
+foreign prince of no power, compared to the danger within the gates from
+the unworthy sons of the Church of England herself? I have but little
+hope that the propounders and framers of these innovations will desist
+from their insidious course; but I rely with confidence on the people of
+England, and I will not bate a jot of heart or life so long as the
+glorious principles and the immortal martyrs of the Reformation shall be
+held in reverence by the great mass of a nation, which look with
+contempt on the mummeries of superstition, and with scorn at the
+laborious endeavours which are now being made to confine the intellect
+and enslave the soul.'
+
+  [Sidenote: 'NO POPERY']
+
+Lord John's manifesto was as fuel to the flames. All over the kingdom
+preparations were in progress at the moment for a national carnival--now
+fallen largely into disrepute. Guy Fawkes was hastily dethroned, and the
+Pope and Cardinal Wiseman were paraded in effigy through the streets of
+London, Exeter, and other cities, and burnt at nightfall amid the jeers
+of the crowd. Petitions began to pour in against Papal aggression, and
+the literature of the subject, in controversial tract, pamphlet, and
+volume, grew suddenly not less bewildering than formidable. The arrival
+in London of Father Gavazzi, an ex-priest of commanding presence and
+impassioned oratory, helped to arouse still further the Protestant
+spirit of the nation. The Press, the pulpit, the platform, formed a
+triple alliance against the Vatican, and the indignant rejection of the
+Pope's claims may be said to have been carried by acclamation. Clamour
+ran riot through the land, and spent its force in noisy demonstrations.
+The Catholics met the tumult, on the whole, with praiseworthy
+moderation, and presently signs of the inevitable reaction began to
+appear. Lord John's colleagues were not of one mind as to the wisdom of
+the Durham Letter, for if there is one taunt before which an ordinary
+Englishman quails, it is the accusation of religious bigotry.
+
+The Durham Letter was an instance in which Lord John's zeal outran his
+discretion.[21] Lord Shaftesbury, who was in the thick of the tumult,
+and has left a vivid description of it in his journal,[22] declared that
+Cardinal Wiseman's manifesto, in spite of its audacity, was likely to
+prove 'more hurtful to the shooter than to the target.' Looking back at
+the crisis, after an interval of more than forty years, the same
+criticism seems to apply with added force to the Durham Letter. Lord
+John overshot the mark, and his accusations wounded those whom he did
+not intend to attack, and in the recoil of public opinion his own
+reputation suffered. He resented, with pardonable warmth, the attitude
+of the Vatican, and was jealous of any infringement, from that or any
+other quarter, of the Queen's supremacy in her own realms. The most
+damaging sentences in the Durham Letter were not directed against the
+Catholics, either in Rome, England, or Ireland, but against the
+Tractarian clergymen--men whom he regarded as 'unworthy sons of the
+Church of England.' The Catholics, incensed at the denial of the Pope's
+supremacy, were, however, in no mood to make distinctions, and they have
+interpreted Lord John's strictures on Dr. Pusey and his followers as an
+attack on their own religious faith. The consequence was that the
+manifesto was regarded, especially in Ireland, not merely as a protest
+against the politics of the Vatican, but as a sweeping censure on the
+creed of Rome. Lord John's character and past services might have
+shielded him from such a construction being placed upon his words, for
+he had proved, on more than one historic occasion, his devotion to the
+cause of religious liberty. Disraeli, writing to his sister in November,
+said: 'I think John Russell is in a scrape. I understand that his party
+are furious with him. The Irish are frantic. If he goes on with the
+Protestant movement he will be thrown over by the Papists; if he
+shuffles with the Protestants, their blood is too high to be silent now,
+and they will come to us. I think Johnny is checkmated.'[23]
+
+  [Sidenote: UNDER WHICH FLAG?]
+
+For the moment, however, passion and prejudice everywhere ran riot, and
+on both sides of the controversy common sense and common fairness were
+forgotten. A representative Irish politician of a later generation has
+not failed to observe the irony of the position. 'It was a curious
+incident in political history,' declares Mr. Justin McCarthy, 'that Lord
+John Russell, who had more than any Englishman then living been
+identified with the principles of religious liberty, who had sat at the
+feet of Fox, and had for his closest friend the Catholic poet Thomas
+Moore, came to be regarded by Roman Catholics as the bitterest enemy of
+their creed and their rights of worship.'[24] It is easy to cavil at
+Lord John Russell's interpretation of the Oxford Movement, and to assert
+that the accusations of the Durham Letter were due to bigotry and panic.
+He believed, in common with thousands of other distressed Churchmen,
+that the Tractarians were foes within the gates of the Establishment. He
+regarded them, moreover, as ministers of religion who were hostile to
+the work of the Reformation, and therefore he deemed that they were in a
+false position in the Anglican Church. Their priestly claims and
+sacerdotal rites, their obvious sympathies and avowed convictions,
+separated them sharply from ordinary clergymen, and were difficult to
+reconcile with adherence to the principles of Protestantism. Like many
+other men at the time, and still more of to-day, he was at a loss to
+discover how ecclesiastics of such a stamp could remain in the ministry
+of the Church of England, when they seemed to ordinary eyes to be in
+league with Rome. The prelates, almost to a man, were hotly opposed to
+the Tractarians when Lord John wrote the Durham Letter. They shared his
+convictions and applauded his action. Since then many things have
+happened. The Oxford Movement has triumphed, and has done so largely by
+the self-sacrificing devotion of its adherents. It has summoned to its
+aid art and music, learning and eloquence; it has appealed to the
+aesthetic and emotional elements in human nature; it has led captive the
+imagination of many by its dramatic revival of mediaeval ideas and
+methods; and it has stilled by its assumption of authority the
+restlessness of souls, too weary to argue, too troubled to rebel. The
+bishops of to-day have grown either quite friendly towards the Oxford
+Movement, or else discreetly tolerant. Yet, when all this is admitted,
+it does nothing towards proving that Lord John Russell was a mistaken
+alarmist. The Durham Letter and its impassioned protest have been
+justified by the logic of events. It is easy for men to be charitable
+who have slipped their convictions.
+
+Possibly it was not judicious on Lord John's part to be so zealously
+affected in the matter. That is, perhaps, open to dispute, but the
+question remains: Was he mistaken in principle? He saw clergymen of the
+English Church, Protestant at least in name, 'leading their flocks step
+by step to the very verge of the precipice,' and he took up his parable
+against them, and pointed out the danger to the hitherto accepted faith
+and practice of the English Church. One of the most distinguished
+prelates of the Anglican Church in the Queen's reign has not hesitated
+to assert that the tenets against which Lord John Russell protested in
+the Durham Letter were, in his judgment, of a kind which are
+'destructive of all reasonable faith, and reduce worship to a mere
+belief in spells and priestcraft.' Cardinal Vaughan, it is needless to
+say, does not sympathise with such a view. He, however, has opinions on
+the subject which are worthy of the attention of those who think that
+Lord John was a mere alarmist. His Eminence delivered a suggestive
+address at Preston on September 10, 1894, on the 'Re-Union of
+Christendom.' He thinks--and it is idle to deny that he has good ground
+for thinking--that, in spite of bishops, lawyers, and legislature,
+Delphic judgments at Lambeth, and spasmodic protests up and down the
+country, a change in doctrine and ritual is in progress in the Anglican
+Church which can only be described as a revolution. He asserts that the
+'Real Presence, the sacrifice of the Mass, offered for the living and
+the dead, no infrequent reservation of the Sacrament, regular auricular
+confession, Extreme Unction, Purgatory, prayers for the dead, devotions
+to Our Lady, to her Immaculate Conception, the use of her Rosary, and
+the invocation of saints, are doctrines taught and accepted, with a
+growing desire and relish for them, in the Church of England.'
+
+Cardinal Vaughan also declares that the present churches of the
+Establishment are 'often distinguishable only with extreme difficulty
+from those belonging to the Church of Rome.' Such statements are either
+true or false. If false, they are open to contradiction; if true, they
+justify in substance the position taken up in the Durham Letter. Towards
+the close of his life, Lord John told Mr. Lecky that he did not regret
+his action, and to the last he maintained that he was right in the
+protest which he made in the Durham Letter. Yet he acknowledged, as he
+looked back upon the affair, that he might have softened certain
+expressions in it with advantage. Parliament met on February 4, 1851,
+and the Queen's Speech contained the following passage: 'The recent
+assumption of certain ecclesiastical titles conferred by a foreign Power
+has excited strong feelings in this country; and large bodies of my
+subjects have presented addresses to me expressing attachment to the
+Throne, and praying that such assumptions should be resisted. I have
+assured them of my resolution to maintain the rights of my crown and the
+independence of the nation against all encroachments, from whatsoever
+quarter they may proceed.'
+
+  [Sidenote: THE GIST OF THE WHOLE MATTER]
+
+Three days later, Lord John introduced the Ecclesiastical Titles Bill.
+The measure prohibited the assumption of territorial titles by Roman
+Catholic bishops; but there is truth in the assertion that no enactment
+of the kind could prevent other persons from giving the dignitaries of
+the Catholic Church such titles, and, as a matter of fact, the attempt
+to deprive them of the distinction led to its ostentatious adoption. The
+proposal to render null and void gifts or religious endowments acquired
+by the new prelates was abandoned in the course of the acrimonious
+debates which followed. Other difficulties arose, and Ireland was
+declared to be exempt from the operation of the measure. The object of
+the bill, declared Lord John Russell, was merely to assert the supremacy
+of the Crown. Nothing was further from his thought than to play the part
+of a religious persecutor. He merely wished to draw a sharp and
+unmistakeable line of demarcation between the spiritual jurisdiction of
+the Pope over the adherents of the Roman Catholic Church in the Queen's
+realms, and such an act of Papal aggression as was involved in the claim
+of Pius IX. to grant ecclesiastical titles borrowed from places in the
+United Kingdom.
+
+The bill satisfied neither the friends nor the foes of Roman
+Catholicism. It was persistently regarded by the one as an attack on
+religious liberty, and by the other as quite inadequate as a bulwark of
+Protestantism. Nevertheless it became law, but not before the summer of
+1851, when the agitation had spent its force. It was regarded almost as
+a dead letter from the first, and, though it remained on the
+Statute-book for twenty years, its repeal was a foregone conclusion.
+When it was revoked in 1871 the temper of the nation had changed, and no
+one was inclined to make even a passing protest. John Leech, in a
+cartoon in _Punch_, caught the droll aspect of the situation with even
+more than his customary skill. Lord John relished the joke, even though
+he recognised that it was not likely to prove of service to him at the
+next General Election. In conversation with a friend he said: 'Do you
+remember a cartoon in _Punch_ where I was represented as a little boy
+writing "No Popery" on a wall and running away?' The answer was a smile
+of assent. 'Well,' he added, 'that was very severe, and did my
+Government a great deal of harm, but I was so convinced that it was not
+maliciously meant that I sent for John Leech, and asked him what I
+could do for him. He said that he should like a nomination for his son
+to the Charterhouse, and I gave it to him. That is how I used my
+patronage.'
+
+  [Sidenote: A MINISTERIAL CRISIS]
+
+Meanwhile, when the Ecclesiastical Titles Bill was still under
+discussion, a Ministerial crisis had arisen. Finance was never the
+strong point of the first Russell Administration, and Sir Charles Wood's
+Budget gave widespread dissatisfaction. Mr. Locke King heightened the
+embarrassment of the moment by bringing forward a motion for placing the
+county and borough franchise on an equal basis; and before the
+discussion of the Budget could be renewed this motion was carried
+against the Government, though in a small House, by a majority of almost
+two to one. Lord John Russell met the hostile vote by immediate
+resignation; and Lord Stanley--who four months later became Earl of
+Derby--was summoned to Windsor and attempted to form a Ministry. His
+efforts were, however, unsuccessful, for Peel had left the Tory party
+not merely disorganised but full of warring elements. Lord John,
+therefore, returned to office in March, and Locke King's measure was
+promptly thrown out by a majority of more than two hundred. The London
+season of that year was rendered memorable by the opening of the Great
+Exhibition, amid universal plaudits and dreams of long-continued peace
+amongst the nations. As the year closed Lord Palmerston's ill-advised
+action over the _Coup d'Etat_ in France brought about, as we have
+already seen, his dismissal, a circumstance which still further weakened
+the Russell Cabinet.
+
+The year 1852 opened darkly for Lord John. Difficulties, small and
+great, seemed thickening around him. He had been called to power at a
+singularly trying moment, and no one who looks dispassionately at the
+policy which he pursued between the years 1846 and 1852 can fail to
+recognise that he had at least tried to do his duty. There is a touch of
+pathos in the harassed statesman's reply to a letter of congratulation
+which reached him on the threshold of the new year from a near relative,
+and it is worthy of quotation, since it reveals the attitude of the man
+on far greater questions than those with which he was beset at the
+moment: 'I cannot say that the new year is a happy one to me. Political
+troubles are too thick for my weak sight to penetrate them, but we all
+rest in the mercy of God, who will dispose of us as He thinks best.'[25]
+When Parliament met in February, Lord Palmerston's opportunity came. On
+the heels of the panic about Papal aggression came widespread alarm as
+to the policy which Napoleon III. might pursue towards this country. The
+fear of invasion grew strong in the land, and patriotic fervour
+restlessly clamoured for prompt legislative action. Forty years ago, in
+every town and village of England there were people who could speak from
+personal knowledge concerning the reign of terror which the first
+Napoleon, by his conquering march over Europe and his threatened descent
+on the English shores, had established, and, as a consequence, though
+with diminished force, the old consternation suddenly revived.
+
+  [Sidenote: PALMERSTON'S 'TIT-FOR-TAT']
+
+Lord John Russell had no more real fear of Napoleon than he had of the
+Pope, but he rose to the occasion and brought before Parliament a
+measure for the reorganisation of the local Militia. He believed that
+such a force, with national enthusiasm at its back, was sufficient to
+repel invasion--a contingency which, in common with other responsible
+statesmen, he did not regard as more than remote. Lord Palmerston,
+however, posing as the candid friend of the nation, and the
+exceptionally well-informed ex-Foreign Minister, professed to see rocks
+ahead, and there were--at all events for the Russell Administration. In
+England, any appeal to the Jingo instincts of the populace is certain to
+meet with a more or less hysterical welcome, and Palmerston more than
+once took advantage of the fact. He expressed his dissatisfaction with
+Lord John's Militia Bill, and by a majority of eleven carried an
+amendment to it. Lord John met the hostile demonstration by resignation,
+and, though Palmerston professed to be surprised at such a result, his
+real opinion leaps to light in the historic sentence which he wrote to
+his brother on February 24: 'I have had my tit-for-tat with John
+Russell, and I turned him out on Friday last.' One hitherto unpublished
+reminiscence of that crisis deserves to be recorded, especially as it
+throws into passing relief Lord John's generosity of temper: 'I
+remember,' states his brother-in-law and at one time private secretary,
+the Hon. George Elliot, 'being indignant with Lord Palmerston, after he
+had been dismissed by Lord John, bringing forward a verbal amendment on
+the Militia Bill in 1852--a mere pretext by which the Government was
+overthrown. But Lord John would not at all enter into my feelings, and
+said, "It's all fair. I dealt him a blow, and he has given me one in
+return."'
+
+Lord John's interest in the question of Parliamentary Reform was
+life-long. It was one of the subjects on which his views were in
+complete divergence with those of Lord Palmerston. Just before the
+'tit-for-tat' amendment, the Premier brought forward a new scheme on the
+subject which he had reluctantly waived in 1849 in deference to the
+wishes of the majority of his colleagues, who then regarded such a
+proposal as premature. At the beginning of 1852 Lord John had overcome
+such obstacles, and he accordingly introduced his new Reform Bill, as if
+anxious to wipe out before his retirement from office the reproach which
+the sobriquet of 'Finality Jack' had unjustly cast upon him. He proposed
+to extend the suffrage by reducing the county qualification to 20_l._,
+and the borough to 5_l._, and by granting the franchise to persons
+paying forty shillings yearly in direct taxation. He also proposed to
+abolish the property qualification of English and Irish members of
+Parliament, and to extend the boundaries of boroughs having less than
+500 electors. Lord Palmerston's hostile action of course compelled the
+abandonment of this measure, and it is worthy of passing remark that, on
+the night before his defeat, Lord John made a chivalrous and splendid
+defence of Lord Clarendon, in answer to an attack, not merely on the
+policy, but on the personal character of the Viceroy of Ireland.
+
+  [Sidenote: A CONFLICT OF OPINION]
+
+Sudden as the fall of the Russell Administration was, it can hardly be
+described as unexpected, and many causes, most of which have already
+been indicated in these pages, contributed to bring it about. Albany
+Fonblanque, one of the shrewdest contemporary observers of men and
+movements, gathered the political gossip of the moment together in a
+paragraph which sets forth in graphic fashion the tumult of opinion in
+the spring of 1852. 'Lord John Russell has fallen, and all are agreed
+that he is greatly to blame for falling; but hardly any two men agree
+about the immediate cause of his fall. "It was the Durham Letter," says
+one. "Not a jot," replies another; "the Durham Letter was quite right,
+and would have strengthened him prodigiously if it had been followed up
+by a vigorous anti-Papal measure: it was the paltry bill that destroyed
+him." "The Ecclesiastical Titles Bill," interposes a third, "did just
+enough in doing next to nothing: no, it was the house tax in the Budget
+that did the mischief." "The house tax might have been got over," puts
+in another, "but the proposal of the income tax, with all its injustices
+unmitigated, doomed Lord John." "Not a whit," rejoins a Radical
+reformer, "the income tax is popular, especially with people who don't
+pay it; Lord John's opposition to Locke King's motion sealed his fate."
+"Locke King's division was a flea-bite," cries a staunch Protestant,
+"the Pope has done it all."'
+
+Stress has been laid in these pages on the attempts of the Russell
+Administration to deal with an acute and terrible phase of the eternal
+Irish problem, as well as to set forth in outline the difficulties which
+it encountered in regard to its foreign policy through the cavalier
+attitude and bid for personal ascendency of Lord Palmerston. The five or
+six years during which Lord John Russell was at the head of affairs were
+marked by a succession of panics which heightened immeasurably the
+difficulties of his position. One was purely commercial, but it threw
+gloom over the country, brought stagnation to trade, and political
+discontent followed in its train, which in turn reacted on the prospects
+of the Government. The Irish famine and the rebellion which followed in
+its wake taxed the resources of the Cabinet to the utmost, and the
+efforts which were made by the Ministry to grapple with the evil have
+scarcely received even yet due recognition. The Chartist movement, the
+agitation over the Papal claims and the fear of invasion, are landmarks
+in the turbulent and menacing annals of the time.
+
+The repeal of the Navigation Act bore witness to Lord John's zealous
+determination to extend the principles of Free Trade, and the Jewish
+Disabilities Bill--which was rejected by the House of Lords--is itself a
+sufficient answer to those who, because of his resistance, not to the
+spiritual claims, but to the political arrogance of the Vatican, have
+ventured to charge him with a lack of religious toleration. He himself
+once declared that as a statesman he had received as much favour as he
+had deserved; he added that, where his measures had miscarried, he did
+not attribute the failure to animosity or misrepresentation, but rather
+to errors which he had himself committed from mistaken judgment or an
+erroneous interpretation of facts. No one who looks at Lord John
+Russell's career with simple justice, to say nothing of generosity, can
+doubt the truth of his words. 'I believe, I may say, that my ends have
+been honest. I have looked to the happiness of my country as the object
+to which my efforts ought to be directed.'
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[19] _Life of Lord Palmerston_, by the Hon. Evelyn Ashley, vol. ii. p.
+95.
+
+[20] _Life of E. B. Pusey, D.D._, by H. P. Liddon, D.D., vol. iii. p.
+292. Longmans & Co.
+
+[21] Cobden described it as 'a Guy Fawkes outcry,' and predicted the
+fall of the Ministry.
+
+[22] See _Life and Work of the Seventh Earl of Shaftesbury_, by Edwin
+Hodder, pp. 429-435.
+
+[23] _Lord Beaconsfield's Correspondence with his Sister_ (1832-1852),
+p. 249. London: John Murray.
+
+[24] _History of Our Own Times_, by Justin McCarthy, M.P. vol. ii. pp.
+85, 86.
+
+[25] _Life of Lord John Russell_, by Spencer Walpole, vol. ii p. 143.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+COALITION BUT NOT UNION
+
+1852-1853
+
+     The Aberdeen Ministry--Warring elements--Mr. Gladstone's
+     position--Lord John at the Foreign Office and Leader of the
+     House--Lady Russell's criticism of Lord Macaulay's statement--A
+     small cloud in the East--Lord Shaftesbury has his doubts
+
+
+THERE is no need to linger over the history of the next few months, for
+in a political sense they were barren and unfruitful. The first Derby
+Administration possessed no elements of strength, and quickly proved a
+mere stop-gap Cabinet. Its tenure of power was not only brief but
+inglorious. The new Ministers took office in February, and they left it
+in December. Lord Palmerston may be said to have given them their
+chance, and Mr. Gladstone gave them their _coup de grace_. The Derby
+Administration was summoned into existence because Lord Palmerston
+carried his amendment on the Militia Bill, and it refused to lag
+superfluous on the stage after the crushing defeat which followed Mr.
+Gladstone's brilliant attack on the Budget of Mr. Disraeli. The chief
+legislative achievement of this short-lived Government was an extension
+of the Bribery Act, which Lord John Russell had introduced in 1841. A
+measure was now passed providing for a searching investigation of
+corrupt practices by commissioners appointed by the Crown. The affairs
+of New Zealand were also placed on a sound political basis. A General
+Election occurred in the summer, but before the new Parliament met in
+the autumn the nation was called to mourn the death of the Duke of
+Wellington. The old soldier had won the crowning victory of Waterloo
+four years before the Queen's birth, and yet he survived long enough to
+grace with his presence the opening ceremony of the Great
+Exhibition--that magnificent triumph of the arts of peace which was held
+in London in the summer of 1851. The remarkable personal ascendency
+which the Duke of Wellington achieved because of his splendid record as
+a soldier, though backed by high personal character, was not thrown on
+the side of either liberty or progress when the hero transferred his
+services from the camp to the cabinet. As a soldier, Wellington shone
+without a rival, but as a statesman he was an obstinate reactionary.
+Perhaps his solitary claim to political regard is that he, more than any
+other man, wrung from the weak hands of George IV. a reluctant consent
+to Catholic Emancipation--a concession which could no longer be refused
+with safety, and one which had been delayed for the lifetime of a
+generation through rigid adherence in high places to antiquated
+prejudices and unreasoning alarm.
+
+The strength of parties in the new Parliament proved to be nearly evenly
+balanced. Indeed, the Liberals were only in a majority of sixteen, if
+the small but compact phalanx of forty Peelites be left for the moment
+out of the reckoning. The Conservatives had, in truth, gained ground in
+the country through the reverses of one kind and another which had
+overtaken their opponents. Lord Palmerston, always fond, to borrow his
+own phrase, of striking from his own bat, declared in airy fashion that
+Lord John had given him with dismissal independence, and, though Lord
+Derby offered him a seat in his Cabinet, he was too shrewd and
+far-seeing a statesman to accept it. The Liberal party was divided about
+Lord Palmerston, and that fact led to vacillation at the polling booths.
+Ardent Protestants were disappointed that the Durham Letter had been
+followed by what they regarded as weak and insufficient legislative
+action, whilst some of the phrases of that outspoken manifesto still
+rankled in the minds of ardent High Churchmen. The old Conservative
+party had been smashed by Peel's adoption of Free Trade, and the new
+Conservative party which was struggling into existence still looked
+askance at the pretensions of Mr. Disraeli, who, thanks to his own
+ability and to the persistent advocacy of his claims in earlier years by
+his now departed friend, Lord George Bentinck, was fairly seated in the
+saddle, and inclined to use both whip and spurs.
+
+  [Sidenote: DISRAELI'S POSITION]
+
+In the autobiography recently published of the late Sir William
+Gregory[26] a vivid description will be found of the way in which the
+aristocracy and the squires 'kicked at the supremacy of one whom they
+looked at as a mountebank;' and on the same page will be found the
+remarkable assertion that it was nothing but Mr. Disraeli's claim to
+lead the Conservative party which prevented Mr. Gladstone from joining
+it in 1852.[27] Disraeli's borrowed heroics in his pompous oration in
+the House of Commons on the occasion of the death of Wellington, and his
+errors in tactics and taste as leader of the House, heightened the
+prevailing impression that, even if the result of the General Election
+had been different, the Derby Administration was doomed to failure. All
+through the autumn the quidnuncs at the clubs were busy predicting the
+probable course of events, and more or less absurd rumours ran round the
+town concerning the statesmen who were likely to succeed to power in the
+event of Derby's resignation. The choice in reality lay between Russell,
+Palmerston, and Aberdeen, for Lansdowne was out of health, and therefore
+out of the question.
+
+As in a mirror Lady Russell's journal reflects what she calls the alarm
+in the Whig camp at the rumour of the intended resignation of the Derby
+Cabinet if Disraeli's financial proposals were defeated, and the hurried
+consultations which followed between Lord Lansdowne, Lord Aberdeen, and
+Lord John, Sir James Graham, Mr. Cobden, and Mr. Bright. Two days before
+the division which overthrew the Government on December 17, Lord John
+was at Woburn, and his brother, the Duke of Bedford, asked him what
+course he thought the Queen should adopt in case the Ministry was
+beaten. He replied that her Majesty, under such circumstances, ought to
+send for Lord Lansdowne and Lord Aberdeen. This was the course which the
+Queen adopted, but Lord Lansdowne, old and ill, felt powerless to
+respond to the summons. Meanwhile, Lord John, who certainly possessed
+the strongest claims--a circumstance which was recognised at the time by
+Mr. Gladstone--had determined from a sense of public duty not to press
+them, for he recognised that neither Palmerston nor the Peelites, who,
+for the moment, in the nice balance of parties, commanded the situation,
+would serve under him. He had led the Liberal forces for a long term of
+years, both in power and in opposition, and neither his devotion nor his
+ability was open to question, in spite of the offence which he had
+given, on the one hand to a powerful colleague, and on the other to
+powerful interests.
+
+  [Sidenote: LORD ABERDEEN]
+
+Lord Aberdeen was regarded by the followers of Peel as their leader. He
+was a favourite at Court, and a statesman of established reputation of
+the doctrinaire type, but he was not a man who ever excited, or probably
+was capable of exciting, popular enthusiasm. On the day after Disraeli's
+defeat Lord Aberdeen met Lord John by chance in the Park, and the
+latter, waiving personal ambition, told him that, though he could say
+nothing decisive for the moment, he thought he should accept office
+under him. On the morrow Lord Aberdeen was summoned to Osborne, and
+accepted the task of forming an Administration. Next day her Majesty
+wrote to Lord John announcing the fact, and the letter ended with the
+following passage: 'The Queen thinks the moment to have arrived when a
+popular, efficient, and durable Government could be formed by the
+sincere and united efforts of all professing Conservative and Liberal
+opinions. The Queen, knowing that this can only be effected by the
+patriotic sacrifice of personal interests and feelings to the public,
+trusts that Lord John Russell will, as far as he is able, give his
+valuable and powerful assistance to the realisation of this object.'
+This communication found Lord John halting between two opinions.
+Palmerston had declined to serve under him, and he might, with even
+greater propriety, in his turn have refused to serve under Aberdeen. His
+own health, which was never strong, had suffered through the long strain
+of office in years which had been marked by famine and rebellion. He had
+just begun to revel, to quote his own words, in 'all the delights of
+freedom from red boxes, with the privilege of fresh air and mountain
+prospects.'
+
+  [Sidenote: 'SHOEBLACK' TO ABERDEEN]
+
+He had already found the recreation of a busy man, and was engrossed in
+the preparation of the 'Memoirs and Journal' of his friend, Thomas
+Moore. The poet had died in February of that year, and Lord John, with
+characteristic goodwill, had undertaken to edit his voluminous papers in
+order to help a widow without wounding her pride. In fact, on many
+grounds he might reasonably have stood aside, and he certainly would
+have done so if personal motives had counted most with him, or if he had
+been the self-seeker which some of his detractors have imagined. Here
+Lord Macaulay comes to our help with a vivid account of what he terms an
+eventful day--one of the dark days before Christmas--on which the
+possibility of a Coalition Government under Aberdeen was still doubtful.
+Macaulay states that he went to Lansdowne House, on December 20, on a
+hasty summons to find its master and Lord John in consultation over the
+Queen's letter. He was asked his opinion of the document and duly gave
+it. 'Then Lord John said that of course he should try to help Lord
+Aberdeen: but how? There were two ways. He might take the lead of the
+Commons with the Foreign Office, or he might refuse office, and give his
+support from the back benches. I adjured him not to think of this last
+course, and I argued it with him during a quarter of an hour with, I
+thought, a great flow of thoughts and words. I was encouraged by Lord
+Lansdowne, who nodded, smiled, and rubbed his hands at everything I
+said. I reminded him that the Duke of Wellington had taken the Foreign
+Office after having been at the Treasury, and I quoted his own pretty
+speech to the Duke. "You said, Lord John, that we could not all win
+battles of Waterloo, but that we might all imitate the old man's
+patriotism, sense of duty, and indifference to selfish interests; and
+vanities when the public welfare was concerned; and now is the time for
+you to make a sacrifice. Your past services and your name give us a
+right to expect it." He went away, evidently much impressed by what had
+been said, and promising to consult others. When he was gone, Lord
+Lansdowne told me that I had come just as opportunely as Bluecher did at
+Waterloo.'[28] It is only right to state that Lady Russell demurs to
+some parts of this account of her husband's attitude at the crisis.
+Nothing could be further from the truth than that Lord John's
+vacillation was due to personal motives, or that his hesitation arose
+from his reluctance to take any office short of the Premiership. Lady
+Russell adds 'this never for one moment weighed with him, so that he did
+not require Lord Macaulay or Lord Lansdowne to argue him out of the
+objection.' Lord John's difficulty was based upon the 'improbability of
+agreement in a Cabinet so composed, and therefore the probable evil to
+the country.' Letters written by Lady Russell at the moment to a
+relative, of too private a character to quote, give additional weight to
+this statement. One homely remark made at the time may, however, be
+cited. Lady Russell declared that her husband would not mind being
+'shoeblack to Lord Aberdeen' if it would serve the country.
+
+The Aberdeen Ministry came into existence just as the year 1852 was
+ending. It was, in truth, a strange bit of mosaic work, fashioned with
+curious art, as the result of negotiations between the Whigs and the
+Peelites which had extended over a period of nearly six months. It
+represented the triumph of expediency, but it awakened little enthusiasm
+in spite of the much-vaunted ability and experience of its members.
+Derby and Disraeli were left out on the one side and Cobden and Bright
+on the other, a circumstance, however, which did not prevent men
+comparing the Coalition Government to the short-lived but famous
+Ministry of all the Talents. The nation rubbed its eyes and wondered
+whether good or evil was in store when it saw Peel's lieutenants rowing
+in the same boat with Russell. The vanished leader, however, was
+responsible for such a strange turn of the wheel, for everyone
+recognised that Sir Robert had 'steered his fleet into the enemy's
+port.' His followers came to power through the dilemma of the moment and
+the temporary eclipse of politicians of more resolute convictions. The
+Whigs were divided, and with Ireland they were discredited, whilst the
+Radicals were still clamouring at the doors of Downing Street with small
+chance of admission, in spite of their growing power in the country. The
+little clique of Peelites played their cards adroitly, and though they
+were, to a large extent, a party without followers, they were masters of
+the situation, and Russell and Palmerston, in consequence, were the only
+men of commanding personality, outside their own ranks, who were
+admitted to the chief seats in the new Cabinet. Russell became Foreign
+Secretary, whilst Palmerston took control of the Home Office.
+
+  [Sidenote: ONE OF LIFE'S LITTLE IRONIES]
+
+So great was the rush for place that Lord Derby with a smile informed
+the Queen that, as so many former Ministers expected a seat, he thought
+that less than thirty-two could hardly be the number of the new Cabinet.
+Tories of the old school looked on with amazement, and Radicals of the
+new with suspicion. All things seemed possible in the excitement of
+parties. 'Tom Baring said to me last night,' Greville remarks, '"Can't
+you make room for Disraeli in this Coalition Government?" I said: "Why,
+will you give him to us?" "Oh yes," he said, "you shall have him with
+pleasure."' Great expectations were, however, ruthlessly nipped in the
+bud, and the Cabinet, instead of being unwieldy, was uncommonly small,
+for it consisted only of thirteen members--an unlucky start, if old
+wives' fables are to be believed. Five of Sir Robert Peel's
+colleagues--the Premier, the Duke of Newcastle, Sir James Graham, Mr.
+Sidney Herbert, and Mr. Gladstone--represented the moderately
+progressive views of their old leader. Russell and Palmerston
+represented the Whigs, but, thanks to one of life's little ironies, the
+statesman who passed the Reform Bill was installed for the moment at the
+Foreign Office, and the Minister who was a Liberal abroad and a
+Conservative at home was intrusted with the internal affairs of the
+nation. The truth was, Lord Palmerston was impossible at the Foreign
+Office if Lord Aberdeen was at the Treasury, for the two men were
+diametrically opposed in regard to the policy which England ought to
+adopt in her relations with Europe in general, and Russia in particular.
+In fact, if Lord John Russell was for the moment out of the reckoning as
+Premier, Lord Palmerston ought unquestionably to have had the reversion
+of power. Unfortunately, though growingly popular in the country, he had
+rendered himself unwelcome at Court, where Lord Aberdeen, on the
+contrary, had long been a trusted adviser.
+
+Even if it be granted that neither Russell nor Palmerston was admissible
+as leader, it was a palpable blunder to exclude from Cabinet rank men
+of clean-cut convictions like Cobden and Bright. They had a large
+following in the country, and had won their spurs in the Anti-Corn-Law
+struggle. They represented the aspirations of the most active section of
+the Liberal Party, and they also possessed the spell which eloquence and
+sincerity never fail to throw over the imagination of the people. They
+were not judged worthy, however, and Milner Gibson, in spite of his
+services as a member of the Russell Cabinet, was also debarred from
+office; whilst Mr. Charles Villiers, whose social claims could not be
+entirely overlooked, found his not inconsiderable services to the people
+rewarded by subordinate rank. The view which was taken at Court of the
+Aberdeen Ministry is recorded in the 'Life of the Prince Consort.' The
+Queen regarded the Cabinet as 'the realisation of the country's and our
+own most ardent wishes;'[29] and in her Majesty's view the words
+'brilliant' and 'strong' described the new Government. Brilliant it
+might be, but strong it assuredly was not, for it was pervaded by the
+spirit of mutual distrust, and circumstances conspired to accentuate the
+wide divergence of opinion which lurked beneath the surface harmony.
+However such a union of warring forces might be agreeable to the Queen,
+the belief that it realised the 'most ardent wishes' of the nation was
+not widely held outside the Court, for 'England,' to borrow Disraeli's
+familiar but significant phrase, 'does not love Coalitions.' In the
+Aberdeen Cabinet, party interests were banded together in office; but
+the vivifying influences of unity of conviction and common sentiment
+were absent from its deliberations. After all, as Sir Edward Bulwer
+Lytton drily remarked when the inevitable crisis arose, there is 'one
+indisputable element of a Coalition Government, and that is that its
+members should coalesce.' As a matter of fact, they not only drifted
+into war but drifted apart. 'It is a powerful team and will require good
+driving,' was the comment of a shrewd political observer. 'There are
+some odd tempers and queer ways among them.'
+
+  [Sidenote: ABERDEEN AS DRIVER]
+
+Lord Aberdeen had many virtues, but he was not a good driver, and when
+the horses grew restive and kicked over the traces, he lacked nerve,
+hesitated, and was lost. Trained for political life at the side of
+Pitt,[30] after a distinguished career in diplomacy, which made him
+known in all the Courts of Europe, he entered the Cabinet of the Duke of
+Wellington in 1828, and afterwards held the post of Secretary for the
+Colonies in the first Peel Administration of 1834, and that of Secretary
+for Foreign Affairs during Sir Robert's final spell of power in the
+years 1841-46. He never sat in the House of Commons, but, though a Tory
+peer, he voted for Catholic Emancipation. He swiftly fell into line,
+however, with his party, and recorded his vote against the Reform Bill.
+He never, perhaps, quite understood the temper of a popular assembly,
+for he was a shy, reserved man, sparing in speech and punctilious in
+manner. Close association with Wellington and Peel had, of course, done
+much to shape his outlook on affairs, and much acquaintance with the
+etiquette of foreign Courts had insensibly led him to cultivate the
+habit of formal reserve. Born in the same year as Palmerston, the
+Premier possessed neither the openness to new ideas nor the vivacity of
+his masterful colleague; in fact, Lord Aberdeen at sixty-eight, unlike
+Lord Palmerston, was an old man in temperament, as well as conservative,
+in the sense of one not given to change. Yet, it is only fair to add
+that, if Aberdeen's views of foreign policy were of a somewhat
+stereotyped kind, he was, at all events at this period in their careers,
+more progressive on home policy than Palmerston, who was too much
+inclined not to move for the social welfare of the people before he was
+compelled.
+
+The new Ministry ran well until it was hindered by complications in the
+East. In the middle of February, a few days after the meeting of
+Parliament, Lord John retired from the Foreign Office, and led the House
+through the session with great ability, but without taking office. It is
+important to remember that he had only accepted the Foreign Office under
+strong pressure, and as a temporary expedient. It was, however,
+understood that he was at liberty at any moment to relinquish the
+Foreign Office in favour of Lord Clarendon, if he found the duties too
+onerous to discharge in conjunction with the task of leadership in the
+Commons. The session of 1853 was rendered memorable by the display of
+Mr. Gladstone's skill in finance; and the first Budget of the new
+Chancellor of the Exchequer was in every sense in splendid contrast with
+the miserable fiasco of the previous year, when Mr. Disraeli was
+responsible for proposals which, as Sir George Cornewall Lewis said,
+were of a kind that flesh and blood could not stand. The trade of the
+country had revived, and, with tranquility, some degree of prosperity
+had returned, even to Ireland. Lord John Russell, true to his policy of
+religious equality, brought forward the Jewish Disabilities Bill, but
+the House of Lords, with equal consistency, threw out the measure. The
+Law of Transportation was altered, and a new India Bill was passed,
+which threw open the Civil Service to competition. Many financial
+reforms were introduced, a new proposal was made for a wider extent of
+elementary education, and much legislative activity in a variety of
+directions was displayed.
+
+  [Sidenote: THE COALITION GOVERNMENT]
+
+Lord Aberdeen had taken office under pressure and from a sense of duty.
+It had few attractions for him, and he looked forward with quiet
+satisfaction to release from its cares. Lord Stanmore's authority can be
+cited for the statement that in the summer of 1853 his father deemed
+that the time had come when he might retire in Lord John Russell's
+favour, in accordance with an arrangement which had been made in general
+terms when the Cabinet was formed. There were members of the Coalition
+Government who were opposed to this step; but Lord Aberdeen anticipated
+no serious difficulty in carrying out the proposal. Suddenly the aspect
+of affairs grew not merely critical but menacing, and the Prime Minister
+found himself confronted by complications abroad, from which he felt it
+would be despicable to retreat by the easy method of personal
+resignation. There is not the slightest occasion, nor, indeed, is this
+the place, to recount the vicissitudes of the Aberdeen Administration in
+its baffled struggles against the alternative of war. The achievements
+of the Coalition Government, no less than its failures, with much of its
+secret history, have already been told with praiseworthy candour and
+intimate knowledge by Lord Stanmore, who as a young man acted as private
+secretary to his father, Lord Aberdeen, through the stress and storm of
+those fateful years. It is therefore only necessary in these pages to
+state the broad outlines of the story, and to indicate Lord John
+Russell's position in the least popular Cabinet of the Queen's reign.
+
+Lord Shaftesbury jotted down in his journal, when the new Ministry came
+into office, these words, and they sum up pretty accurately the
+situation, and the common verdict upon it: 'Aberdeen Prime Minister,
+Lord John Russell Minister for Foreign Affairs. Is it possible that this
+arrangement should prosper? Can the Liberal policy of Lord John square
+with the restrictive policy of Lord Aberdeen? I wish them joy and a safe
+deliverance.'
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[26] _Sir William Gregory, K.C.M.G.: an Autobiography_, edited by Lady
+Gregory, pp. 92, 93.
+
+[27] Mr. Gladstone's comment on this statement is that it is interesting
+as coming from an acute contemporary observer. At the same time it
+expresses an opinion and presents no facts. Mr. Gladstone adds that he
+is not aware that the question of re-union with the Conservative party
+was ever presented to him in such a way as to embrace the relations to
+Mr. Disraeli.
+
+[28] _Life and Letters of Lord Macaulay_, by the Right Hon. Sir George
+Otto Trevelyan, M.P., vol. ii. p. 340.
+
+[29] Sir Theodore Martin's _Life of the Prince Consort_, vol. ii. p.
+483.
+
+[30] Pitt became guardian to the young Lord Haddo in 1792.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+DOWNING STREET AND CONSTANTINOPLE
+
+1853
+
+     Causes of the Crimean War--Nicholas seizes his opportunity--The
+     Secret Memorandum--Napoleon and the susceptibilities of the
+     Vatican--Lord Stratford de Redcliffe and the Porte--Prince
+     Menschikoff shows his hand--Lord Aberdeen hopes against hope--Lord
+     Palmerston's opinion of the crisis--The Vienna Note--Lord John
+     grows restive--Sinope arouses England--The deadlock in the Cabinet.
+
+
+MANY causes conspired to bring about the war in the Crimea, though the
+pretext for the quarrel--a dispute between the monks of the Latin and
+Greek Churches concerning the custody of the Holy Places in
+Palestine--presents no element of difficulty. It is, however, no easy
+matter to gather up in a few pages the reasons which led to the war.
+Amongst the most prominent of them were the ambitious projects of the
+despotic Emperor Nicholas. The military revolt in his own capital at the
+period of his accession, and the Polish insurrections of 1830 and 1850,
+had rendered him harsh and imperious, and disinclined to concessions on
+any adequate scale to the restless but spasmodic demands for political
+reform in Russia. Gloomy and reserved though the Autocrat of All the
+Russias was, he recognised that it would be a mistake to rely for the
+pacification of his vast empire on the policy of masterly inactivity.
+His war with Persia, his invasion of Turkey, and the army which he sent
+to help Austria to settle her quarrel with Hungary, not only appealed
+to the pride of Russia, but provided so many outlets for the energy and
+ambition of her ruler. It was in the East that Nicholas saw his
+opportunity, and his policy was a revival, under the changed conditions
+of the times, of that of Peter the Great and Catherine II.
+
+Nicholas had long secretly chafed at the exclusion of his war-ships--by
+the provisions of the treaty of 1841--from access through the Black Sea
+to the Mediterranean, and he dreamed dreams of Constantinople, and saw
+visions of India. Linked to many lawless instincts, there was in the
+Emperor's personal character much of the intolerance of the fanatic.
+Religion and pride alike made the fact rankle in his breast that so many
+of the Sultan's subjects were Sclavs, and professed the Russian form of
+Christianity. He was, moreover, astute enough to see that a war which
+could be construed by the simple and devout peasantry as an attempt to
+uplift the standard of the Cross in the dominions of the Crescent would
+appeal at once to the clergy and populace of Holy Russia. Nicholas had
+persuaded himself that, with Lord Aberdeen at the head of affairs, and
+Palmerston in a place of safety at the Home Office, England was scarcely
+in a condition to give practical effect to her traditional jealousy of
+Russia. In the weakness of her divided counsels he saw his opportunity.
+It had become a fixed idea with the Emperor that Turkey was in a
+moribund condition; and neither Orloff nor Nesselrode had been able to
+disabuse his mind of the notion.
+
+  [Sidenote: NICHOLAS AND THE 'SICK MAN']
+
+Everyone is aware that in January 1853 the Emperor told the English
+Ambassador, Sir Hamilton Seymour, that Turkey was the 'sick man' of
+Europe, and ever since then the phrase has passed current and become
+historic. It was often on the lips of Nicholas, for he talked freely,
+and sometimes showed so little discretion that Nesselrode once declared,
+with fine irony, that the White Czar could not claim to be a
+diplomatist. The phrase cannot have startled Lord Aberdeen. It must have
+sounded, indeed, like the echo of words which the Emperor had uttered in
+London in the summer of 1844. Nicholas, on the occasion of his visit to
+England in that year, spoke freely about the Eastern Question, not
+merely to the Duke of Wellington, whose military prowess he greatly
+admired, but also to Sir Robert Peel and Lord Aberdeen, who was then
+Minister for Foreign Affairs. He told the latter in so many words that
+Turkey was a dying man, and did his best to impress the three English
+statesmen with the necessity for preparation in view of the approaching
+crisis. He stated that he foresaw that the time was coming when he would
+have to put his armies in movement, and added that Austria would be
+compelled to do the same. He protested that he made no claim to an inch
+of Turkish soil, but was prepared to dispute the right of anyone else to
+an inch of it--a palpable allusion to the French support of Mehemet Ali.
+It was too soon to stipulate what should be done when the 'sick man's'
+last hour had run its course. All he wanted, he maintained, was the
+basis of an understanding.
+
+In Nicholas's opinion England ought to make common cause with Russia and
+Austria, and he did not disguise his jealousy of France. It was clear
+that he dreaded the growth of close union between England and France,
+and for Louis Philippe then, as for Louis Napoleon afterwards, his
+feeling was one of coldness if not of actual disdain. The Emperor
+Nicholas won golden opinions amongst all classes during his short stay
+in England. Sir Theodore Martin's 'Life of the Prince Consort,' and
+especially the letter which is published in its pages from the Queen to
+King Leopold, showed the marked impression which was made at Windsor by
+his handsome presence, his apparently unstudied confidences, the
+simplicity and charm of his manners, and the adroitness of his
+well-turned compliments. Whenever the Autocrat of All the Russias
+appeared in public, at a military review, or the Opera, or at Ascot, he
+received an ovation, and Baron Stockmar, with dry cynicism, has not
+failed to record the lavish gifts of 'endless snuff-boxes and large
+presents' which made his departure memorable to the Court officials. Out
+of this visit grew, though the world knew nothing of it then, the Secret
+Memorandum, drawn up by Peel, Wellington, and Aberdeen, and signed by
+them as well as by the Emperor himself. This document, though it
+actually committed England to nothing more serious than the recognition
+in black and white of the desperate straits of the Porte, and the fact
+that England and Russia were alike concerned in maintaining the _status
+quo_ in Turkey, dwelt significantly on the fact that, in the event of a
+crisis in Turkey, Russia and England were to come to an understanding
+with each other as to what concerted action they should take. The
+agreement already existing between Russia and Austria was significantly
+emphasised in the document, and stress was laid on the fact that if
+England joined the compact, France would have no alternative but to
+accept the decision.
+
+  [Sidenote: A FRIEND AT COURT]
+
+There can be no question that Nicholas attached an exaggerated
+importance to this memorandum. It expressed his opinion rather than the
+determination of the Peel Administration; but a half-barbaric despot not
+unnaturally imagined that when the responsible advisers of the Crown
+entered into a secret agreement with him, no matter how vague its terms
+might appear when subjected to critical analysis, England and himself
+were practically of one mind. When the Coalition Government was formed,
+two of the three statesmen, whom the Emperor Nicholas regarded as his
+friends at Court, were dead, but the third, in the person of Lord
+Aberdeen, had succeeded, by an unexpected turn of the wheel, to the
+chief place in the new Ministry. Long before the Imperial visit to
+London the Emperor had honoured Lord Aberdeen with his friendship, and,
+now that the Foreign Minister of 1844 was the Prime Minister of 1853,
+the opportune moment for energetic action seemed to have arrived.
+Nicholas, accordingly, now hinted that if the 'sick man' died England
+should seize Egypt and Crete, and that the European provinces of Turkey
+should be formed into independent states under Russian protection. He
+met, however, with no response, for the English Cabinet by this time saw
+that the impending collapse of Turkey, on which Nicholas laid such
+emphatic stress, was by no means a foregone conclusion. Napoleon and
+Palmerston had, moreover, drawn France and England into friendly
+alliance. There was no shadow of doubt that the Christian subjects of
+Turkey were grossly oppressed, and it is only fair to believe that
+Nicholas, as the head of the Greek Church, was honestly anxious to rid
+them of such thraldom. At the same time no one imagined that he was
+exactly the ruler to expend blood and treasure, in the risks of war, in
+the _role_ of a Defender of the Faith.
+
+Count Vitzthum doubts whether the Emperor really contemplated the taking
+of Constantinople, but it is plain that he meant to crush the Turkish
+Empire, and England, knowing that the man had masterful instincts and
+ambitious schemes--that suggest, at all events, a passing comparison
+with Napoleon Bonaparte--took alarm at his restlessness, and the menace
+to India, which it seemed to suggest. 'If we do not stop the Russians on
+the Danube,' said Lord John Russell, 'we shall have to stop them on the
+Indus.' It is now a matter of common knowledge that, when the Crimean
+War began, Nicholas had General Duhamel's scheme before him for an
+invasion of India through Asia. Such an advance, it was foreseen, would
+cripple England's resources in Europe by compelling her to despatch an
+army of defence to the East. It certainly looks, therefore, as if
+Russia, when hostilities in the Crimea actually began, was preparing
+herself for a sudden descent on Constantinople. Napoleon III., eager to
+conciliate the religious susceptibilities of his own subjects, as well
+as to gratify the Vatican, wished the Sultan to make the Latin monks the
+supreme custodians of the Holy Places. Complications, the issue of which
+it was impossible to forecast, appeared inevitable, and for the moment
+there seemed only one man who could grapple with the situation at
+Constantinople. Lord Palmerston altogether, and Lord John Russell in
+part, sympathised with the clamour which arose in the Press for the
+return of the Great Elchi to the Porte.
+
+  [Sidenote: LORD STRATFORD DE REDCLIFFE]
+
+In the entire annals of British diplomacy there is scarcely a more
+picturesque or virile figure than that of Lord Stratford de Redcliffe.
+Capacity for public affairs ran in the blood of the Cannings, as the
+three statues which to-day stand side by side in Westminster Abbey
+proudly attest. Those marble memorials represent George Canning, the
+great Foreign Minister, who in the famous, if grandiloquent, phrase
+'called the New World into existence to redress the balance of the Old;'
+his son Charles, Earl Canning, first Viceroy of India; and his cousin,
+Stratford Canning, Viscount Stratford de Redcliffe, who for a long term
+of years sought to quicken into newness of social and political life the
+broken and demoralised forces of the Ottoman Empire, and who practically
+dictated from Constantinople the policy of England in the East. He was
+born in 1786 and died in 1880. He entered the public service as a
+_precis_-writer at the Foreign Office, and rose swiftly in the
+profession of diplomacy. His acquaintance with Eastern affairs began in
+1808, when he was appointed First Secretary to Sir Robert Adair, whom he
+succeeded two years later at Constantinople as Minister Plenipotentiary.
+The Treaty of Bucharest, which in 1812 brought the war, then in progress
+between Russia and Turkey, to an end, was the first of a brilliant
+series of diplomatic triumphs, which established his reputation in all
+the Councils of Europe, and made him, in Lord Tennyson's words, 'The
+voice of England in the East.' After services in Switzerland, in
+Washington, and at the Congress of Vienna, Canning, in 1825, returned to
+Constantinople with the rank of Ambassador.
+
+He witnessed the overthrow of the Janissaries by Sultan Mahmoud II., and
+had his own experience of Turkish atrocities in the massacre which
+followed. He took a prominent part in the creation of the modern kingdom
+of Greece, and resigned his appointment in 1828, because of a conflict
+of opinion with Lord Aberdeen in the early stages of that movement.
+Afterwards, he was gazetted Ambassador to St. Petersburg; but the
+Emperor Nicholas, who by this time recognised the masterful qualities of
+the man, refused to receive him--a conspicuous slight, which Lord
+Stratford, who was as proud and irascible as the Czar, never forgave.
+Between the years 1842 and 1858 he again filled his old position as
+Ambassador to Constantinople, and during those years he won a unique
+ascendency--unmatched in the history of diplomacy--over men and
+movements in Turkey. He brought about many reforms, and made it his
+special concern to watch over the interests of the Christian subjects at
+the Porte, who styled him the 'Padishah of the Shah,' and that
+title--Sultan of the Sultan--exactly hit off the authority which he
+wielded, not always wisely, but always with good intent. It was an
+unfortunate circumstance that Lord Stratford, after his resignation in
+1852, should have been summoned back for a further spell of six years'
+tenure of power exactly at the moment when Nicholas, prompted by the
+knowledge of the absence from Constantinople of the man who had held him
+in check, and of the accession to power in Downing Street of a statesman
+of mild temper and friendly disposition to Russia, was beginning once
+more to push his claims in the East. Lord Stratford had many virtues,
+but he had also a violent and uncertain temper. He was a man of
+inflexible integrity, iron will, undeniable moral courage, and
+commanding force of character. Yet, for a great Ambassador, he was at
+times strangely undiplomatic, whilst the keenness of his political
+judgment and forecasts sometimes suffered eclipse through the strength
+of his personal antipathies.
+
+  [Sidenote: FAREWELL TO THE FOREIGN OFFICE]
+
+Meanwhile, Lord John Russell, who had expressly stipulated when the
+Cabinet was formed that he was only to hold the seals of the Foreign
+Office for a few weeks, convinced already that the position was
+untenable to a man of his views, insisted on being relieved of the
+office. The divergent views in the Cabinet on the Eastern Question were
+making themselves felt, and Lord Aberdeen's eminently charitable
+interpretation of the Russian demands was little to the minds of men of
+the stamp of Palmerston and Russell, neither of whom was inclined to pin
+his faith so completely to the Czar's assurances. When Parliament met in
+February, Lord John quitted the Foreign Office and led the House of
+Commons without portfolio. His quick recognition of Mr. Gladstone's
+great qualities as a responsible statesman was not the least pleasing
+incident of the moment. In April, Lord Aberdeen once more made no secret
+of his determination to retire at the end of the session, and this
+intimation no doubt had its influence with the more restive of his
+colleagues.
+
+When Parliament rose, Lord John Russell's position in the country was
+admitted on all hands to be one of renewed strength, for, set free from
+an irksome position, he had thrown himself during the session with
+ardour into the congenial work of leader of the House of Commons. The
+resolution of the Cabinet to send Lord Stratford to Constantinople has
+already been stated. He received his instructions on February 25; in
+fact, he seems to have dictated them, for Lord Clarendon, who had just
+succeeded to the Foreign Office, made no secret of the circumstance that
+they were largely borrowed from the Ambassador's own notes. He was told
+that he was to proceed first to Paris, and then to Vienna, in order that
+he might know the minds of France and Austria on the issues at stake.
+Napoleon III. was to be assured that England relied on his cordial
+co-operation in maintaining the integrity and independence of the
+Turkish Empire. The young Emperor of Austria was to be informed that her
+Majesty's Government gladly recognised the fact that his attitude
+towards the Porte had not been changed by recent events, and that the
+policy of Austria in the East was not likely to be altered. Lord
+Stratford was to warn the Sultan and his advisers that the crisis was
+one which required the utmost prudence on their part if peace was to be
+preserved.
+
+The Sultan and his Ministers were practically to be told by Lord
+Stratford that they were the authors of their own misfortunes, and that,
+if they were to be extricated from them, they must place the 'utmost
+confidence in the sincerity and soundness of the advice' that he was
+commissioned to give them. He was further to lay stress on palpable
+abuses, and to urge the necessity of administrative reforms. 'It
+remains,' added Lord Clarendon, 'only for me to say that in the event,
+which her Majesty's Government earnestly hope may not arise, of imminent
+danger to the existence of the Turkish Government, your Excellency will
+in such case despatch a messenger to Malta requesting the Admiral to
+hold himself in readiness; but you will not direct him to approach the
+Dardanelles without positive instructions from her Majesty's
+Government.' The etiquette of Courts has to be respected, especially by
+Ambassadors charged with a difficult mission, but Lord Stratford's
+diplomatic visits to Paris and Vienna were unduly prolonged, and
+occupied more time than was desirable at such a crisis. He arrived at
+Constantinople on April 5, and was received, to his surprise, with a
+remarkable personal ovation. In Kinglake's phrase, his return was
+regarded as that 'of a king whose realm had been suffered to fall into
+danger.'
+
+The Czar's envoy, Prince Menschikoff, had already been on the scene for
+five weeks. If Russia meant peace, the choice of such a representative
+was unfortunate. Menschikoff was a brusque soldier, rough and impolitic
+of speech, and by no means inclined to conform to accepted methods of
+procedure. He refused to place himself in communication with the
+Foreign Minister of the Porte; and this was interpreted at Stamboul as
+an insult to the Sultan. The Grand Vizier, rushing to the conclusion
+that his master was in imminent danger, induced Colonel Rose, the
+British Charge d'Affaires, to order the Mediterranean Fleet, then at
+Malta, to proceed to Vourla. The Admiral, however, refused to lend
+himself to the panic, and sent back word that he waited instructions
+from London, a course which was afterwards approved by the Cabinet. The
+commotion at Stamboul was not lost upon Napoleon, though he knew that
+the English Cabinet was not anxious to precipitate matters. Eager to
+display his newly acquired power, he promptly sent instructions to the
+French Fleet to proceed to Salamis. Meanwhile Prince Menschikoff, who
+had adopted a more conciliatory attitude on the question of the Holy
+Places, with the result that negotiations were proceeding
+satisfactorily, assumed shortly before the arrival of Lord Stratford a
+more defiant manner, and startled the Porte by the sudden announcement
+of new demands. He claimed that a formal treaty should be drawn up,
+recognising in the most ample, not to say abject, terms, the right of
+Russia to establish a Protectorate over the Christian subjects of the
+Porte. This meant, as Lord Clarendon pointed out at the time, that
+fourteen millions of people would henceforth regard the Czar as their
+defender, whilst their allegiance to the Sultan would become little more
+than nominal, and the position of the Turkish ruler would inevitably
+dwindle from independence to vassalage.
+
+  [Sidenote: TAKING THE BULL BY THE HORNS]
+
+Lord Stratford at once took the bull by the horns. Acting on his advice,
+the Porte refused even to entertain such proposals until the question of
+the Holy Places was settled. Within a month, through Lord Stratford's
+firmness, Russia and Turkey came to terms over the original point in
+dispute; but on the following day Menschikoff placed an ultimatum
+before the Porte, demanding that, within five days, his master's claim
+for the acknowledgment of the Russian Protectorate over the Sultan's
+Greek subjects should be accepted. The Sultan's Ministers, who
+interpreted the dramatic return of Lord Stratford to mean that they had
+England at their back, declined to accede, and their refusal was
+immediately followed by the departure of Prince Menschikoff. Repulsed in
+diplomacy, the Czar, on July 2, marched forty thousand troops across the
+frontier river, the Pruth, and occupied Moldavia and Wallachia. The
+Imperial manifesto stated that it was not the Czar's intention to
+commence war, but only to obtain such security as would ensure the
+restoration of the rights of Russia. This was, of course, high ground to
+take, and a conference of the Great Powers was hastily summoned, with
+the result that the French view of the situation was embodied by the
+assembled diplomatists in the Vienna Note, which was despatched
+simultaneously to Russia and Turkey. Lord John Russell, even before the
+arrival of Lord Stratford at Constantinople, had come to the conclusion
+that the Emperor of Russia was determined to pick a quarrel with Turkey;
+but Lord Aberdeen and his Peelite following were of another mind, and
+even Lord Clarendon seems for the moment to have been hoodwinked by the
+Czar's protestations.
+
+A month or two later the Foreign Minister saw matters in a different
+light, for he used in the House of Lords, in the summer of 1853, an
+expression which has become historic: 'We are drifting into war.' The
+quarrel at this stage--for the susceptibilities of France and of Rome
+had been appeased by the settlement of the question of the Holy
+Places--lay between Russia and Turkey, and England might have compelled
+the peace of Europe if she had known her own mind, and made both
+parties recognise in unmistakeable terms what was her policy. Lord John
+Russell had a policy, but no power to enforce it, whilst Lord Aberdeen
+had no policy which ordinary mortals could fathom, and had the power to
+keep the Cabinet--though scarcely Lord Stratford de Redcliffe--from
+taking any decided course. The Emperor Nicholas, relying on the Protocol
+which Lord Aberdeen had signed--under circumstances which, however, bore
+no resemblance to existing conditions--imagined that, with such a
+statesman at the head of affairs, England would not take up arms against
+Russia. Lord Aberdeen, to add to the complication, seemed unable to
+credit the hostile intentions of the Czar, even after the failure of the
+negotiations which followed the despatch of the Vienna Note. Yet as far
+back as June 19, Lord John Russell, in a memorandum to his colleagues,
+made a clear statement of the position of affairs. He held that, if
+Russia persisted in her demands and invaded Turkey, the interests of
+England in the East would compel us to aid the Sultan in defending his
+capital and his throne. On the other hand, if the Czar by a sudden
+movement seized Constantinople, we must be prepared to make war on
+Russia herself. In that case, he added, we ought to seek the alliance of
+France and Austria. France would willingly join; and England and France
+together might, if it were worth while, obtain the moral weight, if not
+the material support, of Austria in their favour.
+
+  [Sidenote: CAUTION HAS ITS PERFECT WORK]
+
+Lord Aberdeen responded with characteristic caution. He refused to
+entertain warlike forecasts, and wished for liberty to meet the
+emergency when it actually arose. Lord Palmerston, a week or two later,
+made an ineffectual attempt to persuade the Cabinet to send the Fleet to
+the Bosphorus without further delay. 'I think our position,' were his
+words on July 7, 'waiting timidly and submissively at the back door,
+whilst Russia is violently threatening and arrogantly forcing her way
+into the house, is unwise, with a view to a peaceful settlement.' Lord
+Aberdeen believed in the 'moderation' of a despot who took no pains to
+disguise his sovereign contempt for 'les chiens Turcs.' Lord Palmerston,
+on the other hand, made no secret of his opinion that it was the
+invariable policy of Russia to push forward her encroachment 'as fast
+and as far as the apathy or want of firmness' of other Governments would
+allow. He held that her plan was to 'stop and retire when she was met
+with decided resistance,' and then to wait until the next favourable
+opportunity arose to steal once more a march on Europe. There was, in
+short, a radical divergence in the Cabinet. When the compromise
+suggested in the Vienna Note was rejected, the chances of a European war
+were sensibly quickened, and all the more so because Lord Stratford,
+with his notorious personal grudge against the Czar, was more than any
+other man master of the situation. What that situation had become in the
+early autumn of 1853 is pithily expressed in a letter of Sir George
+Cornewall Lewis's to Sir Edmund Head: 'Everything is in a perplexed
+state at Constantinople. Russia is ashamed to recede, but afraid to
+strike. The Turks have collected a large army, and have blown up their
+fanaticism, and, reckoning on the support of England and France, are
+half inclined to try the chances of war. I think that both parties are
+in the wrong--Russia in making unjust demands, Turkey in resisting a
+reasonable settlement. War is quite on the cards, but I still persist in
+thinking it will be averted, unless some accidental spark fires the
+train.'[31]
+
+  [Sidenote: THE VIENNA NOTE]
+
+The Vienna Note was badly worded, and it failed as a scheme of
+compromise between the Porte and Russia. When it was sent in a draft
+form to St. Petersburg the Czar accepted it, doubtless because he saw
+that its statements were vague in a sense which might be interpreted to
+his advantage. At Constantinople the document swiftly evoked protest,
+and the Divan refused to sanction it without alteration. England,
+France, and Austria recognised the force of the amendments of Turkey,
+and united in urging Russia to adopt them. The Emperor Nicholas,
+however, was too proud a man to submit to dictation, especially from the
+Sultan, with Lord Stratford at his elbow, and declined to accede to the
+altered proposals. Lord John deemed that Turkey had a just cause of
+complaint, not in the mere fact of the rejection of her alterations to
+the Vienna Note, but because they were rejected after they had been
+submitted to the Czar. He told Lord Aberdeen that he hoped that Turkey
+would reject the new proposals, but he added that that would not wipe
+away the shame of their having been made. In a speech at Greenock, on
+September 19, Lord John said: 'While we endeavour to maintain peace, I
+certainly should be the last to forget that if peace cannot be
+maintained with honour, it is no longer peace. It becomes then but a
+truce--a precarious truce, to be denounced by others whenever they may
+think fit--whenever they may think that an opportunity has occurred to
+enforce by arms their unjust demands either upon us or upon our allies.'
+
+England and France refused to press the original Vienna Note on Turkey;
+but as Austria and Prussia thought that their reasons for abandoning
+negotiations were scarcely of sufficient force, they in turn declined to
+adopt the same policy. The concert of Europe was, in fact, broken by
+the failure of the Vienna Note, and the chances of peace grew suddenly
+remote. There is a saying that a man likes to believe what he wishes to
+be the fact, and its truth was illustrated at this juncture by both
+parties to the quarrel. The Czar persuaded himself that Austria and
+Prussia would give him their aid, and that England, under Aberdeen, was
+hardly likely to proceed to the extremity of war. The Sultan, on the
+other hand, emboldened by the movements of the French and English
+fleets, and still more by the presence and counsels of Lord Stratford,
+who was, to all intents and purposes, the master spirit at
+Constantinople, trusted--and with good reason as the issue proved--on
+the military support of England and France. It was plain enough that
+Turkey would go to the wall in a struggle with Russia, unless other
+nations which dreaded the possession of Constantinople by the Czar came,
+in their own interests, to her help. With the rejection by Russia of the
+Turkish amendments to the Vienna Note, and the difference of opinion
+which at once arose between the four mediating Powers as to the policy
+which it was best under the altered circumstances to pursue, a complete
+deadlock resulted.
+
+  [Sidenote: HOSTILITIES ON THE DANUBE]
+
+Lord John's view of the situation was expressed in a memorandum which he
+placed before the Cabinet, and in which he came to these conclusions:
+'That if Russia will not make peace on fair terms, we must appear in the
+field as the auxiliaries of Turkey; that if we are to act in conjunction
+with France as principals in the war, we must act not for the Sultan,
+but for the general interests of the population of European Turkey. How,
+and in what way, requires much further consideration, and concert
+possibly with Austria, certainly with France.' He desired not merely to
+resist Russian aggression, but also to make it plain to the Porte that
+we would in no case support it against its Christian subjects. The
+Cabinet was not prepared to adopt such a policy, and Lord John made no
+secret of his opinion that Lord Aberdeen's anxiety for peace and
+generous attitude toward the Czar were, in reality, provoking war. He
+believed that the Prime Minister's vacillation was disastrous in its
+influence, and that he ought, therefore, to retire and make way for a
+leader with a definite policy. The Danube, for the moment, was the great
+barrier to war, and both Russia and Turkey were afraid to cross it. Lord
+John believed that energetic measures in Downing Street at this juncture
+would have forestalled, and indeed prevented, activity of a less
+peaceful kind on the Danube. Meanwhile, despatches, projects, and
+proposals passed rapidly between the Great Powers, for never, as was
+remarked at the time by a prominent statesman, did any subject produce
+so much writing. Turkey--perhaps still more than Russia--was eager for
+war. Tumults in favour of it had broken out at Constantinople; and, what
+was more to the purpose, the finances and internal government of the
+country were in a state of confusion. Therefore, when the concert of the
+four Powers had been shattered, the Turks saw a better chance of drawing
+both England and France into their quarrel. At length, on October 10,
+the Porte sent an ultimatum to the commander of the Russian troops which
+had invaded Moldavia and Wallachia, demanding that they should fall back
+beyond the Pruth within fifteen days. On October 22 the war-ships of
+England and France passed the Dardanelles in order to protect and defend
+Turkish territory from any Russian attack. The Czar met what was
+virtually a declaration of war by asserting that he would neither retire
+nor act on the aggressive. Ten days after the expiration of the
+stipulated time, Omar Pacha, the Ottoman commander in Bulgaria, having
+crossed the Danube, attacked and vanquished the Russians on November 4
+at Oltenitza. The Czar at once accepted the challenge, and declared that
+he considered his pledge not to act on the offensive was no longer
+binding. The Russian fleet left Sebastopol, and, sailing into the
+harbour of Sinope, on the southern coast of the Black Sea, destroyed, on
+November 30, the Turkish squadron anchored in that port, and slew four
+thousand men.
+
+A significant light is thrown on the crisis in Sir Theodore Martin's
+'Life of the Prince Consort,'[32] where it is stated that the Czar
+addressed an autograph letter to the Queen, 'full of surprise that there
+should be any misunderstanding between her Majesty's Government and his
+own as to the affairs of Turkey, and appealing to her Majesty's "good
+faith" and "wisdom" to decide between them.' This letter, it is added,
+was at once submitted to Lord Clarendon for his and Lord Aberdeen's
+opinion. The Queen replied that Russia's interpretation of her treaty
+obligations in the particular instance in question was, in her Majesty's
+judgment and in the judgment of those best qualified to advise her, 'not
+susceptible of the extended meaning' put upon it. The Queen intimated in
+explicit terms that the demand which the Czar had made was one which the
+Sultan could hardly concede if he valued his own independence. The
+letter ended with an admission that the Czar's intentions towards Turkey
+were 'friendly and disinterested.' Sir Theodore Martin states that this
+letter, dated November 14, was submitted to Lord Aberdeen and Lord
+Clarendon, and was by them 'thought excellent.' Scarcely more than a
+fortnight elapsed when Russia's 'friendly and disinterested' feelings
+were displayed in her cruel onslaught at Sinope, and the statesmen who
+had prompted her Majesty's reply received a rude awakening. It became
+plain in the light of accomplished events that the wisdom which is
+profitable to direct had deserted her Majesty's chief advisers.
+
+  [Sidenote: MAKING HASTE SLOWLY]
+
+Lord Aberdeen always made haste slowly, and when other statesmen had
+abandoned hope he continued to lay stress on the resources of diplomacy.
+He admitted that he had long regarded the possibility of war between
+England and Russia with the 'utmost incredulity;' but even before Sinope
+his confidence in a peaceful solution of the difficulty was beginning to
+waver. He distrusted Lord Stratford, and yet he refused to recall him;
+he talked about the 'indignity' which Omar Pacha had inflicted on the
+Czar by his summons to evacuate the Principalities, although nothing
+could justify the presence of the Russian troops in Moldavia and
+Wallachia, and they had held their ground there for the space of three
+months. Even Lord Clarendon admitted that the Turks had displayed no
+lack of patience under the far greater insult of invasion. The
+'indignity' of notice to quit was, in fact, inevitable if the Sultan was
+to preserve a vestige of self-respect. Lord Aberdeen was calmly drafting
+fresh plans of pacification, requiring the Porte to abstain from
+hostilities 'during the progress of the negotiations undertaken on its
+behalf'[33] a fortnight after Turkey had actually sent her ultimatum to
+Russia; and the battle of Oltenitza was an affair of history before the
+despatch reached Constantinople. Lord Stanmore is inclined to blame Lord
+John Russell for giving the Turks a loophole of escape by inserting in
+the document the qualifying words 'for a reasonable time;' but his
+argument falls to the ground when it is remembered that this despatch
+was written on October 24, whilst the Turkish ultimatum had been sent to
+Russia on October 10. Sinope was a bitter surprise to Lord Aberdeen, and
+the 'furious passion' which Lord Stanmore declares it aroused in England
+went far to discredit the Coalition Ministry.
+
+Unfortunately, all through the crisis Lord Aberdeen appears to have
+attached unmerited weight to the advice of the weak members of his own
+Cabinet--men who, to borrow a phrase of Lord Palmerston's, were
+'inconvenient entities in council,' though hardly conspicuous either in
+their powers of debate or in their influence in the country. Politicians
+of the stamp of the Duke of Newcastle, Mr. Sidney Herbert, and Sir James
+Graham played a great part in Downing Street, whilst for the moment men
+of superior ability like Palmerston and Russell found their advice
+unheeded. More than any other man, Sir James Graham, now almost a
+forgotten statesman, was Lord Aberdeen's trusted colleague, and the
+wisdom of his advice was by no means always conspicuous; for rashness
+and timidity were oddly blended in his nature. 'The defeat of the Turks
+at Sinope upon our element, the sea,' wrote the Prince Consort to Baron
+Stockmar, 'has made the people furious; it is ascribed to Aberdeen
+having been bought over by Russia.'[34] The rumour which the Prince
+mentions about Lord Aberdeen was, of course, absurd, and everyone who
+knew the lofty personal character of the Prime Minister laughed it at
+once to scorn. Nevertheless, the fact that the Prince Consort should
+have thought such a statement worth chronicling is in itself
+significant; and though no man of brains in the country held such a
+view, at least two-thirds of the educated opinion of the nation
+regarded the Prime Minister with increasing disfavour, as a man who had
+dragged England, through humiliating negotiations, to the verge of war.
+
+  [Sidenote: ENGLAND RESENTS SINOPE]
+
+The destruction of the Turkish squadron at Sinope under the shadow of
+our fleet touched the pride of England to the quick. The nation lost all
+patience--as the contemptuous cartoons of 'Punch' show--with the endless
+parleyings of Aberdeen, and a loud and passionate cry for war filled the
+country. Lord Stanmore thinks that too much was made in the excitement
+of the 'massacre' of the Turkish sailors, and perhaps he is right.
+However that may be, the fact remains that the Russians at Sinope
+continued to storm with shot and shell the Turkish ships when those on
+board were no longer able to act on the defensive--a naval engagement
+which cannot be described as distinguished for valour. Perhaps the
+indignation might not have been so deep and widespread if the English
+people had not recognised that the Coalition Government had strained
+concession to the breaking point in the vain attempt to propitiate the
+Czar. All through the early autumn Lord Palmerston was aware that those
+in the Cabinet who were jealous of Russia had to reckon with 'private
+and verbal communications, given in all honesty, but tinctured by the
+personal bias of the Prime Minister,' to Baron Brunnow, which were doing
+'irreparable mischief' at St. Petersburg.[35] The nation did not relish
+Lord Aberdeen's personal friendship with the Czar, and now that Russia
+was beginning to show herself in her true colours, prejudice against a
+Prime Minister who had sought to explain away difficulties was natural,
+however unreasonable. The English people, moreover, had not forgotten
+that Russia ruthlessly crippled Poland in 1831, and lent her aid to the
+subjugation of Hungary in 1849. If the Sultan was the Lord of Misrule to
+English imagination in 1853, the Czar was the embodiment of despotism,
+and even less amenable to the modern ideas of liberty and toleration.
+The Manchester School, on the other hand, had provoked a reaction. The
+Great Exhibition had set a large section of the community dreaming, not
+of the millennium, but of Waterloo. Russia was looked upon as a standing
+menace to England's widening heritage in the East, and neither the logic
+of Cobden nor the rhetoric of Bright was of the least avail in stemming
+the torrent of national indignation.
+
+  [Sidenote: THE CONCLUSION OF THE WHOLE MATTER]
+
+When the Vienna Note became a dead letter Lord Aberdeen ought either to
+have adopted a clean-cut policy, which neither Russia nor Turkey could
+mistake, or else have carried out his twice-repeated purpose of
+resignation. Everyone admits that from the outset his position was one
+of great difficulty, but he increased it greatly by his practical
+refusal to grasp the nettle. He was not ambitious of power, but, on the
+contrary, longed for his quiet retreat at Haddo. He was on the verge of
+seventy and was essentially a man of few, but scholarly tastes. There
+can be no doubt that considerable pressure was put upon him both by the
+Court and the majority of his colleagues in the Cabinet, and this, with
+the changed aspect of affairs, and the mistaken sense of duty with
+regard to them, determined his course. His decision 'not to run away
+from the Eastern complication,' as Prince Albert worded it, placed both
+himself and Lord John Russell in somewhat of a false position. If Lord
+Aberdeen had followed his own inclination there is every likelihood that
+he would have carried out his arrangement to retire in favour of Lord
+John. His colleagues were not in the dark in regard to this arrangement
+when they joined the Ministry, and if not prepared to fall in with the
+proposal, they ought to have stated their objections at the time. There
+is some conflict of opinion as to the terms of the arrangement; but even
+if we take it to be what Lord Aberdeen's own friends represent it--not
+an absolute but a conditional pledge to retire--Lord Aberdeen was surely
+bound to ascertain at the outset whether the condition was one that
+could possibly be fulfilled. If the objection of his colleagues to
+retain office under Lord John as Prime Minister was insurmountable, then
+the qualified engagement to retire--if the Government would not be
+broken up by the process--was worthless, and Lord John was being drawn
+into the Cabinet by assurances given by the Prime Minister alone, but
+which he was powerless to fulfil without the co-operation of his
+colleagues. Lord Aberdeen was therefore determined to remain at his
+post, because Lord John was unpopular with the Cabinet, and Palmerston
+with the Court, and because he knew that the accession to power of
+either of them would mean the adoption of a spirited foreign policy.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[31] _Letters of Sir George Cornewall Lewis, Bart._, edited by his
+brother, Canon Frankland Lewis, p. 270.
+
+[32] Sir Theodore Martin's _Life of the Prince Consort_, ii. 530, 531.
+
+[33] Lord Stanmore's _Earl of Aberdeen_, p. 234.
+
+[34] Sir Theodore Martin's _Life of the Prince Consort_, ii. 534.
+
+[35] _Life of Lord Palmerston_, by the Hon. Evelyn Ashley, ii. 282.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+WAR HINDERS REFORM
+
+1854-1855
+
+     A Scheme of Reform--Palmerston's attitude--Lord John sore let and
+     hindered--Lord Stratford's diplomatic triumph--The Duke of
+     Newcastle and the War Office--The dash for
+     Sebastopol--Procrastination and its deadly work--The
+     Alma--Inkerman--The Duke's blunder--Famine and frost in the
+     trenches.
+
+
+ALL through the autumn of 1854 Lord John Russell was busy with a scheme
+of Parliamentary reform. The Government stood pledged to bring forward
+the measure, though a section of the Cabinet, and, notably Lord
+Palmerston, were opposed to such a course. As leader of the House, Lord
+John had announced that the question would be introduced to Parliament
+in the spring, and the Cabinet, therefore, took the subject into
+consideration when it resumed its meetings in November. A special
+committee was appointed, and Lord John placed his proposals before it.
+Every borough with less than three hundred electors was to be
+disfranchised, and towns with less than five hundred electors were to
+lose one of their representatives. Seventy seats, he argued, would be
+gained by this plan, and he suggested that they should be divided
+between the largest counties and the great towns. He proposed greatly
+diminishing the qualifications alike in counties and boroughs. He laid
+stress on the necessity of calling into existence triangular
+constituencies, in which no elector should have the power to vote for
+more than two of the three candidates, and wished also to deprive the
+freemen of their guild qualification. Lord Palmerston had no relish for
+the subject. His predilections, in fact, leaned in quite the opposite
+direction. If his manner was genial, his temper was conservative, and he
+was inclined to smile, if not to scoff, at politicians who met such
+problems of government with other than a light heart. He was therefore
+inclined at this juncture to adopt Lord Melbourne's attitude, and to
+meet Lord John with that statesman's famous remark, 'Why can't you let
+it alone?'
+
+  [Sidenote: PALMERSTON AND REFORM]
+
+Devotion to one idea, declared Goethe, is the condition of all
+greatness. Lord John was devoted from youth to age to the idea of
+Parliamentary reform, and in season and out was never inclined to
+abandon it. Probably Lord Palmerston would have adopted a less hostile
+attitude if he had been in his proper element at the Foreign Office; but
+being Home Secretary, he was inclined to kick against a measure which
+promised to throw into relief his own stationary position on one of the
+pet subjects of the party of progress. Whilst the Cabinet was still
+engaged in thrashing the subject out, tidings of the battle of Sinope
+reached England, and the popular indignation against Russia, which had
+been gathering all the autumn, burst forth, as has already been stated,
+into a fierce outcry against the Czar. Two days after the news of
+Russia's cowardly attack had been confirmed, Palmerston saw his
+opportunity, and promptly resigned. Doubtless such a step was determined
+by mixed motives. Objections to Lord John's proposals for Parliamentary
+reform at best only half explains the position, and behind such
+repugnance lay hostility to Lord Aberdeen's vacillating policy on the
+Eastern Question. The nation accepted Lord Palmerston's resignation in a
+matter-of-fact manner, which probably surprised no one more than
+himself. The Derbyites, oddly enough, made the most pother about the
+affair; but a man on the verge of seventy, and especially one like Lord
+Palmerston with few illusions, is apt to regard the task of forming a
+new party as a game which is not worth the candle. The truth is,
+Palmerston, like other clever men before and since, miscalculated his
+strength, and on Christmas Eve was back again in office. He had received
+assurances from his colleagues that the Reform proposals were still open
+to discussion; and, as the Cabinet had taken in his absence a decision
+on Turkish affairs which was in harmony with the views that he had
+persistently advocated, he determined to withdraw his resignation.
+
+The new year opened darkly with actual war, and with rumours of it on a
+far more terrible scale. 'My expectation is,' wrote Sir G. C. Lewis on
+January 4, 'that before long England and France will be at war with
+Russia; and as long as war lasts all means of internal improvement must
+slumber. The Reform Bill must remain on the shelf--if there is war; for
+a Government about to ask for large supplies and to impose war taxes,
+cannot propose a measure which is sure to create dispersion and to
+divide parties.' France, in spite of the action of the Emperor over the
+question of the Holy Places, had not displayed much interest in the
+quarrel; but a contemptuous retort which Nicholas made to Napoleon
+III.'s final letter in the interests of peace put an end to the national
+indifference. The words 'Russia will prove herself in 1854 what she was
+in 1812,' cut the national pride to the quick, and the cry on that side
+of the Channel as on this, was for war with Russia. The Fleets were
+ordered to enter the Black Sea, and on February 27 England and France
+sent a joint ultimatum to St. Petersburg, demanding that the Czar's
+troops should evacuate the Principalities by April 30.
+
+  [Sidenote: AN INDIGNANT PROTEST]
+
+The interval of suspense was seized by Lord John to place the Reform
+proposals of the Government before the House of Commons; but the nation
+was by this time restless, dissatisfied, and preoccupied, for the blast
+of the trumpet seemed already in the air. The second reading of the
+measure was fixed for the middle of March; but the increasing strain of
+the Eastern Question led Lord John to announce at the beginning of that
+month that the Government had decided not to bring forward the second
+reading until the end of April. This announcement led to a personal
+attack, and one member, whose name may be left in the oblivion which has
+overtaken it, had the audacity to hint that the leader of the House had
+never intended to proceed with the measure. Stung into sudden
+indignation by the taunt, Lord John promptly expressed his disdain of
+the opinion of a politician who had no claim whatever to speak in the
+name of Reform, and went on, with a touch of pardonable pride, to refer
+to his own lifelong association with the cause. When he turned to his
+opponent with the words, 'Does the honourable gentleman think he has a
+right to treat me----,' the House backed and buried his protest with its
+generous cheers. Lord John Russell, in power or out of it, was always
+jealous for the reputation of the responsible statesmen of the nation,
+and he did not let this occasion pass without laying emphasis on that
+point. 'I should be ashamed of myself if I were to prefer a concern for
+my own personal reputation to that which I understood to be for the
+interests of my country. But it seems to me that the character of the
+men who rule this country--whether they be at the moment in office or
+in opposition--is a matter of the utmost interest to the people of this
+country, and that it is of paramount importance that full confidence
+should be reposed in their character. It is, in fact, on the confidence
+of the people in the character of public men that the security of this
+country in a great degree depends.'
+
+A few days later it became plain that war was at hand, and a strong
+feeling prevailed in Parliament that the question of Reform ought to be
+shelved for a year. Lord John's position was one of great difficulty. He
+felt himself pledged on the subject, and, though recognising that a
+great and unexpected emergency had arisen, which altered the whole
+political outlook, he knew that with Lord Palmerston and others in the
+Ministry the question was not one of time, but of principle. The sinews
+of war had to be provided. Mr. Gladstone proposed to double the income
+tax, and Lord John urged that a period of increased taxation ought to be
+a period of widened political franchise. He therefore was averse to
+postponement, unless in a position to assure his Radical following that
+the Government recognised that it was committed to the question. Lord
+Aberdeen was only less anxious than Lord John for the adoption of a
+progressive and enlightened home policy; in fact, his attitude in his
+closing years on questions like Parliamentary reform was in marked
+contrast to his rigidly conservative views on foreign policy. He
+therefore determined to sound the Cabinet advocates of procrastination
+as to their real feeling about Reform, with the result that he saw
+clearly that Lord John Russell's fears were not groundless, since Lord
+Palmerston and Lord Lansdowne bluntly declared that they meant to retire
+from office if the Government went forward with the Bill.
+
+  [Sidenote: 'GOD DEFEND THE RIGHT']
+
+Lord John felt that he could not withdraw the Bill unconditionally, and
+therefore resignation seemed the only honourable course which was left.
+After deliberate consideration he could see no other choice in the
+matter, and, on April 8, relinquished his seat in the Cabinet. The
+Court, the Prime Minister and his colleagues saw at once the gravity of
+the position, for the Liberal party were restive enough under Lord
+Aberdeen, without the withdrawal from his Cabinet of a statesman of the
+first rank, who was not anxious for peace at any price. Lord John's
+position in the country at the moment rendered it probable that a
+quarrel with him would bring about the downfall of the Government. His
+zeal for Reform won him the respect and support of the great towns, and
+the determination which he shared with Palmerston to resist the
+intolerable attitude of the Czar made him popular with the crowd. A
+recent speech, delivered when Nicholas had recalled his Ambassador from
+London, had caught, moreover, the sympathies of all classes of the
+community. 'For my part, if most unexpectedly the Emperor of Russia
+should recede from his former demands, we shall all rejoice to be spared
+the pain, the efforts, and the burdens of war. But if peace is no longer
+consistent with our duty to England, with our duty to Europe, with our
+duty to the world, we can only endeavour to enter into this contest with
+a stout heart. May God defend the right, and I, for my part, shall be
+willing to bear my share of the burden and the responsibility.'
+
+John Leech, in one of his inimitable cartoons in 'Punch,' caught the
+situation with a flash of insight which almost amounted to genius, and
+Lord John became the hero of the hour. One verse out of a spirited poem
+entitled 'God defend the Right,' which appeared in 'Punch' at the time,
+may be quoted in passing, especially as it shows the patriotic fervour
+and the personal enthusiasm which Lord John Russell's speech evoked in
+the country:
+
+   'From humble homes and stately domes the cry goes through the air,
+     With the loftiness of challenge, the lowliness of prayer,
+   Honour to him who spoke the words in the Council of the Land,
+     To find faith in old England's heart, force in old England's hand.'
+
+A week before the appearance of these lines, the cartoon in 'Punch'
+represented Lord Aberdeen, significantly arrayed in Windsor uniform,
+vainly attempting to hold back the struggling British lion, which sees
+the Russian bear in the distance, and exclaiming, 'I _must_ let him go.'
+
+Lord John's resignation meant much, perhaps everything, to the
+Government. Great pressure was put upon him. The Queen and the Cabinet
+alike urged him to abandon his intention of retirement; whilst Lord
+Palmerston, with that personal chivalry which was characteristic of him,
+declared that in a moment of European crisis he could be better spared,
+and was ready to resign if Lord John insisted upon such terms, as the
+price for his own continuance in office. Every day the situation abroad
+was becoming more critical, and Lord John saw that it might imperil
+greater interests than any which were bound up with the progress of a
+party question to resist such appeals. He, therefore, on April 11
+withdrew his resignation, and received an ovation in the House of
+Commons when he made it plain that he was willing to thrust personal
+considerations aside in the interests of his colleagues, and for the
+welfare of his country. Mr. Edward Miall has described the scene. '"If
+it should be thought that the course he was taking would damage the
+cause of Reform"--the noble Lord paused, choked with the violence of his
+own emotions. Then arose a cheer from both sides of the House, loud and
+long continued.... Every eye was glistening with sudden moisture, and
+every heart was softened with genuine sympathy.... The effect was
+electric. Old prejudices long pent up, grudges, accumulated discontents,
+uncharitable suspicions, all melted away before that sudden outburst of
+a troubled heart.'[36]
+
+  [Sidenote: THE PLAN OF CAMPAIGN]
+
+Throughout the spring diplomacy was still busy, though it became every
+week more and more apparent that hostilities were inevitable. Lord
+Stratford achieved, what Lord Clarendon did not hesitate to term, a
+'great diplomatic triumph' when he won consent from the Porte to fresh
+terms in the interests of peace, which met with the approval, not only
+of England and France, but also of Austria and Prussia. The Czar began
+at length to realise the gravity of the situation when Austria moved in
+February fifty thousand men to the frontier of the territory which
+Russia had seized. When the Russian troops, a few months later,
+evacuated the Principalities, Austria and Prussia, whose alliance had
+been formed in defence of the interests of Germany, were no longer
+directly concerned in the quarrel. Thus the war which England and France
+declared at the end of March against Russia was one which they were left
+to pursue, with the help of Turkey, alone. Lord John Russell urged that
+it should be short and sharp, and with characteristic promptitude
+sketched out, with Lord Panmure's help, a plan of campaign. He urged
+that ten thousand men should at once be raised for the Army, five
+thousand for the Navy, and that the services of fifteen thousand more be
+added to the Militia. He laid stress on the importance of securing the
+active aid of Austria, for he thought that her co-operation might make
+the difference between a long and a short war. He proposed that Sweden
+should be drawn into the Alliance, with the view of striking a blow at
+Russia in the North as well as on her southern frontier. He also
+proposed that English and French troops should be massed at
+Constantinople, and submitted a plan of operations for the consideration
+of the Cabinet.
+
+Lord John knew perfectly well that radical changes were imperative in
+the administration of the Army. The Secretary for War was, oddly
+enough, Secretary for the Colonies as well, and there was also a
+Secretary at War, who controlled the finances at the bidding of the
+Commander-in-Chief. The Ordnance Department was under one management,
+the Commissariat under another, whilst the Militia fell within the
+province of a third, in the shape of the Home Office. Lord John Russell
+had seen enough of the outcome of divided counsels in the Cabinet, and
+insisted, in emphatic terms, on the necessity of separating the duties
+of the War and Colonial Departments, and of giving the Minister who held
+the former post undisputed control over all branches of the executive.
+
+It was perhaps an undesigned coincidence, but none the less unfortunate,
+that the statesmen in the Aberdeen Government who were directly
+concerned with the war were former colleagues of Sir Robert Peel. Lord
+Aberdeen's repugnance to hostilities with Russia was so notorious that
+the other Peelites in the Cabinet fell under the suspicion of apathy;
+and the nation, exasperated at the Czar's bombastic language and
+high-handed action, was not in the mood to make fine distinctions. The
+Duke of Newcastle and his friend, Mr. Sidney Herbert, were regarded,
+perhaps unjustly, as lukewarm about the approaching campaign; but it was
+upon the former that the brunt of public censure ultimately fell. The
+Duke was Secretary for War and the Colonies. It was an odd combination
+of offices which had existed for more than half a century. The tradition
+is that it had been brought about in order that the Secretary for the
+Colonies, who at the beginning of the century had comparatively little
+to do, but who possessed large patronage, might use that patronage on
+behalf of deserving military men.
+
+  [Sidenote: THE DUKE OF NEWCASTLE'S FAILURE]
+
+In the immediate prospect of hostilities, it was felt to be imperative
+that two posts of such responsibility should not be held by the same
+Minister; but the Duke was adverse to the proposed change. It was,
+however, brought about in the early summer, and the Duke was given his
+choice of the two posts. He decided to relinquish the Colonies, and thus
+the burden of the approaching conflict fell upon him by his own
+deliberate act. Sir George Grey was appointed to the vacant office. The
+Duke of Newcastle's ambition outstripped his ability, and the choice
+which he made was disastrous both to himself and to the nation. Because
+some men are born great, they have greatness of another kind thrust upon
+them; and too often it happens that responsibility makes plain the lack
+of capacity, which the glamour neither of rank nor of place can long
+conceal. The Duke of Newcastle was born to greatness--for in the middle
+of the century the highest rank in the Peerage counted for more in
+politics than it does to-day--but he certainly did not achieve it as War
+Minister.
+
+There is no need to relate here the more than twice-told story of the
+Crimean War. Its incidents have been described by historians and
+soldiers; and, of late, gallant officers who took part in it have
+retraced its course and revived its memories. In one sense it is a
+glorious chapter in the annals of the Queen's reign, and yet there are
+circumstances connected with it which every Englishman, worthy of the
+name, would gladly forget. Although the nation did not take up arms with
+a light heart, its judgment was clouded by passion; and the first great
+war since Waterloo caught the imagination of the people, especially as
+Lord Raglan, one of the old Peninsular heroes, was in command of the
+Army of Invasion. England and France were not satisfied merely to
+blockade the Black Sea and crush the commerce of Russia. They determined
+to strike at the heart of the Czar's power in the East, and therefore
+the Allies made a dash at the great arsenal and fort of Sebastopol. It
+did not enter into their reckoning that there might be a protracted
+siege. What they anticipated was a swift march, a sudden attack, and the
+capture of the stronghold by bombardment. The allied forces--25,000
+English soldiers, 23,000 French, and about 5,000 Turks--landed in the
+Crimea in September, 1854, and stormed the heights of the Alma on the
+20th of that month. Then they hesitated, and their chance of reducing
+Sebastopol that autumn was lost. 'I have been very slow to enter into
+this war,' said Lord Aberdeen to an alderman at a banquet in the City.
+'Yes,' was the brusque retort, 'and you will be equally slow to get out
+of it.'
+
+  [Sidenote: BALACLAVA AND INKERMAN]
+
+Divided counsels prevailed in the camp as well as in the Cabinet.
+Cholera attacked the troops, and stores began to fail. Prince
+Menschikoff, defeated at Alma, seized the opportunity which the delay
+gave him to render the harbour of Sebastopol impassable to hostile
+ships; and General Todleben brought his skill as an engineer to the task
+of strengthening by earthworks the fortifications of the Russian
+stronghold. The Allies made the blunder of marching on Sebastopol from
+the southern instead of the northern side of the harbour, and this gave
+time to the enemy to receive strong reinforcements, with the result that
+120,000 men were massed behind the Russian fortifications. Meanwhile a
+rumour that Sebastopol had fallen awakened short-lived rejoicings in
+England and France. The tidings were contradicted in twenty-four hours,
+but most people thought, on that exciting 3rd of October, that the war
+was virtually at an end. The Emperor Napoleon announced the imaginary
+victory of their comrades in arms to his assembled troops. Even Mr.
+Gladstone was deceived for the moment, and there is a letter of his in
+existence to one of the most prominent of his colleagues, full of
+congratulation at such a result. The chagrin of the nation was great
+when it learnt that the Russians were not merely holding their own, but
+were acting on the aggressive; whilst the disappointment was quickened
+by the lack of vigour displayed by the Cabinet. The Allies fought, on
+October 25, the glorious yet indecisive battle of Balaclava, which was
+for ever rendered memorable by the useless but superb charge of the
+Light Brigade. Less than a fortnight later, on November 5, the Russians
+renewed the attack, and took the English by surprise. A desperate
+hand-to-hand struggle against overwhelming odds ensued. Then the French
+came to the aid of the English troops, and the battle of Inkerman was
+won.
+
+As the winter approached, the position of the Allies grew perilous, and
+it seemed likely that the plans of the invaders would miscarry, and the
+besieging Allies be reduced to the position of the besieged. Before the
+middle of November winter set in with severity along the shores of the
+Black Sea, and a hurricane raged, which destroyed the tents of the
+troops, and wrecked more than a score of ships, which were carrying
+stores of ammunition and clothing. As the winter advanced, with bleak
+winds and blinding snow, the shivering, ill-fed soldiers perished in
+ever-increasing numbers under the twofold attack of privation and
+pestilence. The Army had been despatched to the Crimea in the summer,
+and, as no one imagined that the campaign would last beyond the early
+autumn, the brave fellows in the trenches of Sebastopol were called to
+confront the sudden descent of winter without the necessary stores. It
+was then that the War Office awoke slowly to the terrible nature of the
+crisis. Lord John Russell had made his protest months before against the
+dilatory action of that department, and, though he knew that personal
+odium was sure to follow, endeavoured at the eleventh hour to persuade
+Lord Aberdeen to take decisive action. 'We are in the midst of a great
+war,' were his words to the Premier on November 17. 'In order to carry
+on that war with efficiency, either the Prime Minister must be
+constantly urging, hastening, completing the military preparations, or
+the Minister of War must be strong enough to control other departments.'
+He went on to contend that the Secretary of State for War ought to be in
+the House of Commons, and that he ought, moreover, to be a man who
+carried weight in that assembly, and who brought to its debates not only
+vigour of mind but experience of military details. 'There is only one
+person belonging to the Government,' added Lord John, 'who combines
+these advantages. My conclusion is that before Parliament meets Lord
+Palmerston should be entrusted with the seals of the War Department.'
+
+  [Sidenote: INCAPACITY IN HIGH PLACES]
+
+This was, of course, an unwelcome proposition to Lord Aberdeen, and he
+met it with the declaration that no one man was competent to undertake
+the duties of Secretary of State for War and those of Secretary at War.
+He considered that the latter appointment should be held in connection
+with the finances of the Army, and in independence of the Secretary for
+the War Department. Lord John replied that 'either the Prime Minister
+must himself be the acting and moving spirit of the whole machine, or
+else the Secretary for War must have delegated authority to control
+other departments,' and added, 'neither is the case under the present
+_regime_.' Once more, nothing came of the protest, and, when Parliament
+met on December 12, to indulge in the luxury of dull debates and bitter
+personalities, the situation remained unchanged, in spite of the growing
+sense of disaster abroad and incapacity at home. The Duke of Newcastle
+in the Lords made a lame defence, and his monotonous and inconclusive
+speech lasted for the space of three hours. 'The House went to sleep
+after the first half hour,' was the cynical comment of an Opposition
+peer. As the year ended the indignation in the country against the Duke
+of Newcastle grew more and more pronounced, and he, in common with Lord
+Aberdeen, was thought in many quarters to be starving the war. The truth
+was, the Duke was not strong enough for the position, and if he had gone
+to the Colonial Office, when that alternative was offered him, his
+reputation would not now be associated with the lamentable blunders
+which, rightly or wrongly, are laid to his charge. It is said that he
+once boasted that he had often kept out of mischief men who, he frankly
+admitted, were his superiors in ability. However that may be, the Duke
+of Newcastle ignominiously failed, at the great crisis in his public
+career, to keep out of mischief men who were his subordinates in
+position, and, in consequence, to arrest the fatal confusion which the
+winter campaign made on the military resources of the nation. Lord
+Hardinge, who on the death of the Duke of Wellington had succeeded to
+the post of Commander-in-Chief, assured Lord Malmesbury in January 1855
+that the Duke of Newcastle had never consulted him on any subject
+connected with the war. He added, with considerable heat, that not a
+single despatch had been submitted to him; in fact, he had been left to
+gather what the War Minister was doing through the published statements
+in the newspapers.
+
+The Duke of Newcastle was a sensible, well-intentioned man, but allowed
+himself to be involved in the management of the details of his office,
+instead of originating a policy and directing the broad course of
+affairs with vigour and determination. He displayed a degree of industry
+during the crisis which was praiseworthy in itself, and quite phenomenal
+in the most exalted branch of the Peerage, but he lacked the power of
+initiative, and had not sufficient force and decision of character to
+choose the right men for the emergency.
+
+The Cabinet might falter and the War Office dawdle, the faith of the
+soldiers in the authorities might be shaken and their hopes of personal
+succour be eclipsed, but the charity of womanhood failed not to respond
+to the call of the suffering, or to the demands of self-sacrifice.
+Florence Nightingale, and the nurses who laboured at her side in the
+hospital at Scutari not only soothed the dying and nursed the sick and
+wounded, but thrilled the heart of England by their modest heroism and
+patient devotion.
+
+Before Parliament met in December, Lord John Russell, in despair of
+bringing matters to a practical issue, informed his colleagues that,
+though he was willing to remain in the Cabinet, and to act as Leader of
+the House during the short session before Christmas, it was his
+intention to relinquish office at the close of the year. The objection
+was raised that it was unconstitutional for him to meet Parliament in a
+responsible position if he had arrived at this fixed but unannounced
+resolution. He met this expression of opinion by requesting Lord
+Aberdeen to submit his resignation to the Queen on December 7. The
+correspondence between Lord Lansdowne and Lord John, and the important
+memorandum which the latter drew up on December 30, which Mr. Walpole
+has printed, speak for themselves.[37] It will be seen that Lord John
+once more insisted that the Secretary of State for the War Department
+ought immediately to be invested with all the more important functions
+hitherto exercised by the Secretary at War, and he again laid stress on
+the necessity in such a crisis that the War Minister should be a member
+of the House of Commons. He complained that, though he was responsible
+in the Commons, Lord Aberdeen did not treat him with the confidence
+which alone could enable a Leader of the House to carry on the business
+of the Government with satisfaction. He declared that Lord Grey treated
+Lord Althorp in a different fashion, and that Lord Melbourne, to bring
+the matter nearer home, had shown greater consideration towards himself.
+He added that he felt absolved from the duty of defending acts and
+appointments upon which he had not been consulted.
+
+  [Sidenote: LORD LANSDOWNE AS PEACEMAKER]
+
+  [Sidenote: A FRANK STATEMENT]
+
+Lord Lansdowne succeeded for the moment in patching up an unsatisfactory
+peace, but it was becoming every day more and more obvious that the
+Aberdeen Government was doomed. The memorandum which Lord John drew up,
+at the suggestion of Lord Lansdowne, describes in pithy and direct terms
+the privations of the soldiers, and the mortality amongst men and
+horses, which was directly due to hunger and neglect. He shows that
+between the end of September and the middle of November there was at
+least six weeks when all kinds of supplies might have been landed at
+Balaclava, and he points out that the stores only needed to be carried
+seven or eight miles to reach the most distant division of the Army. He
+protested that there had been great mismanagement, and added: 'Soldiers
+cannot fight unless they are well fed.' He stated that he understood
+Lord Raglan had written home at the beginning of October to say that, if
+the Army was to remain on the heights during the winter, huts would be
+required, since the barren position which they held did not furnish wood
+to make them. Nearly three months had, however, passed, and winter in
+its most terrible form had settled on the Crimea, and yet the huts still
+appeared not to have reached the troops, though the French had done
+their best to make good the discreditable breakdown of our commissariat.
+'There appears,' concludes Lord John, 'a want of concert among the
+different departments. When the Navy forward supplies, there is no
+military authority to receive them; when the military wish to unload a
+ship, they find that the naval authority has already ordered it away.
+Lord Raglan and Sir Edmund Lyons should be asked to concert between them
+the mode of remedying this defect. Neither can see with his own eyes to
+the performance of all the subordinate duties, but they can choose the
+best men to do it, and arm them with sufficient authority. For on the
+due performance of these subordinate duties hangs the welfare of the
+Army. Lord Raglan should also be informed exactly of the amount of
+reinforcements ordered to the Crimea, and at what time he may expect
+them. Having furnished him with all the force in men and material which
+the Government can send him, the Government is entitled to expect from
+him in return his opinion as to what can be done by the allied armies to
+restore the strength and efficiency of the armies for the next campaign.
+Probably the troops first sent over will require four months' rest
+before they will be able to move against an enemy.' Procrastination was,
+however, to have its perfect work, and Lord John, chilled and indignant,
+told Lord Aberdeen on January 3 that nothing could be less satisfactory
+than the result of the recent Cabinets. 'Unless,' he added, 'you will
+direct measures, I see no hope for the efficient prosecution of the
+war;' for by this time it was perfectly useless, he saw, to urge on Lord
+Aberdeen the claims of Lord Palmerston.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[36] _Life of Edward Miall, M.P._, by A. Miall, p. 179.
+
+[37] _Life of Lord John Russell_, by Spencer Walpole, vol. ii. 232-235.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+THE VIENNA DIFFICULTY
+
+1855
+
+     Blunders at home and abroad--Roebuck's motion--'General Fevrier
+     turns traitor'--France and the Crimea--Lord John at Vienna--The
+     pride of the nation is touched--Napoleon's visit to Windsor--Lord
+     John's retirement--The fall of Sebastopol--The Treaty of Paris.
+
+
+PARLIAMENT met on January 23, and the general indignation at once found
+expression in Mr. Roebuck's motion--the notice of which was cheered by
+Radicals and Tories alike--to 'inquire into the condition of our Army
+before Sebastopol, and into the conduct of those Departments of the
+Government whose duty it has been to minister to the wants of that
+Army.' Lord John, in view of the blunders at home and abroad, did not
+see how such a motion was to be resisted, and at once tendered to Lord
+Aberdeen his resignation. His protests, pointed and energetic though
+they had been, had met with no practical response. Even the reasonable
+request that the War Minister should be in the Commons to defend his own
+department had passed unheeded. Peelites, like Sir James Graham and Mr.
+Sidney Herbert, might make the best of a bad case, but Lord John felt
+that he could not honestly defend in Parliament a course of action which
+he had again and again attacked in the Cabinet. Doubtless it would have
+been better both for himself and for his colleagues if he had adhered
+to his earlier intention of resigning; and his dramatic retreat at this
+juncture unquestionably gave a handle to his adversaries. Though
+prompted by conscientious motives, sudden flight, in the face of what
+was, to all intents and purposes, a vote of censure, was a grave
+mistake. Not unnaturally, such a step was regarded as a bid for personal
+power at the expense of his colleagues. It certainly placed the Cabinet
+in a most embarrassing position, and it is easy to understand the
+irritation which it awakened. In fact, it led those who were determined
+to put the worst possible construction on Lord John's action to hint
+that he wished to rid himself of responsibility and to stand clear of
+his colleagues, so that when the nation grew tired of the war he might
+return to office and make peace. Nothing could well have been further
+from the truth.
+
+  [Sidenote: ROEBUCK'S MOTION]
+
+Lord John's retirement was certainly inopportune; but it is almost
+needless to add--now that it is possible to review his whole career, as
+well as all the circumstances which marked this crisis in it--that he
+was not actuated by a self-seeking spirit. Looking back in after life,
+Lord John frankly admitted that he had committed an error in resigning
+office under Lord Aberdeen at the time and in the manner in which he did
+it. He qualified this confession, however, by declaring that he had
+committed a much greater error in agreeing to serve under Lord Aberdeen
+as Prime Minister: 'I had served under Lord Grey and Lord Melbourne
+before I became Prime Minister, and I served under Lord Palmerston after
+I had been Prime Minister. In no one of these cases did I find any
+difficulty in allying subordination with due counsel and co-operation.
+But, as it is proverbially said, "Where there is a will there is a way,"
+so in political affairs the converse is true, "Where there is no will
+there is no way."' He explained his position in a personal statement in
+the House of Commons on the night of Mr. Roebuck's motion. 'I had to
+consider whether I could fairly and honestly say, "It is true that evils
+have arisen. It is true that the brave men who fought at the Alma, at
+Inkerman, and at Balaclava are perishing, many of them from neglect; it
+is true that the heart of the whole of England throbs with anxiety and
+sympathy on this subject; but I can tell you that such arrangements have
+been made--that a man of such vigour and efficiency has taken the
+conduct of the War Department, with such a consolidation of offices as
+to enable him to have the entire control of the whole of the War
+Offices--so that any supply may be immediately furnished, and any abuse
+instantly remedied." I felt I could not honestly make such a
+declaration; I therefore felt that I could come only to one conclusion,
+and that as I could not resist inquiry--by giving the only assurances
+which I thought sufficient to prevent it--my duty was not to remain any
+longer a member of the Government.' In the course of a powerful speech
+Lord John added that he would always look back with pride on his
+association with many measures of the Aberdeen Government, and more
+particularly with the great financial scheme which Mr. Gladstone brought
+forward in 1853.
+
+  [Sidenote: OPEN CONFESSION]
+
+He refused to admit that the Whigs were an exclusive party, and he
+thought that such an idea was refuted by the fact that they had
+consented to serve in a Coalition Government. 'I believe that opinion to
+have been unjust, and I think that the Whig party during the last two
+years have fully justified the opinion I entertained. I will venture to
+say that no set of men ever behaved with greater honour or with more
+disinterested patriotism than those who have supported the Government
+of the Earl of Aberdeen. It is my pride, and it will ever be my pride to
+the last day of my life, to have belonged to a party which, as I
+consider, upholds the true principles of freedom; and it will ever be my
+constant endeavour to preserve the principles and to tread in the paths
+which the Whig party have laid down for the guidance of their conduct.'
+Lord John made no attempt to disguise the gravity of the crisis, and the
+following admission might almost be said to have sealed the fate of the
+Ministry: 'Sir, I must say that there is something, with all the
+official knowledge to which I have had access, that to me is
+inexplicable in the state of our army. If I had been told, as a reason
+against the expedition to the Crimea last year, that your troops would
+be seven miles from the sea, and that--at that seven miles'
+distance--they would be in want of food, of clothing, and of shelter to
+such a degree that they would perish at the rate of from ninety to a
+hundred a day, I should have considered such a prediction as utterly
+preposterous, and such a picture of the expedition as entirely fanciful
+and absurd. We are all, however, forced to confess the notoriety of that
+melancholy state of things.' Three days later, after a protracted and
+heated debate, Mr. Roebuck's motion was carried in a House of 453
+members by the sweeping majority of 157. 'The division was curious,'
+wrote Greville. 'Some seventy or eighty Whigs, ordinary supporters of
+Government, voted against them, and all the Tories except about six or
+seven.' There was no mistaking the mandate either of Parliament or of
+the people. Lord Aberdeen on the following day went down to Windsor and
+laid his resignation before the Queen, and in this sorry fashion the
+Coalition Government ignominiously collapsed, with hardly an expression
+of regret and scarcely a claim to remembrance.
+
+The Queen's choice fell upon Lord Derby, but his efforts to form an
+Administration proved unavailing. Lord Lansdowne was next summoned, and
+he suggested that Lord John Russell should be sent for, but in his case,
+also, sufficient promises of support were not forthcoming. In the end
+Her Majesty acquiesced in the strongly-expressed wish of the nation, and
+Lord Palmerston was called to power on February 5. For the moment Lord
+John was out of office, and Lord Panmure took the place of the Duke of
+Newcastle as War Minister, but all the other members of the defeated
+Administration, except, of course, Lord Aberdeen, entered the new
+Cabinet. Lord Palmerston knew the feeling of the country, and was not
+afraid to face it, and, therefore, determined to accept Mr. Roebuck's
+proposals for a searching investigation of the circumstances which had
+attended the conduct of the war. Loyalty to their late chief, as well as
+to their former colleague, the Duke of Newcastle, led Sir James Graham,
+Mr. Sidney Herbert, Mr. Gladstone, and other Peelites to resign. Lord
+John, urged by Lord Palmerston, became Colonial Secretary. Palmerston
+shared Lord Clarendon's view that no Government calling itself Liberal
+had a chance of standing without Lord John. Sir G. C. Lewis succeeded
+Mr. Gladstone as Chancellor of the Exchequer, and Sir Charles Wood took
+Sir James Graham's vacant place at the Admiralty.
+
+  [Sidenote: 'GENERAL FEVRIER TURNS TRAITOR']
+
+Changes of a more momentous character quickly followed. Early in the
+winter, when tidings of the sufferings of the Allies reached St.
+Petersburg, the Emperor Nicholas declared, with grim humour, that there
+were two generals who were about to fight for him, 'Janvier et Fevrier;'
+but the opening month of the year brought terrible privations to the
+Russian reinforcements as they struggled painfully along the rough
+winter roads on the long march to the Crimea. The Czar lost a quarter of
+a million of men before the war ended, and a vast number of them fell
+before the cold or the pestilence. Omar Pasha defeated the Russian
+troops at Eupatoria in the middle of February. The fact that his troops
+had been repulsed by the hated Turks touched the pride of Nicholas to
+the quick, and is believed to have brought on the fatal illness which
+seized him a few days later. On February 27, just after the Emperor had
+left the parade-ground on which he had been reviewing his troops, he was
+struck down by paralysis, and, after lingering in a hopeless condition
+for a day or two, died a baffled and disappointed man. The irony of the
+situation was reflected with sombre and dramatic realism in a political
+cartoon which appeared in 'Punch.' It represented a skeleton in armour,
+laying an icy hand, amid the falling snow, on the prostrate Czar's
+heart. The picture--one of the most powerful that has ever appeared,
+even in this remarkable mirror of the times--was entitled, 'General
+Fevrier turned Traitor,' and underneath was the dead Emperor's cruel
+boast, 'Russia has two generals on whom she can confide--Generals
+Janvier and Fevrier.' Prior to the resignation of the Peelites the
+second Congress of Vienna assembled, and Lord John Russell attended it
+as a plenipotentiary for England; and France, Austria, Turkey, and
+Russia were also represented. The 'four points' which formed the basis
+of the negotiations were that Russia should abandon all control over
+Moldavia, Wallachia, and Servia; that the new Czar, Alexander II.,
+should surrender his claim to command the entrance of the Danube; that
+all treaties should be annulled which gave Russia supremacy in the Black
+Sea; and that she should dismiss her pretensions to an exclusive right
+to protect in her own fashion the Christians in the Ottoman Empire.
+Nicholas, though at one time favourable to this scheme as a basis of
+peace, eventually fell back on the assertion that he would not consent
+to any limitation of his naval power in the Black Sea. Though the
+parleyings at Vienna after his death were protracted, the old difficulty
+asserted itself again, with the result that the second Congress proved,
+as spring gave way to summer, as futile as the first.
+
+Although subjects which vitally affected the Turkish Empire were under
+consideration, the Turkish Ambassador at Vienna had received anything
+but explicit directions, and Lord John was forced to the conclusion that
+the negotiations were not regarded as serious at Constantinople. Indeed,
+he had, in Mr. Spencer Walpole's words, 'reason to suspect that the
+absence of a properly credited Turk was not due to the dilatory
+character of the Porte alone but to the perverse action of Lord
+Stratford de Redcliffe.'[38] Lord Clarendon did not hesitate to declare
+that Lord Stratford was inclined to thwart any business which was not
+carried on in Constantinople, and the English Ambassador kept neither
+Lord John in Vienna nor the Cabinet in Downing Street acquainted with
+the views of the Porte. Lord John declared that the Turkish
+representative at Vienna, from whom he expected information about the
+affairs of his own country, was 'by nature incompetent, and by
+instruction silent.' Two schemes, in regard to the point which was
+chiefly in dispute, were before the Congress; they are best stated in
+Lord John's own words: 'One, called limitation, proposed that only four
+ships of the line should be maintained in the Black Sea by Russia, and
+two each by the allies of Turkey. The other mode, proposed by M. Drouyn
+de Lhuys, contemplated a much further reduction of force--namely, to
+eight or ten light vessels, intended solely to protect commerce from
+pirates and perform the police of the coast.' Although a great part of
+the Russian fleet was at the bottom of the sea, and the rest of it
+hemmed in in the harbour of Sebastopol, Prince Gortschakoff announced,
+with the air of a man who was master of the situation, that the Czar
+entirely refused to limit his power in the Euxine.
+
+  [Sidenote: COUNT BUOL'S COMPROMISE]
+
+At this juncture Count Buol proposed a compromise, to the effect that
+Russia should maintain in the Black Sea a naval force not greater than
+that which she had had at her disposal there before the outbreak of the
+war; that any attempt to evade this limitation should be interpreted as
+a _casus belli_, by France, England, and Austria, which were to form a
+triple treaty of alliance to defend the integrity and independence of
+Turkey in case of aggression. Lord Palmerston believed, to borrow his
+own phrase, that Austria was playing a treacherous game, but that was
+not the opinion at the moment either of Lord John Russell or of M.
+Drouyn de Lhuys. They appear to have thought that the league of Austria
+with England and France to resist aggression upon Turkey would prove a
+sufficient check on Russian ambition, and did not lay stress enough on
+the objections, which at once suggested themselves both in London and
+Paris. The Prince Consort put the case against Count Buol's scheme in a
+nutshell: 'The proposal of Austria to engage to make war when the
+Russian armaments should appear to have become excessive is of no kind
+of value to the belligerents, who do not wish to establish a case for
+which to make war hereafter, but to obtain a security upon which they
+can conclude peace now.' Lord John Russell, in a confidential interview
+with Count Buol, declared that he was prepared to recommend the English
+Cabinet to accept the Austrian proposals. It seemed to him that, if
+Russia was willing to accept the compromise and to abandon the attitude
+which had led to the war, the presence of the Allies in the Crimea was
+scarcely justifiable. M. Drouyn de Lhuys took the same view, and both
+plenipotentiaries hastened back to urge acquiescence in proposals which
+seemed to promise the termination of a war in which, with little result,
+blood and treasure had already been lavishly expended.
+
+Lord Palmerston and Lord Clarendon, backed by popular sentiment, refused
+to see in Russia's stubborn demand about her fleet in the Black Sea
+other than a perpetual menace to Turkey. They argued that England had
+made too heavy a sacrifice to patch up in this fashion an inglorious and
+doubtful peace. The attitude of Napoleon III. did more than anything
+else to confirm this decision. The war in the Crimea had never been as
+popular in France as it was in England. The throne which Napoleon had
+seized could only be kept by military success, and there is no doubt
+whatever that personal ambition, and the prestige of a campaign, with
+England for a companion-in-arms, determined the despatch of French
+troops to the Crimea. On his return, Lord John at once saw the
+difficulty in which his colleagues were landed. The internal tranquility
+of France was imperilled if the siege of Sebastopol was abandoned. 'The
+Emperor of the French,' he wrote, 'had been to us the most faithful ally
+who had ever wielded the sceptre or ruled the destinies of France. Was
+it possible for the English Government to leave the Emperor to fight
+unaided the battle of Europe, or to force him to join us in a peace
+which would have sunk his reputation with his army and his people?' He
+added, that this consideration seemed to him so weighty that he ceased
+to urge on Lord Palmerston the acceptance of the Austrian terms, and
+Lord Clarendon therefore sent a reply in which Count Buol's proposals
+were rejected by the Cabinet. Lord Palmerston laid great stress on Lord
+John's presence in his ministry, and Mr. Walpole has shown that the
+latter only consented to withdraw his resignation after not merely an
+urgent, but a thrice-repeated personal request from the Premier.
+
+  [Sidenote: PRESSURE FROM PALMERSTON]
+
+He ought unquestionably, at all hazards to Lord Palmerston's Government,
+to have refused to remain a member of it when his colleagues intimated
+that they were not in a position to accept his view of the situation
+without giving mortal offence to the Emperor of the French. Under the
+circumstances, Lord Palmerston ought not to have put the pressure on
+Lord John. The latter stayed in order to shield the Government from
+overthrow by a combined Radical and Tory attack at a moment when
+Palmerston was compelled to study the susceptibilities of France and
+Napoleon III.'s fears concerning his throne. There is a published
+letter, written by the Prince Consort at this juncture to his brother
+the Duke of Saxe-Coburg, which throws light on the situation. The Prince
+hints that the prospects of the Allies in the Crimea had become more
+hopeful, just as diplomatic affairs at Vienna had taken an awkward turn.
+He states that in General Pelissier the French 'have at last a leader
+who is determined and enterprising, and who will once more raise the
+spirit of the army, which has sunk through Canrobert's mildness.' He
+adds that the English troops 'are again thirty thousand men under arms,
+and their spirit is excellent. At home, however, Gladstone and the
+Peelites are taking up the cry for peace, and declaring themselves
+against all further continuation of the war; whilst Lord Derby and the
+Protectionists are all for making common cause with Layard and others,
+in order to overthrow Palmerston's Ministry.' Disraeli, significantly
+adds the Prince, has been 'chiefly endeavouring to injure' Lord John
+Russell.
+
+Towards the end of May, Mr. Disraeli introduced a resolution condemning
+the conduct of the Government, and calling attention to Lord John
+Russell's attitude at the Vienna Conference. Lord John had fulfilled the
+promise which he had given to Count Buol before leaving Vienna; but Lord
+Palmerston was determined to maintain the alliance with France, and
+therefore, as a member of his Government, Lord John's lips were sealed
+when he rose to defend himself. He stated in a powerful speech the
+reasons which had led to the failure of the Conference, and ended
+without any allusion to the Austrian proposals or his own action in
+regard to them. Irritated at the new turn of affairs, Count Buol
+disclosed what had passed behind the scenes in Vienna, and Lord John
+found himself compelled to explain his explanations. He declared that he
+had believed before leaving Vienna that the Austrian scheme held out the
+promise of peace, and, with this conviction in his mind, he had on his
+return to London immediately advised its acceptance by Lord Palmerston.
+He was not free, of course, to state with equal frankness the true
+reason of its rejection by the Cabinet, and therefore was compelled to
+fall back on the somewhat lame plea that it had been fully considered
+and disallowed by his colleagues. Moreover he felt, as a
+plenipotentiary, it was his duty to submit to the Government which had
+sent him to Vienna, and as a member of the Cabinet it was not less his
+duty to yield to the decision of the majority of his colleagues.
+
+  [Sidenote: AN EMBARRASSING POSITION]
+
+Lord John's explanations were not deemed satisfactory. He was in the
+position of a man who could only defend himself and make his motives
+plain to Parliament and the country by statements which would have
+embarrassed his colleagues and have shattered the French alliance at a
+moment when, not so much on national as on international grounds, it
+seemed imperative that it should be sustained. The attacks in the Press
+were bitter and envenomed; and when Lord John, in July, told Lord
+Palmerston it was his intention to retire, the latter admitted with an
+expression of great regret that the storm was too strong to be resisted,
+though, he added, 'juster feelings will in due time prevail.' A few days
+later Lord John, in a calm and impressive speech, anticipated Sir E. B.
+Lytton's hostile motion on the Vienna Conference by announcing his
+intention to the House. Though he still felt in honour obliged to say
+nothing on the real cause of his withdrawal, his dignified attitude on
+that occasion made its own impression, and all the more because of the
+sweeping abuse to which he was at the moment exposed. It was of this
+speech that Sir George Cornewall Lewis said that it was listened to with
+attention and respect by an audience partly hostile and partly
+prejudiced. He declared that he was convinced it would go far to remove
+the imputations, founded on error and misrepresentation, under which
+Lord John laboured. He added, with a generosity which, though
+characteristic, was rare at that juncture: 'I shall be much surprised
+if, after a little time and a little reflection, persons do not come to
+the conclusion that never was so small a matter magnified beyond its
+true proportions.'
+
+Within twenty-four hours of his resignation Lord John had an opportunity
+of showing that he bore no malice towards former colleagues. Mr.
+Roebuck, with characteristic denunciations, attacked the Government on
+the damaging statements contained in the report of the Sebastopol
+Committee. He proposed a motion censuring in severe terms every member
+of the Cabinet whose counsels had led to such disastrous results.
+Whatever construction might be placed on Lord John's conduct of affairs
+in Vienna, he at least could not be charged with lukewarmness or apathy
+in regard to the administration of the army and the prosecution of the
+war. He had, in fact, irritated Lord Aberdeen and the Duke of Newcastle
+by insisting again and again on the necessity of undivided control of
+the military departments, and on the need of a complete reorganisation
+of the commissariat. A less magnanimous man would have seized the
+opportunity of this renewed attack to declare that he, at least, had
+done his best at great personal cost to prevent the deplorable confusion
+and collapse which had overtaken the War Office. He disdained, however,
+the mean personal motive, and made, what Lord Granville called, a
+'magnificent speech,' in which he declared that every member without
+exception remained responsible for the consequences which had overtaken
+the Expedition to the Crimea, Mr. Kinglake once asserted that, though
+Lord John Russell was capable of coming to a bold, abrupt, and hasty
+decision, not duly concerted with men whose opinions he ought to have
+weighed, no statesman in Europe surpassed him on the score of courage or
+high public spirit. The chivalry which he displayed in coming to the
+help of the Government on the morrow of his own almost compulsory
+retirement from office was typical of a man who made many mistakes, but
+was never guilty, even when wounded to the quick, of gratifying the
+passing resentments of the hour at the expense of the interests of the
+nation.
+
+  [Sidenote: WARLIKE COUNSELS PREVAIL]
+
+During the summer of 1855 the feeling of the country grew more and more
+warlike. The failure of the negotiations at Vienna had touched the
+national pride. The State visit in the spring to the English Court of
+the Emperor Napoleon, and his determination not to withdraw his troops
+from the Crimea until some decisive victory was won, had rekindled its
+enthusiasm. The repulse at the Redan, the death of Lord Raglan, and the
+vainglorious boast of Prince Gortschakoff, who declared 'that the hour
+was at hand when the pride of the enemies of Russia would be lowered,
+and their armies swept from our soil like chaff blown away by the wind,'
+rendered all dreams of diplomatic solution impossible, and made England,
+in spite of the preachers of peace at any price, determined to push
+forward her quarrel to the bitter end. The nation, to borrow the phrase
+of one of the shrewdest political students of the time, had now begun to
+consider the war in the Crimea as a 'duel with Russia,' and pride and
+pluck were more than ever called into play, both at home and abroad, in
+its maintenance. The war, therefore, took its course. Ample supplies and
+reinforcements were despatched to the troops, and the Allies, under the
+command of General Simpson and General Pelissier, pushed forward the
+campaign with renewed vigour. Sardinia and Sweden had joined the
+alliance, and on August 16 the troops of the former, acting in concert
+with the French, drove back the Russians, who had made a sortie along
+the valley of the Tchernaya. After a month's bombardment by the Allies,
+the Malakoff, a redoubt which commanded Sebastopol, was taken by the
+French; but the English troops were twice repulsed in their attack on
+the Redan. Gortschakoff and Todleben were no longer able to withstand
+the fierce and daily renewed bombardment. The forts on the south side
+were, therefore, blown up, the ships were sunk, and the army which had
+gallantly defended the place retired to a position of greater security
+with the result that Sebastopol fell on September 8, and the war was
+virtually over. Sir Evelyn Wood lately drew attention to the fact that
+forty out of every hundred of the soldiers who served before Sebastopol
+in the depth of that terrible winter of 1854 lie there, or in the
+Scutari cemetery--slain, not by the sword, but by privation, exposure,
+disease, and exertions beyond human endurance.
+
+  [Sidenote: ALL FOR NAUGHT]
+
+France was clamouring for peace, and Napoleon was determined not to
+prolong the struggle now that his troops had come out of the siege of
+Sebastopol with flying colours. Russia, on her part, had wellnigh
+exhausted her resources. Up to the death of the Emperor Nicholas, she
+had lost nearly a quarter of a million of men, and six months later, so
+great was the carnage and so insidious the pestilence, that even that
+ominous number was doubled. The loss of the Allies in the Crimean war
+was upwards of eighty-seven thousand men, and more than two-thirds of
+the slain fell to France. Apart from bloodshed, anguish, and pain, the
+Crimean war bequeathed to England an increase of 41,000,000_l._ in the
+National Debt. No wonder that overtures for the cessation of hostilities
+now met with a welcome which had been denied at the Vienna Conference.
+After various negotiations, the Peace of Paris was signed on March 30,
+1856. Russia was compelled to relinquish her control over the Danube and
+her protectorate over the Principalities, and was also forbidden to
+build arsenals on the shores of the Black Sea, which was declared open
+to all ships of commerce, but closed to all ships of war. Turkey, on the
+other hand, confirmed, on paper at least, the privileges proclaimed in
+1839 to Christians resident in the Ottoman Empire; but massacres at
+Damascus, in the Lebanon, and later in Bulgaria, and recently in
+Armenia, have followed in dismal sequence in spite of the Treaty of
+Paris. The neutrality of the Black Sea came to an end a quarter of a
+century ago, and the substantial gains--never great even at the
+outset--of a war which was costly in blood and treasure have grown small
+by degrees until they have almost reached the vanishing point.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[38] _Life of Lord John Russell_, vol. ii. p. 251.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+LITERATURE AND EDUCATION
+
+     Lord John's position in 1855--His constituency in the City--Survey
+     of his work in literature--As man of letters--His historical
+     writings--Hero-worship of Fox--Friendship with Moore--Writes the
+     biography of the poet--'Don Carlos'--A book wrongly attributed to
+     him--Publishes his 'Recollections and Suggestions'--An opinion of
+     Kinglake's--Lord John on his own career--Lord John and National
+     Schools--Joseph Lancaster's tentative efforts--The formation of the
+     Council of Education--Prejudice blocks the way--Mr. Forster's
+     tribute.
+
+
+MEN talked in the autumn of 1855 as if Lord John Russell's retirement
+was final, and even his brother, the Duke of Bedford, considered it
+probable that his career as a responsible statesman was closed. His
+health had always been more or less delicate, and he was now a man of
+sixty-three. He had been in Parliament for upwards of forty years, and
+nearly a quarter of a century had passed since he bore the brunt of the
+wrath and clamour and evil-speaking of the Tories at the epoch of
+Reform. He had been leader of his party for a long term of difficult
+years, and Prime Minister for the space of six, and in that capacity had
+left on the statute book an impressive record of his zeal on behalf of
+civil and religious liberty. No statesman of the period had won more
+distinction in spite of 'gross blunders,' which he himself in so many
+words admitted. He was certainly entitled to rest on his laurels; but
+it was nonsense for anyone to suppose that the animosity of the Irish,
+or the indignation of the Ritualists, or the general chagrin at the
+collapse--under circumstances for which Lord John was by no means alone
+responsible--of the Vienna Conference, could condemn a man of so much
+energy and courage, as well as political prescience, to perpetual
+banishment from Downing Street.
+
+There were people who thought that Lord John was played out in 1855, and
+there were many more who wished to think so, for he was feared by the
+incompetent and apathetic of his own party, as well as by those who had
+occasion to reckon with him in honourable but strenuous political
+conflict. The great mistake of his life was not the Durham Letter, which
+has been justified, in spite of its needless bitterness of tone, by the
+inexorable logic of accomplished events. It was not his attitude towards
+Ireland in the dark years of famine, which was in reality far more
+temperate and generous than is commonly supposed. It was not his action
+over the Vienna Conference, for, now that the facts are known, his
+reticence in self-defence, under the railing accusations which were
+brought against him, was magnanimous and patriotic. The truth is, Lord
+John Russell placed himself in a false position when he yielded to the
+importunity of the Court and the Peelites by consenting to accept office
+under Lord Aberdeen. The Crimean War, which he did his best to prevent,
+only threw into the relief of red letters against a dark sky the radical
+divergence of opinion which existed in the Coalition Government.
+
+  [Sidenote: OUT OF OFFICE]
+
+For nearly four years after his retirement from office Lord John held an
+independent political position, and there is evidence enough that he
+enjoyed to the full this respite from the cares of responsibility. He
+gave up his house in town, and the quidnuncs thought that they had seen
+the last of him as a Minister of the Crown, whilst the merchants and the
+stockbrokers of the City were supposed to scout his name, and to be
+ready to lift up their heel against him at the next election.
+
+Meanwhile, Lord John studied to be quiet, and succeeded. He visited
+country-houses, and proved a delightful as well as a delighted guest. He
+travelled abroad, and came back with new political ideas about the trend
+in foreign politics. He published the final volume of his 'Memoirs and
+Correspondence of Thomas Moore,' and busied himself over his 'Life and
+Times of Charles James Fox,' and other congenial literary tasks. He
+appeared on the platform and addressed four thousand persons in Exeter
+Hall, in connection with the Young Men's Christian Association, on the
+causes which had retarded moral and political progress in the nation. He
+went down to Stroud, and gave his old constituents a philosophic address
+on the study of history. He spoke at the first meeting of the Social
+Science Congress at Birmingham, presided over the second at Liverpool,
+and raised in Parliament the questions of National Education, Jewish
+Disabilities, the affairs of Italy, besides taking part, as an
+independent supporter of Lord Palmerston, in the controversies which
+arose from time to time in the House of Commons. His return to office
+grew inevitable in the light of the force of his character and the
+integrity of his aims.
+
+  [Sidenote: LITERARY WORK]
+
+It is, of course, impossible in the scope of this volume to describe at
+any length Lord John Russell's contributions to literature, even outside
+the range of letters and articles in the press and that almost forgotten
+weapon of controversy, the political pamphlet. From youth to age Lord
+John not merely possessed the pen of a ready writer, but employed it
+freely in history, biography, criticism, _belles-lettres_, and verse.
+His first book was published when George III. was King, and his last
+appeared when almost forty years of Queen Victoria's reign had elapsed.
+The Liverpool Administration was in power when his biography of his
+famous ancestor, William, Lord Russell, appeared, and that of Mr.
+Disraeli when the veteran statesman took the world into his confidence
+with 'Recollections and Suggestions.' It is amusing now to recall the
+fact that two years after the battle of Waterloo Lord John Russell
+feared that he could never stand the strain of a political career, and
+Tom Moore's well-known poetical 'Remonstrance' was called forth by the
+young Whig's intention at that time to abandon the Senate for the study.
+When Lord Grey's Ministry was formed in 1830 to carry Reform, Lord John
+was the author of several books, grave and gay, and had been seventeen
+years in Parliament, winning already a considerable reputation within
+and without its walls. It was a surprise at the moment, and it is not
+even yet quite clear why Russell was excluded from the Cabinet. Mr.
+Disraeli has left on record his interpretation of the mystery: 'Lord
+John Russell was a man of letters, and it is a common opinion that a man
+cannot at the same time be successful both in meditation and in action.'
+If this surmise is correct, Lord John's fondness for printer's ink kept
+him out of Downing Street until he made by force his merit known as a
+champion of popular rights in the House of Commons. Literature often
+claimed his pen, for, besides many contributions in prose and verse to
+periodicals, to say nothing of writings which still remain in manuscript
+and prefaces to the books of other people, he published about twenty
+works, great and small. Yet, his strength lay elsewhere.
+
+His literary pursuits, with scarcely an exception, represent his hours
+of relaxation and the manner in which he sought relief from the cares of
+State. In the pages of 'William, Lord Russell,' which was published in
+1819, when political corruption was supreme and social progress all but
+impossible, Lord John gave forth no uncertain sound. 'In these times,
+when love of liberty is too generally supposed to be allied with rash
+innovation, impiety, and anarchy, it seems to me desirable to exhibit to
+the world at full length the portrait of a man who, heir to wealth and
+title, was foremost in defending the privileges of the people; who, when
+busily occupied in the affairs of public life, was revered in his own
+family as the best of husbands and of fathers; who joined the truest
+sense of religion with the unqualified assertion of freedom; who, after
+an honest perseverance in a good cause, at length attested, on the
+scaffold, his attachment to the ancient principles of the Constitution
+and the inalienable right of resistance.' The interest of the book
+consists not merely in its account--gathered in part at least from
+family papers at Woburn and original letters at Longleat--of Lord
+Russell, but also in the light which is cast on the period of the
+Restoration, and the policy of Charles II. and the Duke of York.
+
+  [Sidenote: A CONFIDENT WHIG]
+
+Two years later, Lord John published an 'Essay on the History of the
+English Government and Constitution,' which, in an expanded form, has
+passed through several editions, and has also appeared in a French
+version. The book is concerned with constitutional change in England
+from the reign of Henry VII. to the beginning of the nineteenth
+century. Lord John made no secret of his conviction that, whilst the
+majority of the Powers of Europe needed revolutionary methods to bring
+them into sympathy with the aspirations of the people, the Government of
+England was not in such an evil case, since its 'abuses easily admit of
+reforms consistent with its spirit, capable of being effected without
+injury or danger, and mainly contributing to its preservation.' The
+historical reflections which abound in the work, though shrewd, can
+scarcely be described as remarkable, much less as profound. The 'Essay
+on English Government' is, in fact, not the confessions of an inquiring
+spirit entangled in the maze of political speculation, but the
+conclusions of a young statesman who has made up his mind, with the help
+of Somers and Fox.
+
+Perhaps, however, the most important of Lord John's contributions to the
+study of the philosophy of history was 'Memoirs of the Affairs of Europe
+from the Peace of Utrecht.' It describes at considerable length, and
+often with luminous insight, the negotiations which led to the treaty by
+which the great War of the Spanish Succession was brought to an end. It
+also throws light on men and manners during the last days of Louis XIV.,
+and on the condition of affairs in France which followed his death. The
+closing pages of the second volume are concerned with a survey of the
+religious state of England during the first half of the eighteenth
+century. Lord John in this connection pays homage to the work of
+Churchmen of the stamp of Warburton, Clarke, and Hoadly; but he entirely
+fails to appreciate at anything like their true value the labours of
+Whitfield and Wesley, though doing more justice to the great leaders of
+Puritanism, a circumstance which was perhaps due to the fact that they
+stand in the direct historical succession, not merely in the assertion
+of the rights of conscience, but in the ordered growth of freedom and
+society.
+
+Amongst the most noteworthy of Lord John Russell's literary achievements
+were the two works which he published concerning a statesman whose
+memory, he declared, ought to be 'consecrated in the heart of every
+lover of freedom throughout the globe'--Charles James Fox, a master of
+assemblies, and, according to Burke, perhaps the greatest debater whom
+the world has ever seen. The books in question are entitled 'Memorials
+and Correspondence,' which was published in four volumes at intervals
+between the years 1853 and 1857, and the more important 'Life and Times
+of Charles James Fox,' which appeared in three volumes between the years
+1859 and 1866. This task, like so many others which Lord John
+accomplished, came unsought at the death of his old friend, Lady
+Holland, in 1845. It was the ambition of Lord Holland, 'nephew of Fox
+and friend of Grey,' as he used proudly to style himself, to edit the
+papers and write the life of his brilliant kinsman. Politics and society
+and the stately house at Kensington, which, from the end of last century
+until the opening years of the Queen's reign, was the chief _salon_ of
+the Whig party, combined, with an easy procrastinating temperament, to
+block the way, until death ended, in the autumn of 1840, the career of
+the gracious master of Holland House. The materials which Lord Holland
+and his physician, librarian, and friend, Dr. John Allen, had
+accumulated, and which, by the way, passed under the scrutiny of Lord
+Grey and Rogers, the poet, were edited by Lord John, with the result
+that he grew fascinated with the subject, and formed the resolution, in
+consequence, to write 'The Life and Times' of the great Whig statesman.
+He declared that it was well to have a hero, and a hero with a good many
+faults and failings.
+
+  [Sidenote: FOX AND MOORE]
+
+Fox did more than any other statesman in the dull reign of George II. to
+prepare the way for the epoch of Reform, and it was therefore fitting
+that the statesman who more than any other bore the brunt of the battle
+in 1830-32 should write his biography. Lord Russell's biography of Fox,
+though by no means so skilfully written as Sir George Otto Trevelyan's
+vivacious description of 'The Early History of Charles James Fox,' is on
+a more extended scale than the latter. Students of the political annals
+of the eighteenth century are aware of its value as an original and
+suggestive contribution to the facts and forces which have shaped the
+relations of the Crown and the Cabinet in modern history. Fox, in Lord
+John's opinion, gave his life to the defence of English freedom, and
+hastened his death by his exertion to abolish the African Slave Trade.
+He lays stress, not only on the great qualities which Fox displayed in
+public life, but also on the simplicity and kindness of his nature, and
+the spell which, in spite of grievous faults, he seemed able to cast,
+without effort, alike over friends and foes.
+
+One of the earliest, and certainly one of the closest, friendships of
+Lord John Russell's life was with Thomas Moore. They saw much of each
+other for the space of nearly forty years in London society, and were
+also drawn together in the more familiar intercourse of foreign travel.
+It was with Lord John that the poet went to Italy in 1819 to avoid
+arrest for debt, after his deputy at Bermuda had embezzled 6,000_l._
+Moore lived, more or less, all his days from hand to mouth, and Lord
+John Russell, who was always ready in a quiet fashion, in Kingsley's
+phrase, to help lame dogs over stiles, frequently displayed towards the
+light-hearted poet throughout their long friendship delicate and
+generous kindness. He it was who, in conjunction with Lord Lansdowne,
+obtained for Moore in 1835 a pension of 300_l._ a year, and announced
+the fact as one which was 'due from any Government, but much more from
+one some of the members of which are proud to think themselves your
+friends.' Moore died in 1852, and when his will was read--it had been
+made when Lord John was still comparatively unknown--it was discovered
+that he had, to give his own words, 'confided to my valued friend, Lord
+John Russell (having obtained his kind promise to undertake the service
+for me), the task of looking over whatever papers, letters, or journals
+I may leave behind me, for the purpose of forming from them some kind of
+publication, whether in the shape of memoirs or otherwise, which may
+afford the means of making some provision for my wife and family.'
+Although Lord John was sixty, and burdened with the cares of State, if
+not with the cares of office, he cheerfully accepted the task. Though it
+must be admitted that he performed some parts of it in rather a
+perfunctory manner, the eight volumes which appeared between 1853 and
+1856 of the 'Memoirs, Journal, and Correspondence of Thomas Moore'
+represent a severe tax upon friendship, as well as no ordinary labour on
+the part of a man who was always more or less immersed in public
+affairs.
+
+  [Sidenote: 'DON CARLOS']
+
+Lord John also edited the 'Correspondence of John, fourth Duke of
+Bedford,' and prefaced the letters with a biographical sketch. Quite
+early in his career he also tried his hand at fiction in 'The Nun of
+Arrouca,' a story founded on a romantic incident which occurred during
+his travels in the Peninsula. The book appeared in 1822, and in the
+same year--he was restless and ambitious of literary distinction at the
+time, and had not yet found his true sphere in politics--he also
+published 'Don Carlos,' a tragedy in blank verse, which was in reality
+not merely a tirade against the cruelties of the Inquisition, but an
+impassioned protest against religious disabilities in every shape or
+form. 'Don Carlos,' though now practically forgotten, ran through five
+editions in twelve months, and the people remembered it when its author
+became the foremost advocate in the House of Commons of the repeal of
+the Test and Corporation Acts. Amongst other minor writings which belong
+to the earlier years of Lord John Russell, it is enough to name 'Essays
+and Sketches of Life and Character,' 'The Establishment of the Turks in
+Europe,' 'A Translation of the Fifth Book of the Odyssey,' and an
+imitation of the Thirteenth Satire of Juvenal, as well as an essay on
+the 'Causes of the French Revolution,' which appeared in 1832.
+
+It is still a moot point whether 'Letters Written for the Post, and not
+for the Press,' an anonymous volume which appeared in 1820, and which
+consists of descriptions of a tour in Scotland, interspersed with dull
+moral lectures on the conduct of a wife towards her husband, was from
+his pen. Mr. George Elliot believes, on internal evidence, too lengthy
+to quote, that the book--a small octavo volume of more than four hundred
+pages--is erroneously attributed to his brother-in-law, and the Countess
+Russell is of the same opinion. Mr. Elliot cites inaccuracies in the
+book, and adds that the places visited in Scotland do not correspond
+with those which Lord John had seen when he went thither in company with
+the Duke and Duchess in 1807; and there is no evidence that he made
+another pilgrimage north of the Tweed between that date and the
+appearance of the book. He adds that his father took the trouble to
+collect everything which was written by Lord John, and the book is
+certainly not in the library at Minto. Moreover, Mr. Elliot is confident
+that either Lord Minto or Lord John himself assured him that he might
+dismiss the idea of the supposed authorship.
+
+After his final retirement from office, Lord John published, in 1868,
+three letters to Mr. Chichester Fortescue on 'The State of Ireland,' and
+this was followed by a contribution to ecclesiastical history in the
+shape of a volume of essays on 'The Rise and Progress of the Christian
+Religion in the West of Europe to the Council of Trent.' The leisure of
+his closing years was, however, chiefly devoted to the preparation, with
+valuable introductions, of selections from his own 'Speeches and
+Despatches;' and this, in turn, was followed, after an interval of five
+years, by a work entitled 'Recollections and Suggestions, 1813-1873,'
+which appeared as late as 1875, and which was of singular personal
+interest as well as of historical importance. It bears on the title-page
+two lines from Dryden, which were often on Lord John's lips in his
+closing years:
+
+    Not Heaven itself upon the past has power,
+    But what has been has been, and I have had my hour.
+
+  [Sidenote: A RETROSPECT]
+
+The old statesman's once tenacious memory was failing when he wrote the
+book, and there is little evidence of literary arrangement in its
+contents. If, however, Lord John did not always escape inaccuracy of
+statement or laboured discursiveness of style, the value not only of his
+political reminiscences, but also of his shrewd and often pithily
+expressed verdicts on men and movements, is unquestionable, and, on the
+whole, the vigour of the book is as remarkable as its noble candour.
+Mr. Kinglake once declared that 'Lord John Russell wrote so naturally
+that it recalled the very sound of his voice;' and half the charm of his
+'Recollections and Suggestions' consists in the artlessness of a record
+which will always rank with the original materials of history, between
+the year in which Wellington fought the battle of Vittoria and that in
+which, just sixty years later, Napoleon III. died in exile at
+Chislehurst. In speaking of his own career, Lord Russell, writing at the
+age of eighty-one, uses words which are not less manly than modest:
+
+'I can only rejoice that I have been allowed to have my share in the
+task accomplished in the half-century which has elapsed from 1819 to
+1869. My capacity, I always felt, was very inferior to that of the men
+who have attained in past times the foremost place in our Parliament and
+in the councils of our Sovereign. I have committed many errors, some of
+them very gross blunders. But the generous people of England are always
+forbearing and forgiving to those statesmen who have the good of their
+country at heart. Like my betters, I have been misrepresented and
+slandered by those who know nothing of me; but I have been more than
+compensated by the confidence and the friendship of the best men of my
+own political connection, and by the regard and favourable
+interpretation of my motives, which I have heard expressed by my
+generous opponents, from the days of Lord Castlereagh to these of Mr.
+Disraeli.'
+
+There were few questions in which Lord John Russell was more keenly
+interested from youth to age than that of National Education. As a boy
+he had met Joseph Lancaster, during a visit of that far-seeing and
+practical friend of poor children to Woburn, and the impression which
+the humble Quaker philanthropist made on the Duke of Bedford's
+quick-witted as well as kind-hearted son was retained, as one of his
+latest speeches show, to the close of life. At the opening of the new
+British Schools in Richmond in the summer of 1867, Lord John referred to
+his father's association with Joseph Lancaster, and added: 'In this way
+I naturally became initiated into a desire for promoting schools for the
+working classes, and I must say, from that time to this I never changed
+my mind upon the subject. I think it is absolutely necessary our schools
+should not merely be secular, but that they should be provided with
+religious teaching, and that religious teaching ought not to be
+sectarian. There will be plenty of time, when these children go to
+church or chapel, that they should learn either that particular form of
+doctrine their parents follow or adopt one more consistent with their
+conscientious feelings; but I think, while they are young boys and girls
+at school, it ought to be sufficient for them to know what Christ
+taught, and what the apostles taught; and from those lessons and
+precepts they may guide their conduct in life.'
+
+Lord John put his hand to the plough in the day of small things, and,
+through good and through evil report, from the days of Lancaster, Bell,
+and Brougham, to those of Mr. Forster and the great measure of 1870, he
+never withdrew from a task which lay always near to his heart. It is
+difficult to believe that at the beginning of the present century there
+were less than three thousand four hundred schools of all descriptions
+in the whole of England, or that when the reign of George III. was
+closing one-half of the children of the nation still ran wild without
+the least pretence of education. At a still later period the marriage
+statistics revealed the fact that one-third of the men and one-half of
+the women were unable to sign the register. The social elevation of the
+people, so ran the miserable plea of those who assuredly were not given
+to change, was fraught with peril to the State. Hodge, it was urged,
+ought to be content to take both the Law and the Commandments from his
+betters, since a little knowledge is a dangerous thing. As for the
+noisy, insolent operatives and artisans of the great manufacturing
+towns, was there not for them the strong hand of authority, and, if they
+grew too obstreperous, the uplifted sabre of the military as at
+Peterloo? It was all very well, however, to extol the virtues of
+patience, contentment, and obedience, but the sense of wrong and of
+defiance rankled in the masses, and with it--in a dull and confused
+manner--the sense of power.
+
+  [Sidenote: THE AWAKENING OF THE PEOPLE]
+
+The Reform Bill of 1832 mocked in many directions the hopes of the
+people, but it at least marked a great social as well as a great
+political departure, and with it came the dawn of a new day to modern
+England. As the light broadened, the vision of poets and patriots began
+to be realised in practical improvements, which came home to men's
+business and bosom; the standard of intelligence rose, and with it
+freedom of thought, and the, sometimes passionate, but more often
+long-suffering demand for political, social, and economic concessions to
+justice. It was long before the privileged classes began to recognise,
+except in platform heroics, that it was high time to awake out of sleep
+and to 'educate our masters;' but the work began when Lord Althorp
+persuaded the House of Commons to vote a modest sum for the erection of
+school buildings in England; and that grant of 20,000_l._ in 1832 was
+the 'handful of corn on the top of the mountains' which has brought
+about the golden harvest of to-day. The history of the movement does
+not, of course, fall within the province of these pages, though Lord
+John Russell's name is associated with it in an honourable and emphatic
+sense. The formation, chiefly at his instance, in 1839 of a Council of
+Education paved the way for the existing system of elementary education,
+and lifted the whole problem to the front rank of national affairs.
+
+  [Sidenote: POPULAR EDUCATION]
+
+He was the first Prime Minister of England to carry a measure which made
+it possible to secure trained teachers for elementary schools; and his
+successful effort in 1847 to 'diminish the empire of ignorance,' as he
+styled it, was one of the events in his public life on which he looked
+back in after years with the most satisfaction. During the session of
+1856 Lord John brought forward in the House of Commons a bold scheme of
+National Education. He contended that out of four million children of
+school age only one-half were receiving instruction, whilst not more
+than one-eighth were attending schools which were subject to inspection.
+The vast majority were to be found in schools where the standard of
+education, if not altogether an unknown quantity, was deplorably low. He
+proposed that the number of inspectors should be increased, and that a
+rate should be levied by the local authorities for supplying adequate
+instruction in places where it was unsatisfactory. He contended that the
+country should be mapped out in school districts, and that the managers
+should have the power to make provision for religious instruction, and,
+at the same time, should allow the parents of the children a voice in
+the matter. Prejudices ecclesiastical and social blocked the way,
+however, and Lord John was compelled to abandon the scheme, which
+suggested, and to a large extent anticipated Mr. Forster's far-reaching
+measure, which in 1870 met with a better fate, and linked the principles
+of local authority and central supervision in the harmonious working of
+public education. When the victory was almost won Mr. Forster, with
+characteristic kindliness, wrote to the old statesman who had laboured
+for the people's cause in years of supreme discouragement:--'As regards
+universal compulsory education, I believe we shall soon complete the
+building. It is hard to see how there would have been a building to
+complete, if you had not, with great labour and in great difficulty, dug
+the foundations in 1839.' Happily Lord John lived to witness the
+crowning of the edifice by the Gladstone Administration.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+COMING BACK TO POWER
+
+1857-1861
+
+     Lord John as an Independent Member--His chance in the City--The
+     Indian Mutiny--Orsini's attempt on the life of Napoleon--The
+     Conspiracy Bill--Lord John and the Jewish Relief Act--Palmerston in
+     power--Lord John at the Foreign Office--Cobden and Bright--Quits
+     the Commons with a Peerage.
+
+
+LORD JOHN came prominently to the front in public affairs in the brief
+session of 1857, which ended in Lord Palmerston's appeal to the country.
+He spoke against the Government during the discussions in the House of
+Commons on the conduct of the Persian War, and he exercised his
+independence in other directions. Even shrewd and well-informed
+observers were curiously oblivious, for the moment, of the signs of the
+times, for Greville wrote on February 27: 'Nobody cares any longer for
+John Russell, everybody detests Gladstone; Disraeli has no influence in
+the country, and a very doubtful position with his own party.' Yet
+scarcely more than a fortnight later this cynical, but frank scribe
+added: 'Some think a reaction in favour of John Russell has begun. He
+stands for the City, and is in very good spirits, though his chances of
+success do not look bright; but he is a gallant little fellow, likes to
+face danger, and comes out well in times of difficulty.' Between these
+two statements the unexpected had happened. Cobden had brought forward
+a motion censuring the conduct of the Government in the affair of the
+lorcha, 'Arrow,' at Canton, and the three statesmen on whom Greville had
+contemptuously pronounced judgment--Russell, Gladstone, and
+Disraeli--had supported the Manchester school, with the result that the
+Government, on March 4, suffered defeat by a majority of sixteen votes.
+Parliament was dissolved in the course of the month, and the General
+Election brought Lord Palmerston back to power, pledged to nothing
+unless it was a spirited foreign policy.
+
+  [Sidenote: THE CITY FIGHTS SHY]
+
+The personal ascendency of Lord Palmerston, whom Disraeli cleverly
+styled the Tory chief of a Radical Cabinet, carried the election, for
+there was a good deal of truth in the assertion that nobody cared a
+straw for his colleagues. The Peace party suffered defeat at the polls,
+and, amongst others, Cobden himself was turned out at Huddersfield, and
+Bright and Milner Gibson were his companions in misfortune at
+Manchester. A vigorous attempt was made to overthrow Lord John in the
+City, and his timid friends in the neighbourhood of Lombard Street and
+the Exchange implored him not to run the risk of a contested election.
+He was assured in so many words, states Lady Russell, that he had as
+much chance of being elected Pope as of being elected member for the
+City; and the statement roused his mettle. He was pitted against a
+candidate from Northampton, and the latter was brought forward with the
+powerful support of the Registration Association of the City of London,
+and in a fashion which was the reverse of complimentary to the old
+statesman.
+
+Lord John was equal to the occasion, and was by no means inclined to
+throw up the sponge. He went down to the City, and delivered not merely
+a vigorous, but vivacious speech, and in the course of it he said, with
+a jocularity which was worthy of Lord Palmerston himself: 'If a
+gentleman were disposed to part with his butler, his coachman, or his
+gamekeeper, or if a merchant were disposed to part with an old servant,
+a warehouseman, a clerk, or even a porter, he would say to him,
+"John--(laughter)--I think your faculties are somewhat decayed; you are
+growing old, you have made several mistakes, and I think of putting a
+young man from Northampton in your place." (Laughter and cheers.) I
+think a gentleman would behave in that way to his servant, and thereby
+give John an opportunity of answering that he thought his faculties were
+not so much decayed, and that he was able to go on, at all events, some
+five or six years longer. That opportunity was not given to me. The
+question was decided in my absence, without any intimation to me; and I
+come now to ask you and the citizens of London to reverse that
+decision.' He was taken at his word, and the rival candidate from
+Northampton was duly sent to the neighbouring borough of Coventry.
+
+The summer of 1857 was darkened in England by tidings of the Indian
+Mutiny and of the terrible massacre at Cawnpore. In face of the disaster
+Lord John not merely gave his hearty support to the Government, but
+delivered an energetic protest against the attack of the Opposition at
+such a crisis, and moved an address assuring the Crown of the support of
+Parliament, which was carried, in spite of Disraeli, without a division.
+At the same time Lord John in confidential intercourse made it plain
+that he recognised to the full extent the need of reform in the
+administration of India, and he did not hesitate to intimate that, in
+his view, the East India Company was no longer equal to the strain of
+so great a responsibility. He brought no railing accusations against the
+Company, but, on the contrary, declared that it must be admitted they
+had 'conducted their affairs in a wonderful manner, falling into errors
+that were natural, but displaying merits of a high order. The real
+ground for change is that the machine is worn out, and, as a
+manufacturer changes an excellent engine of Watt and Boulton made fifty
+years ago for a new engine with modern improvements, so it becomes us to
+find a new machine for the government of India.'
+
+  [Sidenote: THE ORSINI PLOT]
+
+Before the upheaval in India had spent its force fresh difficulties
+overtook Lord Palmerston's Government. Count Orsini, strong in the
+conviction that Napoleon III. was the great barrier to the progress of
+revolution in Italy, determined to rid his countrymen of the man who,
+beyond all others, seemed bent on thwarting the national aspirations.
+With other conspirators, he threw three bombs on the night of January
+14, 1858, at the carriage of the Emperor and Empress as they were
+proceeding to the Opera, and, though they escaped unhurt, ten persons
+were killed and many wounded. The bombs had been manufactured in
+England, and Orsini--who was captured and executed--had arranged the
+dastardly outrage in London, and the consequence was a fierce outbreak
+of indignation on the other side of the Channel. Lord Palmerston,
+prompted by the French Government, which demanded protection from the
+machinations of political refugees, brought forward a Conspiracy Bill.
+The feeling of the country, already hostile to such a measure, grew
+pronounced when the French army, not content with congratulating the
+Emperor on his escape, proceeded to refer to England in insulting, and
+even threatening, terms. Lord John, on high constitutional grounds,
+protested against the introduction of the measure, and declared that he
+was determined not to share in such 'shame and humiliation.' The
+Government were defeated on the Conspiracy Bill, on February 19, by
+nineteen votes. Amongst the eighty-four Liberals in the majority occur
+the names, not merely of Lord John Russell and Sir James Graham, but Mr.
+Cardwell and Mr. Gladstone. Lord Palmerston promptly resigned, and Lord
+Derby came into office. Disraeli, as Chancellor of the Exchequer and
+leader of the House of Commons, proceeded with characteristic audacity
+and a light heart to educate the new Conservative Party in the art of
+dishing the Whigs.
+
+  [Sidenote: THE JEWISH RELIEF ACT]
+
+The new Ministry was short-lived. Lord Derby was in advance of his
+party, and old-fashioned Tories listened with alarm to the programme of
+work which he set before them. For the moment Lord John was not eager
+for office, and he declared that the 'new Ministers ought not to be
+recklessly or prematurely opposed.' He added that he would not sanction
+any cabal among the Liberal party, and that he had no intention whatever
+of leading an alliance of Radicals and Peelites. Impressed with the
+magnitude of the issues at stake, he helped Lord Derby to pass the new
+India Bill, which handed the government of that country over to the
+Crown. He held that the question was too great to be made a battle-field
+of party, but thorough-paced adherents of Lord Palmerston did not
+conceal their indignation at such independent action. Lord John believed
+at the moment that it was right for him to throw his influence into the
+scale, and therefore he was indifferent to the passing clamour. The
+subsequent history of the English in India has amply justified the
+patriotic step which he took in scorn of party consequences. The Jewish
+Relief Act became law in 1858, and Lord John at length witnessed the
+triumph of a cause which he had brought again and again before
+Parliament since the General Election of 1847, when Baron Rothschild was
+returned as his colleague in the representation of the City. Scarcely
+any class of the community showed themselves more constantly mindful of
+his services on their behalf than the Jews. When one of them took an
+opportunity of thanking him for helping to free a once oppressed race
+from legal disabilities, Lord John replied: 'The object of my life has
+been not to benefit a race alone, but all nationalities that suffered
+under civil and religious disabilities.' He used to relate with evident
+appreciation the reply which Lord Lyndhurst once gave to a timid
+statesman who feared a possible Hebrew invasion of the woolsack. The man
+who was appointed four times to that exalted seat retorted: 'Well, I see
+no harm in that; Daniel would have made a good Lord Chancellor.'
+
+Everyone recognised that the Derby Administration was a mere stop-gap,
+and, as months passed on, its struggle for existence became somewhat
+ludicrous. They felt themselves to be a Ministry on sufferance, and,
+according to the gossip of the hour, their watchword was 'Anything for a
+quiet life.' There were rocks ahead, and at the beginning of the session
+of 1859 they stood revealed in Mr. Disraeli's extraordinary proposals
+for Reform, and in the war-cloud which was gathering rapidly over Europe
+in consequence of the quarrel between France and Austria about the
+affairs of Italy. Mr. Disraeli's Reform Bill taxed the allegiance of his
+party to the breaking point, and when its provisions were disclosed two
+of his colleagues resigned--Mr. Spencer Walpole the Home Office, and Mr.
+Henley the Board of Trade, rather than have part or lot in such a
+measure. There is no need here to describe in detail a scheme which was
+foredoomed by its fantastic character to failure. It confused great
+issues; it brought into play what Mr. Bright called fancy franchises; it
+did not lower the voting qualification in boroughs; its new property
+qualifications were of a retrograde character; and it left the working
+classes where it found them. It frightened staid Tories of the older
+school, and excited the ridicule, if not the indignation, of all who had
+seriously grappled with the problem.
+
+  [Sidenote: LORD GRANVILLE'S IMPOSSIBLE TASK]
+
+The immediate effect was to unite all sections of the Liberal Party.
+Lord John led the attack, and did so on the broad ground that it did not
+go far enough; and on April 1, after protracted debate, the measure was
+defeated by a majority of thirty-nine votes in a House of six hundred
+and twenty-one members. Parliament was prorogued on April 19, and the
+country was thrown into the turmoil of a General Election. Lord John
+promptly appealed to his old constituents in the City, and in the course
+of a vigorous address handled the 'so-called Reform Bill' in no
+uncertain manner. He declared that amongst the numerous defects of the
+Bill 'one provision was conspicuous by its presence and another by its
+absence.' He had deemed it advisable on the second reading to take what
+seemed to be the 'most clear, manly, and direct' course, and that was
+the secret of his amendment. The House of Commons had mustered in full
+force, and the terms of the amendment had been carried. The result of
+the General Election was that three hundred and fifty Liberals and three
+hundred and two Conservatives were returned to Westminster. Parliament
+met on May 31, and Lord Hartington moved an amendment to the Address
+which amounted to an expression of want of confidence. The amendment was
+carried by a majority of thirteen on June 12, and Lord Derby's
+Administration came the same night to an end. The result of the division
+took both parties somewhat by surprise. The astonishment was heightened
+when her Majesty sent for Lord Granville, an action which, to say the
+least, was a left-handed compliment to old and distinguished advisers of
+the Crown. Happily, though the sovereign may in such high affairs of
+State propose, it is the country which must finally dispose, and Lord
+Granville swiftly found that in the exuberance of political youth he had
+accepted a hopeless commission. He therefore relinquished an impossible
+task, and the Queen sent for Lord Palmerston.
+
+  [Sidenote: PALMERSTON'S MIXED MULTITUDE]
+
+In the earlier years of Lord John's retirement from office after the
+Vienna Conference his relations with some of his old colleagues, and
+more particularly with Lord Clarendon and Lord Palmerston, were somewhat
+strained. The blunders of the Derby Government, the jeopardy in India,
+the menacing condition of foreign politics, and, still more, the
+patriotism and right feeling of both men, gradually drew Palmerston and
+Russell into more intimate association, with the result that in the
+early summer of 1859 the frank intercourse of former years was renewed.
+More than twelve years had elapsed since Lord John had attained the
+highest rank possible to an English statesman. In the interval he had
+consented, under strong pressure from the most exalted quarters, to
+waive his claims by consenting to serve under Lord Aberdeen; and the
+outcome of that experiment had been humiliating to himself, as well as
+disastrous to the country. He might fairly have stood on his dignity--a
+fool's pedestal at the best, and one which Lord John was too sensible
+ever to mount--at the present juncture, and have declined to return to
+the responsibilities of office, except as Prime Minister. The leaders
+of the democracy, Mr. Bright and Mr. Cobden, were much more friendly to
+him than to Lord Palmerston. Apart from published records, Lady
+Russell's diary shows that at the beginning of this year Mr. Bright was
+in close communication with her husband. Lord John good-humouredly
+protested that Mr. Bright alarmed timid people by his speeches;
+whereupon the latter replied that he had been much misrepresented, and
+declared that he was more willing to be lieutenant than general in the
+approaching struggle for Reform. He explained his scheme, and Lord John
+found that it had much in common with his own, from which it differed
+only in degree, except on the question of the ballot. 'There has been a
+meeting between Bright and Lord John,' was Lord Houghton's comment, 'but
+I don't know that it has led to anything except a more temperate tone in
+Bright's last speeches.' Mr. Cobden, it is an open secret, would not
+have refused to serve under Lord John, but his hostility to Lord
+Palmerston's policy was too pronounced for him now to accept the offer
+of a seat in the new Cabinet. He assured Lord John that if he had been
+at the head of the Administration the result would have been different.
+Both Mr. Cobden and Mr. Bright felt that Lord Palmerston blocked the way
+to any adequate readjustment in home politics of the balance of power,
+and they were inspired by a settled distrust of his foreign policy. Lord
+John, on the other hand, though he might not move as swiftly as such
+popular leaders thought desirable, had still a name to conjure with, and
+was the consistent advocate, though on more cautious lines, of an
+extension of the franchise. Moreover, Lord John's attack on Palmerston's
+Government in regard to the conduct of the Chinese war, his vigorous
+protest against the Conspiracy Bill, and his frank sympathy with
+Mazzini's dream of a United Italy, helped to bring the old leader, in
+the long fight for civil and religious liberty, into vital touch with
+younger men of the stamp of Cobden, Bright, and Gladstone, of whom the
+people justly expected great things in the not distant future. Lord John
+knew, however, that the Liberal camp was full of politicians who were
+neither hot nor cold--men who had slipped into Parliament on easy terms,
+only to reveal the fact that their prejudices were many and their
+convictions few. They sheltered themselves under the great prestige of
+Lord Palmerston, and represented his policy of masterly inactivity,
+rather than the true sentiments of the nation. Lord Palmerston was as
+jaunty as ever; but all things are not possible even to the ablest man,
+at seventy-five.
+
+Although Lord John was not willing to serve under Lord Granville, who
+was his junior by more than a score of years, he saw his chance at the
+Foreign Office, and therefore consented to join the Administration of
+Lord Palmerston. In accepting office on such terms in the middle of
+June, he made it plain to Lord Palmerston that the importance of
+European affairs at the moment had induced him to throw in his lot with
+the new Ministry. The deadlock was brought to an end by Lord John's
+patriotic decision. Mr. Gladstone became Chancellor of the Exchequer,
+Lord Granville President of the Council; and amongst others in the
+Cabinet were Sir G. C. Lewis, Mr. Milner Gibson, Sir George Grey, and
+the Duke of Argyll. Though Cobden would not accept a place in the
+Government, he rendered it important service by negotiating the
+commercial treaty with France, which came into force at the beginning of
+1860. Next to the abolition of the Corn Laws, which he more than any
+other man brought about, it was the great achievement of his career.
+Free Trade, by liberating commerce from the bondage under which it
+groaned, gave food to starving multitudes, redressed a flagrant and
+tyrannical abuse of power, shielded a kingdom from the throes of
+revolution, and added a new and magical impetus to material progress in
+every quarter of the globe. The commercial treaty with France, by
+establishing mercantile sympathy and intercourse between two of the most
+powerful nations of the world, carried forward the work which Free Trade
+had begun, and, by bringing into play community of interests, helped to
+give peace a sure foundation.
+
+Parliament met on January 24, and in the Speech from the Throne a Reform
+Bill was promised. It was brought forward by Lord John Russell on March
+1--the twenty-ninth anniversary of a red-letter day in his life, the
+introduction of the first Reform Bill. He proposed to reduce the county
+franchise to 10_l._ qualification, and the borough to 6_l._; one member
+was to be taken from each borough with a population of less than seven
+thousand, and in this way twenty-five seats were obtained for
+redistribution. Political power was to be given where the people were
+congregated, and Lord John's scheme of re-distribution gave two seats to
+the West Riding, and one each to thirty other counties or divisions, and
+five to boroughs hitherto unrepresented. The claims of Manchester,
+Liverpool, Birmingham, and Leeds were recognised by the proposal to add
+another representative in each case; and the claims of culture were not
+forgotten, for a member was given to London University. Gallio-like,
+Lord Palmerston cared for none of these things, and he made no attempt
+to conceal his indifference. One-half of the Cabinet appear to have
+shared his distaste for the measure, and two or three of them regarded
+it with aversion. If Cobden or Bright had been in the Cabinet, affairs
+might have taken a different course; as it was, Lord John and Mr.
+Gladstone stood almost alone.
+
+The Radicals, though gaining ground in the country, were numerically
+weak in the House of Commons, and the measure fell to the ground between
+the opposition of the Tories and the faint praise with which it was
+damned by the Whigs. Even Lord John was forced to confess that the
+apathy of the country was undeniable. A more sweeping measure would have
+had a better chance, but so long as Lord Palmerston was at the head of
+affairs it was idle to expect it. Lord John recognised the inevitable
+after a succession of dreary debates, and the measure was withdrawn on
+June 11. Lord John's first important speech in the House of Commons was
+made in the year of Peterloo, when he brought forward, thirteen years
+before the Reform Bill of 1832 was passed, proposals for an extension of
+the franchise; and his last great speech in the House of Commons at
+least showed how unmerited was the taunt of 'finality,' for it sought to
+give the working classes a share in the government of the country.
+
+  [Sidenote: ACCEPTS A PEERAGE]
+
+Early in the following year, Lord John was raised to the peerage as Earl
+Russell of Kingston-Russell and Viscount Amberley and Ardsalla. 'I
+cannot despatch,' wrote Mr. Gladstone, 'as I have just done, the
+Chiltern Hundreds for you, without expressing the strong feelings which
+even that formal act awakens. They are mixed, as well as strong; for I
+hope you will be repaid in repose, health, and the power of
+long-continuing service, for the heavy loss we suffer in the House of
+Commons. Although you may not hereafter have opportunities of adding to
+the personal debt I owe you, and of bringing it vividly before my mind
+by fresh acts of courage and kindness, I assure you, the recollection of
+it is already indelible.' Hitherto, Lord John--for the old name is the
+one under which his family and his friends still like to apply to
+him--had been a poor man; but the death, in the spring of this year, of
+his brother the Duke of Bedford, with whom, from youth to age, his
+intercourse had been most cordial, placed him in possession of the
+Ardsalla Estate, and, indeed, made possible his acceptance of the
+proffered earldom. Six months later, her Majesty conferred the Garter
+upon him, as a mark of her 'high approbation of long and distinguished
+services.' Lord John had almost reached the age of three score and ten
+when he entered the House of Lords. He had done his work in 'another
+place,' but he was destined to become once more First Minister of the
+Crown, and, as Mr. Froude put it, to carry his reputation at length off
+the scene unspotted by a single act which his biographers are called
+upon to palliate.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+UNITED ITALY AND THE DIS-UNITED STATES
+
+1861-1865
+
+     Lord John at the Foreign Office--Austria and Italy--Victor Emmanuel
+     and Mazzini--Cavour and Napoleon III.--Lord John's energetic
+     protest--His sympathy with Garibaldi and the struggle for
+     freedom--The gratitude of the Italians--Death of the Prince
+     Consort--The 'Trent' affair--Lord John's remonstrance--The
+     'Alabama' difficulty--Lord Selborne's statement--The Cotton Famine.
+
+
+FOREIGN politics claimed Lord John's undivided attention throughout the
+four remaining years of the Palmerston Administration. It was well for
+the nation that a statesman of so much courage and self-reliance, cool
+sagacity, and wide experience, controlled the Foreign Office in years
+when wars and rumours of war prevailed alike in Europe and in America.
+He once declared that it had always been his aim to promote the cause of
+civil and religious liberty, not merely in England, but in other parts
+of the world, and events were now looming which were destined to justify
+such an assertion. It is not possible to enter at length into the
+complicated problems with which he had to deal during his tenure of the
+Foreign Office, but the broad principles which animated his policy can,
+in rough outline at least, be stated. It is well in this connection to
+fall back upon his own words: 'In my time very difficult questions
+arose. During the period I held the seals of the Foreign Office I had to
+discuss the question of the independence of Italy, of a treaty
+regarding Poland made by Lord Castlereagh, the treaty regarding Denmark
+made by Lord Malmesbury, the injuries done to England by the republic of
+Mexico, and, not to mention minor questions, the whole of the
+transactions arising out of the civil war in America, embittered as they
+were by the desire of a party in the United States to lay upon England
+the whole blame of the insurrection, the "irrepressible conflict" of
+their own fellow-citizens.' Both of these questions were far-reaching
+and crucial, and in his attitude towards Italy and America, when they
+were in the throes of revolution, Lord Russell's generous love of
+liberty and vigour of judgment alike stand revealed.
+
+Prince Metternich declared soon after the peace of 1815 that Italy was
+'only a geographical expression.' The taunt was true at the time, but
+even then there was a young dreamer living who was destined to render it
+false. 'Great ideas,' declared Mazzini, 'create great nations,' and his
+whole career was devoted to the attempt to bring about a united Italy.
+The statesmanship of Cavour and the sword of Garibaldi were enlisted in
+the same sacred cause. The petty governments of the Peninsula grew
+suddenly impossible, and Italy was freed from native tyranny and foreign
+domination. Austria, not content with the possession of Lombardy, which
+was ceded to her by the treaty of 1815, had made her power felt in
+almost every direction, and even at Naples her authority prevailed. The
+Austrians were not merely an alien but a hated race, for they stood
+between the Italian people and their dream of national independence and
+unity, and native despotism could always count on their aid in quelling
+any outbreak of the revolutionary spirit. The governments of the
+country, Austria and the Vatican apart, were rendered contemptible by
+the character of its tyrannical, incapable, and superstitious rulers,
+but with the sway of such powers of darkness Sardinia presented a bright
+contrast. The hopes of patriotic Italians gathered around Victor
+Emmanuel II., who had fought gallantly at Novara in 1849, and who
+possessed more public spirit and common-sense than the majority of
+crowned heads. Victor Emmanuel ascended the throne of Sardinia at the
+age of twenty-eight, immediately after the crushing disaster which
+seemed hopelessly to have wrecked the cause of Italian independence.
+Although he believed, with Mazzini, that there was only room for two
+kinds of Italians in Italy, the friends and the enemies of Austria, he
+showed remarkable self-restraint, and adopted a policy of conciliation
+towards foreign Powers, whilst widening the liberties of his own
+subjects until all over the land Italians came to regard Sardinia with
+admiration, and to covet 'liberty as it was in Piedmont.'
+
+  [Sidenote: COUNT CAVOUR]
+
+He gathered around him men who were in sympathy with modern ideas of
+liberty and progress. Amongst them was Count Cavour, a statesman
+destined to impress not Italy alone, but Europe, by his honesty of
+purpose, force of character, and practical sagacity. From 1852 to 1859,
+when he retired, rather than agree to the humiliating terms of the
+Treaty of Villafranca, Cavour was supreme in Sardinia. He found Sardinia
+crippled by defeat, and crushed with debt, the bitter bequest of the
+Austrian War; but his courage never faltered, and his capacity was equal
+to the strain. Victor Emmanuel gave him a free hand, and he used it for
+the consolidation of the kingdom. He repealed the duties on corn,
+reformed the tariff, and introduced measures of free trade. He
+encouraged public works, brought about the construction of railways and
+telegraphs, and advanced perceptibly popular education. He saw that if
+the nation was to gain her independence, and his sovereign become ruler
+of a united Italy, it was necessary to propitiate the Western Powers. In
+pursuance of such a policy, Cavour induced Piedmont to join the Allies
+in the Crimean War, and the Italian soldiers behaved with conspicuous
+bravery at the battle of Tchernaya. When the war closed Sardinia was
+becoming a power in Europe, and Cavour established his right to a seat
+at the Congress of Paris, where he made known the growing discontent in
+Italy with the temporal power of the Papacy.
+
+In the summer of 1858 Napoleon III. was taking the waters at Plombieres,
+where also Count Cavour was on a visit. The Emperor's mood was leisured
+and cordial, and Cavour took the opportunity of bringing the Court of
+Turin into intimate but secret relations with that of the Tuileries.
+France was to come to the aid of Sardinia under certain conditions in
+the event of a war with Austria. Napoleon was not, of course, inclined
+to serve Victor Emmanuel for naught, and he therefore stipulated for
+Savoy and Nice. Cavour also strengthened the position of Sardinia by
+arranging a marriage between the Princess Clotilde, daughter of Victor
+Emmanuel, and the Emperor's cousin, Prince Napoleon. Alarmed at the
+military preparations in Sardinia, and the growth of the kingdom as a
+political power in Europe, Austria at the beginning of 1859 addressed an
+imperious demand for disarmament, which was met by Cavour by a curt
+refusal. The match had been put to the gunpowder and a fight for liberty
+took place. The campaign was short but decisive. The Austrian army
+crossed in force the Ticino, then hesitated and was lost. If they had
+acted promptly they might have crushed the troops of Piedmont, whom they
+greatly outnumbered, before the soldiers of France could cross the Alps.
+The battle of Magenta, and the still more deadly struggle at Solferino
+between Austria and the Allies, decided the issue, and by the beginning
+of July Napoleon, for the moment, was master of the situation.
+
+  [Sidenote: VILLAFRANCA]
+
+The French Emperor, with characteristic duplicity, had only half
+revealed his hand in those confidential talks at Plombieres. Italy was
+the cradle of his race, and he too wished to create, if not a King of
+Rome, a federation of small States ruled by princes of his own blood.
+The public rejoicings at Florence, Parma, Modena, and Bologna, and the
+ardent expression of the populace at such centres for union with
+Sardinia, made the Emperor wince, and showed him that it was impossible,
+even with French bayonets, to crush the aspirations of a nation.
+Napoleon met Francis Joseph at Villafranca, and the preliminaries of
+peace were arranged on July 11 in a high-handed fashion, and without
+even the presence of Victor Emmanuel. Lombardy was ceded to Sardinia,
+though Austria was allowed to keep Venetia and the fortress of Mantua.
+France afterwards took Nice and Savoy; and the Grand Duke of Tuscany and
+the Duke of Modena were restored to power. The Treaty of Zurich ratified
+these terms in the month of November. Meanwhile it was officially
+announced that the Emperor of Austria and the Emperor of the French
+would 'favour the creation of an Italian Confederation under the
+honorary presidency of the Holy Father.'
+
+The Countess Martinengo Cesaresco, in a brilliant book published within
+the last few months on 'The Liberation of Italy,' in describing Lord
+John Russell's opposition to the terms of peace at Villafranca, and the
+vigorous protest which, as Foreign Minister, he made on behalf of
+England, says: 'It was a happy circumstance for Italy that her unity had
+no better friends than in the English Government during those difficult
+years. Cavour's words, soon after Villafranca, "It is England's turn
+now," were not belied.'[39] With Lord John at the Foreign Office,
+England rose to the occasion. Napoleon III. wished to make a cat's-paw
+of this country, and was sanguine enough to believe that Her Majesty's
+Government would take the proposed Italian Confederation under its wing.
+Lord Palmerston, Mr. Gladstone, and Lord John Russell, were not,
+however, the men to bow to his behests, and the latter in particular
+could scarcely conceal his contempt for the scheme of the two emperors.
+'We are asked to propose a partition of the peoples of Italy,' he
+exclaimed, 'as if we had the right to dispose of them.'
+
+  [Sidenote: FRANCE AND AUSTRIA]
+
+Lord John contended that if Austria, by virtue of her presence on
+Italian soil, was a member of the suggested confederation, she, because
+of the Vatican, the King of Naples, and the two dukes, would virtually
+rule the roost. He wrote to the British Minister at Florence in favour
+of a frank expression on the part of the people of Tuscany of their own
+wishes in the matter, and declared in the House of Commons that he could
+have neither part nor lot with any attempt to deprive the people of
+Italy of their right to choose their own ruler. He protested against the
+presence in Italy of foreign troops, whether French or Austrian, and in
+despatches to Paris and Vienna he made the French and Austrian
+Governments aware that England was altogether opposed to any return to
+that 'system of foreign interference which for upwards of forty years
+has been the misfortune of Italy and the danger of Europe.' Lord John
+urged that France and Austria should agree not to employ armed
+intervention for the future in the affairs of Italy, unless called upon
+to do so by the unanimous voice of the five Great Powers of Europe. He
+further contended that Napoleon III. should arrange with Pius IX. for
+the evacuation of Rome by the troops of France. He protested in vain
+against the annexation of Savoy and Nice by France, which he regarded as
+altogether a retrograde movement. In March 1860, in a speech in the
+House of Commons, he declared that the course which the Emperor Napoleon
+had taken was of a kind to produce great distrust all over Europe. He
+regarded the annexation of Savoy, not merely as in itself an act of
+aggression, but as one which was likely to 'lead a nation so warlike as
+the French to call upon its Government from time to time to commit other
+acts of aggression.' England wished to live on the most friendly terms
+with France. It was necessary, however, for the nations of Europe to
+maintain peace, to respect not merely each others' rights, but each
+others' boundaries, and, above all, to restore, and not to disturb that
+'commercial confidence which is the result of peace, which tends to
+peace, and which ultimately forms the happiness of nations.' When
+Napoleon patched up a peace with Francis Joseph, which practically
+ignored the aspirations of the Italian people, their indignation knew no
+bounds, and they determined to work out their own redemption.
+
+Garibaldi had already distinguished himself in the campaign which had
+culminated at Solferino, and he now took the field against the Bourbons
+in Naples and Sicily, whilst insurrections broke out in other parts of
+Italy. France suggested that England should help her in arresting
+Garibaldi's victorious march, but Lord John was too old a friend of
+freedom to respond to such a proposal. He held that the Neapolitan
+Government--the iniquities of which Mr. Gladstone had exposed in an
+outburst of righteous indignation in 1851--must be left to reap the
+consequences of 'misgovernment which had no parallel in all Europe.'
+Garibaldi, carried thither by the enthusiasm of humanity and the justice
+of his cause, entered Naples in triumph on September 7, 1860, the day
+after the ignominious flight of Francis II. Victor Emmanuel was
+proclaimed King of Italy two days later, and when he met the new
+Parliament of his widened realm at Turin he was able to declare: 'Our
+country is no more the Italy of the Romans, nor the Italy of the Middle
+Ages: it is no longer the field for every foreign ambition, it becomes
+henceforth the Italy of the Italians.'
+
+Lord John's part in the struggle did him infinite credit. He held
+resolutely to the view all through the crisis, and in the face of the
+censure of Austria, France, Prussia, and Russia, that the Italians were
+the best judges of their own interests, and that the Italian revolution
+was as justifiable as the English revolution of 1688. He declared that,
+far from censuring Victor Emmanuel and Count Cavour, her Majesty's
+Government preferred to turn its eyes to the 'gratifying prospect of a
+people building up the edifice of their liberties, and consolidating the
+work of their independence, amid the sympathies and good wishes of
+Europe.' Foreign Courts might bluster, protest, or sneer, but England
+was with her Foreign Minister; and 'Punch' summed up the verdict of the
+nation in generous words of doggerel verse:
+
+    'Well said, Johnny Russell! That latest despatch
+    You have sent to Turin is exactly the thing;
+    And again, my dear John, you come up to the scratch
+    With a pluck that does credit to you and the Ring.'
+
+  [Sidenote: ITALY'S GRATITUDE]
+
+The utmost enthusiasm prevailed in Italy when the terms of Lord John's
+despatch became known. Count Cavour and General Garibaldi vied with each
+other in emphatic acknowledgments, and Lord John was assured that he was
+'blessed night and morning by twenty millions of Italians.' In the
+summer of 1864 Garibaldi visited England, and received a greater popular
+ovation in the streets of the metropolis than that which has been
+accorded to any crowned head in the Queen's reign. He went down to
+Pembroke Lodge to thank Lord John in person for the help which he had
+given to Italy in the hour of her greatest need. Lord John received a
+beautiful expression of the gratitude of the nation, in the shape of an
+exquisite marble statue by Carlo Romano, representing Young Italy
+holding in her outstretched arms a diadem, inscribed with the arms of
+its united States. During subsequent visits to Florence and San Remo he
+was received with demonstrations of popular respect, and at the latter
+place, shortly after his final retirement from office in 1866, he said,
+in reply to an address: 'I thank you with all my heart for the honour
+you have done me. I rejoice with you in seeing Italy free and
+independent, with a monarchical government and under a patriotic king.
+The Italian nation has all the elements of a prosperous political life,
+which had been wanting for many centuries. The union of religion,
+liberty, and civil order will increase the prosperity of this beautiful
+country.'
+
+  [Sidenote: THE PRINCE CONSORT]
+
+A still more delicate problem of international policy, and one which
+naturally came much nearer home to English susceptibilities, arose in
+the autumn of 1861--a year which was rendered memorable on one side of
+the Atlantic by the outbreak of the Civil War, and on the other by the
+national sorrow over the unexpected death, at the early age of
+forty-two, of the Prince Consort. The latter event was not merely an
+overwhelming and irrevocable loss to the Queen, but in an emphatic sense
+a misfortune--it might almost be said a disaster--to the nation. It was
+not until the closing years of his life that the personal nobility and
+political sagacity of Prince Albert were fully recognised by the English
+people. Brought up in a small and narrow German Court, the Prince
+Consort in the early years of her Majesty's reign was somewhat formal in
+his manners and punctilious in his demands. The published records of the
+reign show that he was inclined to lean too much to the wisdom, which
+was not always 'profitable to direct,' of Baron Stockmar, a trusted
+adviser of the Court, of autocratic instincts and strong prejudices, who
+failed to understand either the genius of the English constitution or
+the temper of the English race. It is an open secret that the Prince
+Consort during the first decade of the reign was by no means popular,
+either with the classes or the masses. His position was a difficult one,
+for he was, in the words of one of the chief statesmen of the reign, at
+once the 'permanent Secretary and the permanent Prime Minister' of the
+Crown; and there were undoubtedly occasions when in both capacities he
+magnified his office. Even if the Great Exhibition of 1851 had been
+memorable for nothing else, it would have been noteworthy as the period
+which marked a new departure in the Prince's relations with all grades
+of her Majesty's subjects. It not only brought him into touch with the
+people, but it brought into view, as well as into play, his practical
+mastery of affairs, and also his enlightened sympathy with the progress
+in art and science, no less than in the commercial activities, of the
+nation. It was not, however, until the closing years of his life, when
+the dreary escapades of the Coalition Ministry were beginning to be
+forgotten, that the great qualities of the Prince Consort were
+appreciated to any adequate degree. From the close of the Crimean War to
+his untimely death, at the beginning of the Civil War in America, was
+unquestionably the happiest as well as the most influential period in a
+life which was at once sensitive and upright.
+
+It ought in common fairness to be added that the character of the Prince
+mellowed visibly during his later years, and that the formality of his
+earlier manner was exchanged for a more genial attitude towards those
+with whom he came in contact in the duties and society of the Court. Mr.
+Disraeli told Count Vitzthum that if the Prince Consort had outlived the
+'old stagers' of political life with whom he was surrounded, he would
+have given to England--though with constitutional guarantees--the
+'blessing of absolute government.' Although such a verdict palpably
+overshot the mark, it is significant in itself and worthy of record,
+since it points both to the strength and the limitations of an
+illustrious life. There are passages in Lady Russell's diary, of too
+personal and too sacred a character to quote, which reveal not only the
+poignant grief of the Queen, but the manner in which she turned
+instinctively in her burst of need to an old and trusted adviser of the
+Crown. High but artless tribute is paid in the same pages to the Queen's
+devotion to duty under the heart-breaking strain of a loss which
+overshadowed with sorrow every home in England, as well as the Palace at
+Windsor, at Christmas, 1861.
+
+  [Sidenote: THE 'TRENT' AFFAIR]
+
+The last act of the Prince Consort of an official kind was to soften
+certain expressions in the interests of international peace and goodwill
+in the famous despatch which was sent by the English Government, at the
+beginning of December, to the British Ambassador at Washington, when a
+deadlock suddenly arose between England and the United States over the
+'Trent' affair, and war seemed imminent. Hostilities had broken out
+between the North and the South in the previous July, and the opinion of
+England was sharply divided on the merits of the struggle. The bone of
+contention, to put the matter concisely, was the refusal of South
+Carolina and ten other States to submit to the authority of the Central
+Government of the Union. It was an old quarrel which had existed from
+the foundation of the American Commonwealth, for the individual States
+of the Union had always been jealous of any infringement of the right of
+self-government; but slavery was now the ostensible root of bitterness,
+and matters were complicated by radical divergences on the subject of
+tariffs. The Southern States took a high hand against the Federal
+Government. They seceded from the Union, and announced their
+independence to the world at large, under the style and title of the
+Confederate States of America. Flushed by the opening victory which
+followed the first appeal to the sword, the Confederate Government
+determined to send envoys to Europe. Messrs. Mason and Slidell embarked
+at Havana, at the beginning of November, on board the British
+mail-steamer 'Trent,' as representatives to the English and French
+Governments respectively. The 'Trent' was stopped on her voyage by the
+American man-of-war 'San Jacinto,' and Captain Wilkes, her commander,
+demanded that the Confederate envoys and their secretaries should be
+handed over to his charge. The captain of the 'Trent' made a vigorous
+protest against this sort of armed intervention, but he had no
+alternative except to yield, and Messrs. Mason and Slidell were carried
+back to America and lodged in a military fortress.
+
+The 'Trent' arrived at Southampton on November 27, and when her captain
+told his story indignation knew no bounds. The law of nations had been
+set at defiance, and the right of asylum under the British flag had been
+violated. The clamour of the Press and of the streets grew suddenly
+fierce and strong, and the universal feeling of the moment found
+expression in the phrase, 'Bear this, bear all.' Lord John Russell at
+once addressed a vigorous remonstrance to the American Government on an
+'act of violence which was an affront to the British flag and a
+violation of international law.' He made it plain that her Majesty's
+Ministers were not prepared to allow such an insult to pass without
+'full reparation;' but, at the same time, he refused to believe that it
+could be the 'deliberate intention' of the Government of the United
+States to force upon them so grave a question. He therefore expressed
+the hope that the United States of its own accord would at once 'offer
+to the British Government such redress as alone could satisfy the
+British nation.' He added that this must take the form of the liberation
+of the envoys and their secretaries, in order that they might again be
+placed under British protection, and that such an act must be
+accompanied by a suitable apology. President Lincoln and Mr. Seward
+reluctantly gave way; but their decision was hastened by the war
+preparations in England, and the protests which France, Austria,
+Prussia, Russia, and Italy made against so wanton an outrage.
+
+The war took its course, and it seemed on more than one occasion as if
+England must take sides in a struggle which, it soon became apparent,
+was to be fought out to the bitter end. Thoughts of mediation had
+occurred, both to Lord Palmerston and Lord Russell, and in 1862 they
+contemplated the thankless task of mediation, but the project was
+abandoned as at least premature. Feeling ran high in England over the
+discussion as to whether the 'great domestic institution' of Negro
+slavery really lay at the basis of the struggle or not, and public
+opinion was split into hostile camps. Sympathy with the North was
+alienated by the marked honours which were paid to the commander of the
+'San Jacinto;' and the bravery with which the South fought, for what
+many people persisted in declaring was merely the right of
+self-government, kindled enthusiasm for those who struggled against
+overwhelming odds. In the summer of 1862 a new difficulty arose, and the
+maintenance of international peace was once more imperilled. The
+blockade of the Southern ports crippled the Confederate Government, and
+an armed cruiser was built on the Mersey to wage a war of retaliation on
+the high seas against the merchant ships of the North. When the
+'Alabama' was almost ready the Federal Government got wind of the
+matter, and formally protested against the ship being allowed to put to
+sea.
+
+  [Sidenote: THE 'ALABAMA' DIFFICULTY]
+
+The Cabinet submitted the question to the law officers of the Crown;
+delay followed, and whilst the matter was still under deliberation the
+'Alabama,' on the pretext of a trial trip, escaped, and began at once
+her remarkable career of destruction. The late Lord Selborne, who at
+that time was Solicitor-General, wrote for these pages the following
+detailed and, of course, authoritative statement of what transpired, and
+the facts which he recounts show that Lord Russell, in spite of the
+generous admission which he himself made in his 'Recollections,' was in
+reality not responsible for a blunder which almost led to war, and which
+when submitted to arbitration at Geneva cost England--besides much
+irritation--the sum of 3,000,000_l._
+
+'It was when Lord Russell was Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs,
+during the American Civil War, and when I was one of the Law Officers of
+the Crown, that I first became personally well acquainted with him; and
+from that time he honoured me with his friendship. In this way I had
+good opportunities of knowledge on some subjects as to which he has been
+at times misrepresented or misunderstood; and perhaps I may best do
+honour to his memory by referring to those subjects.
+
+'There can be no idea more unfounded than that which would call in
+question his friendliness towards the United States during their contest
+with the Confederates. But he had a strong sense, both of the duty of
+strictly observing all obligations incumbent on this country as a
+neutral Power by the law of nations, and of the danger of innovating
+upon them by the admission of claims on either side, not warranted by
+that law as generally understood, and with which, in the then state both
+of our own and of the American Neutrality Laws, it would have been
+practically impossible for the Government of a free country to comply.
+As a general principle, the freedom of commercial dealings between the
+citizens of a neutral State and belligerents, subject to the right of
+belligerents to protect themselves against breach of blockade or
+carriage of contraband, had been universally allowed, and by no nation
+more insisted on than by the United States. Lord Russell did not think
+it safe or expedient to endeavour to restrict that liberty. When asked
+to put in force Acts of Parliament made for the better protection of our
+neutrality, he took, with promptitude and with absolute good faith, such
+measures as it would have been proper to take in any case in which our
+own public interests were concerned; but he thought (and in my judgment
+he was entirely right in thinking) that it was not the duty of a British
+Minister, seeking to enforce British statute law, to add to other risks
+of failure that of unconstitutional disregard of the securities for the
+liberty of the subject, provided by the system on which British laws
+generally are administered and enforced.
+
+'It was not through any fault or negligence of Lord Russell that the
+ship "Alabama," or any other vessel equipped for the war service of the
+Confederate States, left the ports of this country. The course taken by
+him in all those cases was the same. He considered that some _prima
+facie_ evidence of an actual or intended violation either of our own law
+or of the law of nations (such as might be produced in a court of
+justice) was necessary, and that in judging whether there was such
+evidence he ought to be guided by the advice of the Law Officers of the
+Crown. To obtain such evidence, he did not neglect any means which the
+law placed in his power. If in any case the Board of Customs may have
+been ill-advised, and omitted (as Sir Alexander Cockburn thought) to
+take precautions which they ought otherwise to have taken, this was no
+fault of Lord Russell; still less was he chargeable with the delay of
+three or four days which took place in the case of the "Alabama," in
+consequence of the illness of the Queen's Advocate, Sir John Harding;
+without which that vessel might never have gone to sea.
+
+  [Sidenote: LORD SELBORNE'S EXPLANATION]
+
+'Lord Russell stated to Mr. Adams, immediately afterwards, that Sir
+John Harding's illness was the cause of that delay. No one then called
+that statement in question, which could not have been made without good
+foundation. But after a lapse of many years, when almost everybody who
+had known the exact circumstances was dead, stories inconsistent with it
+obtained currency. Of these, the most remarkable was published in 1881,
+in a book widely read, the "Reminiscences" of the late Thomas Mozley.
+The writer appears to have persuaded himself (certainly without any
+foundation in fact) that "there was not one of her Majesty's Ministers
+who was not ready to jump out of his skin for joy when he heard of the
+escape of the 'Alabama.'"[40] He said that he met Sir John Harding
+"shortly after the 'Alabama' had got away," and was told by him that he
+(Sir John) had been expecting a communication from Government anxiously
+the whole week before, that the expectation had unsettled and unnerved
+him for other business, and that he had stayed in chambers rather later
+than usual on Saturday for the chance of hearing at last from them. He
+had then gone to his house in the country. Returning on Monday, when he
+was engaged to appear in court, he found a large bundle of documents in
+a big envelope, without even an accompanying note, that had been dropped
+into the letter-box on Saturday evening. To all appearance, every letter
+and every remonstrance and every affidavit, as fast as it arrived from
+Liverpool, had been piled in a pigeon-hole till four or five o'clock on
+Saturday, when the Minister, on taking his own departure for the
+country, had directed a clerk to tie up the whole heap and carry it to
+Doctors' Commons.
+
+'The facts are, that in the earlier stage of that business, before July
+23, the Attorney- and Solicitor-General only were consulted, and Sir
+John Harding knew nothing at all about it. No part of the statement said
+by Mr. Mozley to have been made to him could possibly be true; because
+during the whole time in question Sir John Harding was under care for
+unsoundness of mind, from which he never even partially recovered, and
+which prevented him from attending to any kind of business, or going
+into court, or to his chambers, or to his country house. He was in that
+condition on July 23, 1862 (Wednesday, not Saturday) when the
+depositions on which the question of the detention of the "Alabama"
+turned were received at the Foreign Office. Lord Russell, not knowing
+that he was ill, and thinking it desirable, from the importance of the
+matter, to have the opinion of all the three Law Officers (of whom the
+Queen's Advocate was then senior in rank), sent them on the same day,
+with the usual covering letter, for that opinion; and they must have
+been delivered by the messenger, in the ordinary course, at Sir John
+Harding's house or chambers. There they remained till, the delay causing
+inquiry, they were recovered and sent to the Attorney-General, who
+received them on Monday, the 28th, and lost no time in holding a
+consultation with the Solicitor-General. Their opinion, advising that
+the ship should be stopped, was in Lord Russell's hands early the next
+morning; and he sent an order by telegraph to Liverpool to stop her; but
+before it could be executed she had gone to sea.
+
+'Some of the facts relating to Sir John Harding's illness remained,
+until lately, in more or less obscurity, and Mr. Mozley's was not the
+only erroneous version of them which got abroad. One such version having
+been mentioned, as if authentic, in a debate in the House of Commons on
+March 17, 1893, I wrote to the "Times" to correct it; and in
+confirmation of my statement the gentleman who had been Sir John
+Harding's medical attendant in July 1862 came forward, and by reference
+to his diary, kept at the time, placed the facts and dates beyond future
+controversy.
+
+  [Sidenote: THE QUESTION OF ARBITRATION]
+
+'In the diplomatic correspondence, as to the "Alabama" and other
+subjects of complaint by the United States, Lord Russell stood firmly
+upon the ground that Great Britain had not failed in any duty of
+neutrality; and Lord Lyons, the sagacious Minister who then represented
+this country at Washington, thought there would be much more danger to
+our future relations with the United States in any departure from that
+position than in strict and steady adherence to it. But no sooner was
+the war ended than new currents of opinion set in. In a debate on the
+subject in the House of Commons on March 6, 1868, Lord Stanley (then
+Foreign Secretary), who had never been of the same mind about it with
+his less cautious friends, said that a "tendency might be detected to be
+almost too ready to accuse ourselves of faults we had not committed, and
+to assume that on every doubtful point the decision ought to be against
+us." The sequel is well known. The Conservative Government consented to
+refer to arbitration, not all the questions raised by the Government of
+the United States, but those arising out of the ships alleged to have
+been equipped or to have received augmentation of force within the
+British dominions for the war service of the Confederate States; and
+from that concession no other Government could recede. For a long time
+the Government or the Senate of the United States objected to any
+reference so limited, and to the last they refused to go into an open
+arbitration. They made it a condition, that new Rules should be
+formulated, not only for future observance, but for retrospective
+application to their own claims. This condition, unprecedented and open
+in principle to the gravest objections, was accepted for the sake of
+peace with a nation so nearly allied to us; not, however, without an
+express declaration, on the face of the Treaty of Washington, that the
+British Government could not assent to those new Rules as a statement of
+principles of international law which were in force when the claims
+arose.
+
+'While the Commissioners at Washington were engaged in their
+deliberations, I was in frequent communication both with Lord Granville
+and other members of the Cabinet, and also with Lord Russell, who could
+not be brought to approve of that way of settling the controversy. He
+had an invincible repugnance to the reference of any questions affecting
+the honour and good faith of this country, or its internal
+administration, to foreign arbitrators; and he thought those questions
+would not be excluded by the proposed arrangement. He felt no confidence
+that any reciprocal advantages to this country would be obtained from
+the new Rules. Their only effect, in his view, would be to send us
+handicapped into the arbitration. He did not believe that the United
+States would follow the example which we had set, by strengthening their
+Neutrality Laws; or that they would be able, unless they did so, to
+prevent violations of the Rules by their citizens in any future war in
+which we might be belligerent and they neutral, any more than they had
+been able in former times to prevent the equipment of ships within their
+territory against Spain and Portugal. It was not without difficulty that
+he restrained himself from giving public expression to those views; but,
+from generous and patriotic motives, he did so. The sequel is not likely
+to have convinced him that his apprehensions were groundless. The
+character of the "Case" presented on the part of the United States, with
+the "indirect claims," and the arguments used to support them, would
+have prevented the arbitration from proceeding at all, but for action of
+an unusual kind taken by the arbitrators. In such of their decisions as
+were adverse to this country, the arbitrators founded themselves
+entirely upon the new Rules, without any reference to general
+international law or historical precedents; and the United States have
+done nothing, down to this day, to strengthen their Neutrality Laws,
+though certainly requiring it, at least as much as ours did before
+1870.'
+
+  [Sidenote: THE COTTON FAMINE]
+
+Lord Russell then held resolutely to the view that her Majesty's
+Government had steadily endeavoured to maintain a policy of strict
+neutrality, and so long as he was in power at the Foreign Office, or at
+the Treasury, the demands of the United States for compensation were
+ignored. Meanwhile, there arose a mighty famine in Lancashire through
+the failure of the cotton supply, and 800,000 operatives were thrown,
+through no fault of their own, on the charity of the nation, which rose
+splendidly to meet the occasion. All classes of the community were bound
+more closely together in the gentle task of philanthropy, as well as in
+admiration of the uncomplaining heroism with which privation was met by
+the suffering workpeople.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[39] _The Liberation of Italy_, 1815-1870, by the Countess Evelyn
+Martinengo Cesaresco (Seeley and Co. 1895), p. 252.
+
+[40] Second edition, 1892, chap. xcii.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+SECOND PREMIERSHIP
+
+1865-1866
+
+     The Polish Revolt--Bismarck's bid for power--The Schleswig-Holstein
+     difficulty--Death of Lord Palmerston--The Queen summons Lord
+     John--The second Russell Administration--Lord John's tribute to
+     Palmerston--Mr. Gladstone introduces Reform--The 'Cave of
+     Adullam'--Defeat of the Russell Government--The people accept
+     Lowe's challenge--The feeling in the country.
+
+
+LORD JOHN, in his conduct of foreign affairs, acted with generosity
+towards Italy and with mingled firmness and patience towards America. It
+was a fortunate circumstance, for the great interests at stake on both
+sides of the Atlantic, that a man of so much judgment and right feeling
+was in power at a moment when prejudice was strong and passion ran high.
+Grote, who was by no means consumed with enthusiasm for the Palmerston
+Government, did not conceal his admiration of Lord John's sagacity at
+this crisis. 'The perfect neutrality of England in the destructive civil
+war now raging in America appears to me almost a phenomenon in political
+history. No such forbearance has been shown during the political history
+of the last two centuries. It is the single case in which the English
+Government and public, generally so meddlesome, have displayed most
+prudent and commendable forbearance in spite of great temptations to
+the contrary.' Lord John had opinions, and the courage of them; but at
+the same time he showed himself fully alive to the fact that no greater
+calamity could possibly overtake the English-speaking race than a war
+between England and the United States.
+
+Europe was filled at the beginning of 1863 with tidings of a renewed
+Polish revolt. Russia provoked the outbreak by the stern measures which
+had been taken in the previous year to repress the growing discontent of
+the people. The conspiracy was too widespread and too deep-rooted for
+Alexander II. to deal with, except by concessions to national sentiment,
+which he was not prepared to make, and, therefore, he fell back on
+despotic use of power. All able-bodied men suspected of revolutionary
+tendencies were marked out for service in the Russian army, and in this
+way, in Lord John's words, the 'so-called conscription was turned into a
+proscription.' The lot was made to fall on all political suspects, who
+were to be condemned for life to follow the hated Russian flag. The
+result was not merely armed resistance, but civil war. Poland, in her
+struggle for liberty, was joined by Lithuania; but Prussia came to the
+help of the Czar, and the protests of England, France, and Austria were
+of no avail. Before the year ended the dreams of self-government in
+Poland, after months of bloodshed and cruelty, were again ruthlessly
+dispelled.
+
+  [Sidenote: BISMARCK SHOWS HIS HAND]
+
+One diplomatic difficulty followed another in quick succession. Bismarck
+was beginning to move the pawns on the chess-board of Europe. He had
+conciliated Russia by taking sides with her against the Poles in spite
+of the attitude of London, Paris, and Vienna. He feared the spirit of
+insurrection would spread to the Poles in Prussia, and had no sympathy
+with the aspirations of oppressed nationalities. His policy was to make
+Prussia strong--if need be by 'blood and iron'--so that she might become
+mistress of Germany. The death of Frederick VII. of Denmark provoked a
+fresh crisis and revived in an acute form the question of succession to
+the duchies of Schleswig-Holstein. The Treaty of London in 1852 was
+supposed to have settled the question, and its terms had been accepted
+by Austria and Prussia. The integrity of Denmark was recognised, and
+Prince Christian of Glucksburg was accepted as heir-presumptive of the
+reigning king. The German Diet did not regard this arrangement as
+binding, and the feeling in the duchies themselves, especially in
+Holstein, was against the claims of Denmark. But the Hereditary Prince
+Frederick of Augustenburg disputed the right of Christian IX. to the
+Duchies, and Bismarck induced Austria to join Prussia in the occupation
+of the disputed territory.
+
+It is impossible to enter here into the merits of the quarrel, much less
+to describe the course of the struggle or the complicated diplomatic
+negotiations which grew out of it. Denmark undoubtedly imagined that the
+energetic protest of the English Government against her dismemberment
+would not end in mere words. The language used by both Lord Palmerston
+and Lord John Russell was of a kind to encourage the idea of the
+adoption, in the last extremity, of another policy than that of
+non-intervention. Bismarck, on the other hand, it has been said with
+truth, had taken up the cause of Schleswig-Holstein, not in the interest
+of its inhabitants, but in the interests of Germany, and by Germany he
+meant the Government of Berlin and the House of Hohenzollern. He
+represented not merely other ideas, but other methods than those which
+prevailed with statesmen who were old enough to recall the wars of
+Napoleon and the partition of Europe to which they gave rise. It
+must be admitted that England did not show to advantage in the
+Schleswig-Holstein difficulty, in spite of the soundness of her
+counsels; and Bismarck's triumph in the affair was as complete as the
+policy on which it was based was bold and adroit. Lord Palmerston and
+Lord John were embarrassed on the one hand by the apathy of Russia and
+France and on the other by the cautious, not to say timid, attitude of
+their own colleagues. 'As to Cabinets,' wrote Lord Palmerston, with dry
+humour, in reply to a note in which Lord John hinted that if the Prime
+Minister and himself had been given a free hand they could have kept
+Austria from war with Denmark, 'if we had had colleagues like those who
+sat in Pitt's Cabinet, such as Westmoreland and others, or such men as
+those who were with Peel, like Goulburn and Hardinge, you and I might
+have had our own way in most things. But when, as is now the case, able
+men fill every department, such men will have opinions and hold to them.
+Unfortunately, they are often too busy with their own department to
+follow up foreign questions so as to be fully masters of them, and their
+conclusions are generally on the timid side of what might be the
+best.'[41]
+
+  [Sidenote: AS SCHOOLMASTER ABROAD]
+
+Lord John wrote to Foreign Courts--was Mr. Bagehot's shrewd
+criticism--much in the same manner as he was accustomed to speak in the
+House of Commons. In other words, he used great plainness of speech,
+and, because of the very desire to make his meaning clear, he, was
+occasionally indiscreetly explicit and even brusque. Sometimes it
+happened that the intelligent foreigner grew critical at Lord John's
+expense. Count Vitzthum, for example, laid stress on the fact that Lord
+John 'looked on the British Constitution as an inimitable masterpiece,'
+which less-favoured nations ought not only to admire but adopt, if they
+wished to advance and go forward in the direction of liberty,
+prosperity, and peace. There was just enough truth in such assertions to
+render them amusing, though not enough to give them a sting. There were
+times when Lord John was the 'stormy petrel' of foreign politics, but
+there never was a time when he ceased to labour in season and out for
+what he believed to be the honour of England. 'I do not believe that any
+English foreign statesman, who does his duty faithfully by his own
+countrymen in difficult circumstances, can escape the blame of foreign
+statesmen,' were his own words, and he assuredly came in for his full
+share of abuse in Europe. One of Lord John Russell's subordinates at the
+Foreign Office, well known and distinguished in the political life of
+to-day, declares that Lord John, like Lord Clarendon, was accustomed to
+write many drafts of despatches with his own hand, but as a rule did not
+go with equal minuteness into the detail of the work. It sometimes
+happened that he would take sudden resolutions without adequate
+consideration of the points involved; but he would always listen
+patiently to objections, and when convinced that he was wrong was
+perfectly willing to modify his opinion. In most cases, however, Lord
+John did not make up his mind without due reflection, and under such
+circumstances he showed no vacillation. No tidings from abroad, however
+startling or unpleasant, seemed able to disturb his equanimity. He was
+an extremely considerate chief, but, though always willing to listen to
+his subordinates, kept his own counsel and seldom took them much into
+his confidence.
+
+  [Sidenote: COBDEN AND PALMERSTON]
+
+The year 1865 was rendered memorable both in England and America by the
+death of statesmen of the first rank. In the spring, that great master
+of reason and economic reform, Richard Cobden, died in London, after a
+few days' illness, in the prime of life; and almost before the nation
+realised the greatness of such a loss, tidings came across the Atlantic
+that President Abraham Lincoln had been assassinated at Washington, in
+the hour of triumph, by a cowardly fanatic. The summer in England was
+made restless by a General Election. Though Bright denounced Lord
+Palmerston, and Mr. Gladstone lost his seat at Oxford, to stand
+'unmuzzled' a few days later before the electors of South-West
+Lancashire, the predicted Conservative reaction was not an accomplished
+fact. Lord Palmerston's ascendency in the country, though diminished,
+was still great, and the magic of his name carried the election. 'It is
+clear,' wrote Lord John to the plucky octogenarian Premier, when the
+latter, some time before the contest, made a fighting speech in the
+country, 'that your popularity is a plant of hardy growth and deep
+roots.' Quite suddenly, in the spring of 1865, Lord Palmerston began to
+look as old as his years, and as the summer slipped past, it became
+apparent that the buoyant elasticity of temperament had vanished. On
+October 18 the great Minister died in harness, and Lord John Russell,
+who was only eight years younger, was called to the helm.
+
+The two men, more than once in mid-career, had serious
+misunderstandings, and envious lips had done their best to widen their
+differences. It is pleasant to think now that Palmerston and Russell
+were on cordial and intimate terms during the critical six years, when
+the former held for the last time the post of First Minister of the
+Crown, and the latter was responsible for Foreign Affairs. It is true
+that they were not of one mind on the question of Parliamentary Reform;
+but Lord John, after 1860 at least, was content to waive that question,
+for he saw that the nation, as well as the Prime Minister, was opposed
+to a forward movement in that direction, and the strain of war abroad
+and famine at home hindered the calm discussion of constitutional
+problems. Lord Lyttelton used to say that Palmerston was regarded as a
+Whig because he belonged to Lord Grey's Government, and had always
+thrown in his lot with that statesman's political posterity. At the same
+time, Lord Lyttelton held--even as late as 1865--that a 'more genuine
+Conservative, especially in home affairs, it would not be easy to find.'
+Palmerston gave Lord John Russell his active support in the attitude
+which the latter took up at the Foreign Office on all the great
+questions which arose, sometimes in a sudden and dramatic form, at a
+period when the power of Napoleon III., in spite of theatrical display,
+was declining, and Bismarck was shaping with consummate skill the
+fortunes of Germany.
+
+  [Sidenote: PRIME MINISTER]
+
+The day after Palmerston's death her Majesty wrote in the following
+terms to Lord John: 'The melancholy news of Lord Palmerston's death
+reached the Queen last night. This is another link with the past that is
+broken, and the Queen feels deeply in her desolate and isolated
+condition how, one by one, tried servants and advisers are taken from
+her.... The Queen can turn to no other than Lord Russell, an old and
+tried friend of hers, to undertake the arduous duties of Prime
+Minister, and to carry on the Government.' Such a command was met by
+Lord John with the response that he was willing to act if his colleagues
+were prepared to serve under him. Mr. Gladstone's position in the
+country and in the councils of the Liberal Party had been greatly
+strengthened by his rejection at Oxford, and by the subsequent boldness
+and fervour of his speeches in Lancashire. He forestalled Lord John's
+letter by offering, in a frank and generous spirit, to serve under the
+old Liberal leader. Mr. Gladstone declared that he was quite willing to
+take his chance under Lord John's 'banner,' and to continue his services
+as Chancellor of the Exchequer. This offer was of course accepted, and
+Mr. Gladstone also took Lord Palmerston's place as Leader of the House
+of Commons. Lord Cranworth became Lord Chancellor, Lord Clarendon took
+Lord John's place at the Foreign Office, the Duke of Argyll and Sir
+George Grey resumed their old positions as Lord Privy Seal and Home
+Secretary. After a short interval, Mr. Goschen and Lord Hartington were
+raised to Cabinet rank; while Mr. Forster, Lord Dufferin, and Mr.
+Stansfeld became respectively Under-Secretaries for the Colonies, War,
+and India; but Lord John, in spite of strong pressure, refused to admit
+Mr. Lowe to his Cabinet.
+
+At the Lord Mayor's banquet in November, Lord John took occasion to pay
+a warm tribute to Palmerston: 'It is a great loss indeed, because he was
+a man qualified to conduct the country successfully through all the
+vicissitudes of war and peace.' He declared that Lord Palmerston
+displayed resolution, resource, promptitude, and vigour in the conduct
+of foreign affairs, showed himself also able to maintain internal
+tranquillity, and, by extending commercial relationships, to give to
+the country the 'whole fruits of the blessings of peace.' He added that
+Lord Palmerston's heart never ceased to beat for the honour of England,
+and that his mind comprehended and his experience embraced the whole
+field which is covered by the interests of the nation.
+
+The new Premier made no secret of his conviction that, if the Ministry
+was to last, it must be either frankly Liberal or frankly Conservative.
+As he had the chief voice in the matter, and was bent on a new Reform
+Bill, it became, after certain changes had been effected, much more
+progressive than was possible under Palmerston. Parliament was opened on
+February 1, 1866, by the Queen in person, for the first time since the
+death of the Prince Consort, and the chief point of interest in the
+Speech from the Throne was the guarded promise of a Reform Bill. The
+attention of Parliament was to be called to information concerning the
+right of voting with a view to such improvements as might tend to
+strengthen our free institutions and conduce to the public welfare. Lord
+John determined to make haste slowly, for some of his colleagues were
+hardly inclined to make haste at all, since they shared Lord
+Palmerston's views on the subject and distrusted the Radical cry which
+had arisen since the industrial revolution. The Premier and Mr.
+Gladstone--for they were a kind of Committee of Two--were content for
+the moment to propose a revision of the franchise, and to leave in
+ambush for another session the vexed question involved in a
+redistribution of seats. 'It was decided,' states Lord John, 'that it
+would be best to separate the question of the franchise from that of the
+disfranchisement of boroughs. After much inquiry, we agreed to fix the
+suffrages of boroughs at an occupation of 7_l._ value.'
+
+  [Sidenote: THE CAVE OF ADULLAM]
+
+The House of Commons was densely packed when Mr. Gladstone introduced
+the measure on March 12, but, in spite of his powers of exposition and
+infectious enthusiasm, the Government proposals fell undeniably flat.
+Broadly stated, they were as follows. The county franchise was to be
+dropped to 14_l._, and that of the borough, as already stated, to half
+that amount, whilst compound householders and lodgers paying 10_l._ a
+year were to possess votes. It was computed at the time that the measure
+would add four hundred thousand new voters to the existing lists, and
+that two hundred thousand of these would belong to what Lord John termed
+the 'best of the working classes.' Mr. Bright, and those whom he
+represented, not only in Birmingham, but also in every great city and
+town in the land, gave their support to the Government, on the principle
+that this was at least an 'honest' measure, and that half a loaf,
+moreover, was better than no bread. At the same time the country was not
+greatly stirred one way or another by the scheme, though it stirred to
+panic-stricken indignation men of the stamp of Mr. Lowe, Mr. Horsman,
+Lord Elcho, Earl Grosvenor, Lord Dunkellin, and other so-called, but
+very indifferent, Liberals, who had attached themselves to the party
+under Lord Palmerston's happy-go-lucky and easy auspices. These were the
+men who presently distinguished themselves, and extinguished the Russell
+Administration by their ridiculous fear of the democracy. They retired
+into what Mr. Bright termed the 'political cave of Adullam,' and, as
+Lord John said, the 'timid, the selfish, and those who were both selfish
+and timid' joined the sorry company.
+
+The Conservatives saw their opportunity, and, being human, took it. Lord
+Grosvenor brought forward an amendment calling attention to the omission
+of a redistribution scheme. A debate, which occupied eight nights,
+followed, and when it was in progress, Mr. Gladstone, in defending his
+own conduct as Leader of the House, incidentally paid an impressive
+tribute to the memorable and protracted services in the Commons of Lord
+John:--
+
+'If, sir, I had been the man who, at the very outset of his career,
+wellnigh half a century ago, had with an almost prophetic foresight
+fastened upon two great groups of questions, those great historic
+questions relating to the removal of civil disabilities for religious
+opinions and to Parliamentary Reform; if I had been the man who, having
+thus in his early youth, in the very first stage of his political
+career, fixed upon those questions and made them his own, then went on
+to prosecute them with sure and unflagging instinct until the triumph in
+each case had been achieved; if I had been the man whose name had been
+associated for forty years, and often in the very first place of
+eminence, with every element of beneficent legislation--in other words,
+had I been Earl Russell, then there might have been some temptation to
+pass into excess on the exercise of authority, and some excuse for the
+endeavour to apply to this House a pressure in itself unjustifiable.
+But, sir, I am not Earl Russell.'
+
+In the end, Lord Grosvenor's amendment was lost by a majority equal only
+to the fingers of one hand. Such an unmistakeable expression of opinion
+could not be disregarded, and the Government brought in a Redistribution
+of Seats Bill at the beginning of May. They proposed that thirty
+boroughs having a population of less than eight thousand should be
+deprived of one member, whilst nineteen other seats were obtained by
+joint representation in smaller boroughs. After running the gauntlet of
+much hostile criticism, the bill was read a second time, but the
+Government were forced to refer it and the franchise scheme to a
+committee, which was empowered to deal with both schemes. Lord Stanley,
+Mr. Ward Hunt, and Mr. Walpole assailed with successive motions, which
+were more or less narrowly rejected, various points in the Government
+proposals, and the opposition grew more and more stubborn. At length
+Lord Dunkellin (son of the Earl of Clanricarde) moved to substitute
+rating for rental in the boroughs; and the Government, in a House of six
+hundred and nineteen members, were defeated on June 18 by a majority of
+eleven. The excitement which met this announcement was extraordinary,
+and when it was followed next day by tidings that the Russell
+Administration was at an end, those who thought that the country cared
+little about the question found themselves suddenly disillusioned.
+
+  [Sidenote: FALL OF THE RUSSELL GOVERNMENT]
+
+Burke declared that there were moments when it became necessary for the
+people themselves to interpose on behalf of their rights. The overthrow
+of the Russell Administration took the nation by surprise. Three days
+after Lord John's resignation there was a historic gathering in
+Trafalgar Square. In his speech announcing the resignation of his
+Ministry, Lord John warned Parliament about the danger of alienating the
+sympathy of the people from the Crown and the aristocracy. He reminded
+the Peers that universal suffrage prevailed not only in the United
+States but in our own Colonies; and he took his stand in the light of
+the larger needs of the new era, on the assertion of Lord Grey at the
+time of the Reform Bill that only a large measure was a safe measure.
+'We have made the attempt,' added Lord John, 'sincerely and anxiously to
+perform the duties of reconciling that which is due to the Constitution
+of the country with that which is due to the growing intelligence, the
+increasing wealth, and the manifest forbearance, virtue, and order of
+the people.' He protested against a niggardly and ungenerous treatment
+of so momentous a question.
+
+Lord Russell's words were not lost on Mr. Bradlaugh. He made them the
+text of his speech to the twenty thousand people who assembled in
+Trafalgar Square, and afterwards walked in procession to give Mr.
+Gladstone an ovation in Carlton House Terrace. About three weeks later
+another great demonstration was announced to take place in Hyde Park,
+under the auspices of the Reform League. The authorities refused to
+allow the gathering, and, after a formal protest, the meeting was held
+at the former rendezvous. The mixed multitude who had followed the
+procession to the Park gates took the repulse less calmly, with the
+result that, as much by accident as by design, the Park railings for the
+space of half a mile were thrown down. Force is no remedy, but a little
+of it is sometimes a good object-lesson, and the panic which this
+unpremeditated display occasioned amongst the valiant defenders of law
+and order was unmistakeable.
+
+  [Sidenote: 'DISHING THE WHIGS']
+
+Mr. Lowe had flouted the people, and had publicly asserted that those
+who were without the franchise did not really care to possess it.
+Forty-three other so-called Liberals in the House of Commons were
+apparently of the same way of thinking, for the Russell Administration
+was defeated by forty-four 'Liberal' votes. This in itself shows that
+Lord John, up to the hour in which he was driven from power, was far in
+advance of one section of his followers. The great towns, and more
+particularly Birmingham, Manchester, and Leeds, promptly took up the
+challenge; and in those three centres alone half a million of people
+assembled to make energetic protest against the contemptuous dismissal
+of their claims. The fall of the Park railings appealed to the fear of
+the classes, and aroused the enthusiasm of the masses. It is scarcely
+too much to say that if they had been demolished a month earlier the
+Russell Government would have carried its Reform proposals, and Disraeli
+would have lost his chance of 'dishing the Whigs.' The defeat of Lord
+John Russell was a virtual triumph. He was driven from power by a rally
+of reactionary forces at the very moment when he was fighting the battle
+of the people.[42] The Tories were only able to hold their own by
+borrowing a leaf from his book, and bringing in a more drastic measure
+of reform.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[41] _Life and Correspondence of Viscount Palmerston_, by the Hon.
+Evelyn Ashley, vol. ii. p. 438.
+
+[42] In a letter written in the spring of 1867, Lord Houghton refers to
+Mr. Gladstone as being 'quite awed' for the moment by the 'diabolical
+cleverness of Dizzy.' He adds: 'Delane says the extreme party for Reform
+are now the grandees, and that the Dukes are quite ready to follow Beale
+into Hyde Park.'--_The Life, Letters, and Friendships of Lord Houghton_,
+by Sir Wemyss Reid, vol. ii. pp. 174-5.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+OUT OF HARNESS
+
+1867-1874
+
+     Speeches in the House of Lords--Leisured years--Mr. Lecky's
+     reminiscences--The question of the Irish Church--The Independence
+     of Belgium--Lord John on the claims of the Vatican--Letters to Mr.
+     Chichester Fortescue--His scheme for the better government of
+     Ireland--Lord Selborne's estimate of Lord John's public
+     career--Frank admissions--As his private secretaries saw him.
+
+
+LORD JOHN never relinquished that high sense of responsibility which was
+conspicuous in his attitude as a Minister of the Crown. Although out of
+harness from the summer of 1866 to his death, twelve years later, he
+retained to the last, undiminished, the sense of public duty. He took,
+not merely a keen interest, but an appreciable share in public affairs;
+and some of the speeches which he delivered in the House of Lords after
+his retirement from office show how vigorous and acute his intellect
+remained, and how wide and generous were his sympathies. The leisured
+years which came to Lord John after the fall of the second Russell
+Administration enabled him to renew old friendships, and gave him the
+opportunity for making the acquaintance of distinguished men of a
+younger generation. His own historical studies--the literary passion of
+a lifetime--made him keenly appreciative of the work of others in that
+direction, and kindred tastes drew him into intimate relations with Mr.
+W. E. H. Lecky. Few of the reminiscences, great or small, which have
+been written for these pages, can compare in interest with the following
+statement by so philosophic a critic of public affairs and so acute a
+judge of men:--
+
+  [Sidenote: MR. LECKY'S REMINISCENCES]
+
+'It was, I think, in 1866, and in the house of Dean Milman, that I had
+the privilege of being introduced to Lord Russell. He at once received
+me with a warmth and kindness I can never forget, and from this time
+till near the end of his life I saw him very frequently. His Ministerial
+career had just terminated, but I could trace no failure in his powers,
+and, whatever difference of opinion there might be about his public
+career, no one, I believe, who ever came in contact with him failed to
+recognise his singular charm in private life. His conversation differed
+from that of some of the more illustrious of his contemporaries. It was
+not a copious and brilliant stream of words, dazzling, astonishing, or
+overpowering. It had no tendency to monologue, and it was not remarkable
+for any striking originalities either of language, metaphor, or thought.
+Few men steered more clear of paradox, and the charm of his talk lay
+mainly in his admirable terseness and clearness of expression, in the
+skill with which, by a few happy words, he could tell a story, or etch
+out a character, or condense an argument or statement. Beyond all men I
+have ever known, he had the gift of seizing rapidly in every question
+the central argument, the essential fact or distinction; and of all his
+mental characteristics, quickness and soundness of judgment seemed to me
+the most conspicuous. I have never met with anyone with whom it was so
+possible to discuss with profit many great questions in a short time. No
+one, too, could know him intimately without being impressed with his
+high sense of honour, with his transparent purity of motive, with the
+fundamental kindliness of his disposition, with the remarkable modesty
+of his estimate of his own past. He was eminently tolerant of difference
+of opinion, and he had in private life an imperturbable sweetness of
+temper that set those about him completely at their ease, and helped
+much to make them talk their best. Few men had more anecdotes, and no
+one told them better--tersely, accurately, with a quiet, subdued humour,
+with a lightness of touch which I should not have expected from his
+writings. In addition to the experiences of a long and eventful life,
+his mind was stored with the anecdotes of the brilliant Whig society of
+Holland House, of which he was one of the last repositories. It is much
+to be regretted that he did not write down his "Recollections" till a
+period of life when his once admirable memory was manifestly failing. He
+was himself sadly conscious of the failure. "I used never to confuse my
+facts," he once said to me; "I now find that I am beginning to do so."
+
+'He has mentioned in his "Recollections" as one of the great felicities
+of his life that he retained the friendship of his leading opponents,
+and his private conversation fully supported this view. Of Sir Robert
+Peel he always spoke with a special respect, and it was, I think, a
+matter of peculiar pleasure to him that in his old age his family was
+closely connected by marriage with that of his illustrious rival. His
+friendship with Lord Derby, which began when they were colleagues, was
+unbroken by many contests. He spoke of him, however, as a man of
+brilliant talent, who had not the judgment or the character suited for
+the first place; and he maintained that he had done much better both
+under Lord Grey and under Sir Robert Peel than as Prime Minister.
+Between Lord Russell and Disraeli there was, I believe, on both sides
+much kindly feeling, though no two men could be less like, and though
+there was much in Disraeli's ways of looking at things that must have
+been peculiarly trying to the Whig mind. Lord Russell told me that he
+once described him in Parliament by quoting the lines of Dryden:--
+
+    'He was not one on picking work to dwell.
+    He fagotted his notions as they fell;
+    And if they rhymed and rattled, all was well.'
+
+  [Sidenote: HIS EARLY CHIEFS]
+
+'Of his early chiefs, he used to speak with most reverence of Lord Grey.
+Lord Melbourne, he said, greatly injured his Government by the manner in
+which he treated deputations. He never could resist the temptation of
+bantering and snubbing them. Two men who flourished in his youth
+surpassed, Lord Russell thought, in eloquence any of the later
+generation. They were Canning and Plunket, and as an orator the greater
+of these was Plunket. Among the statesmen of a former generation, he had
+an especial admiration for Walpole, and was accustomed to maintain that
+he was a much greater statesman than Pitt. His judgment, indeed, of Pitt
+always seemed to me much warped by that adoration of Fox which in the
+early years of the century was almost an article of religion in Whig
+circles. Lord Russell had also the true Whig reverence for William III.,
+and, I am afraid, he was by no means satisfied with some pages I wrote
+about that sovereign.
+
+'Speaking of Lord Palmerston, I once said to him that I was struck with
+the small net result in legislation which he accomplished considering
+the many years he was in power. "But during all these years," Lord
+Russell replied, "he kept the honour of England very high; and I think
+that a great thing."
+
+'The Imperialist sentiment was one of the deepest in his nature, and few
+things exasperated him more than the school which was advocating the
+surrender of India and the Colonies. "When I was young," he once said to
+me, "it was thought the work of a wise statesman that he had turned a
+small kingdom into a great empire. In my old age it seems to be thought
+the object of a statesman to turn a great empire into a small kingdom."
+He thought we had made a grave mistake, when conceding self-government
+to the Colonies, in not reserving the waste lands and free trade with
+the Mother Country; and he considered that the right of veto on
+legislation, which had been reserved, ought to have been always
+exercised (as he said it was under Lord Grey) when duties were imposed
+on English goods. In Irish politics he greatly blamed Canning, who
+agreed with the Whigs about Catholic Emancipation, though he differed
+from them about Reform. The former question, he said, was then by far
+the more pressing, and if Canning had insisted on making it a
+first-class ministerial question he would have carried it in conjunction
+with the Whigs. "My pride in Irish measures," he once wrote to me, "is
+in the Poor Law, which I designed, framed, and twice carried." Like
+Peel, he strongly maintained that the priests ought to have been paid.
+He would gladly have seen the principle of religious equality in Ireland
+carried to its furthest consequences, and local government considerably
+extended; but he told me that any statesman who proposed to repeal the
+Union ought to be impeached, and in his "Recollections," and in one of
+his published letters to the present Lord Carlingford, he has expressed
+in the strongest terms his inflexible hostility to Home Rule.
+
+  [Sidenote: POLITICAL APPREHENSIONS]
+
+'Though the steadiest of Whigs, Lord Russell was by no means an
+uncompromising democrat. The great misfortune, he said, of America was
+that the influence of Jefferson had eclipsed that of Washington. One of
+her chief advantages was that the Western States furnished a wide and
+harmless field for restless energy and ambition. In England he was very
+anxious that progress should move on the lines of the past, and he was
+under the impression that statesmen of the present generation studied
+English history less than their predecessors. He was one of the earliest
+advocates of the Minority Vote, and he certainly looked with very
+considerable apprehension to the effects of the Democratic Reform Bill
+of 1867. He said to me that he feared there was too much truth in the
+saying of one of his friends that "the concessions of the Whigs were
+once concessions to intelligence, but now concessions to ignorance."
+
+'When the Education Act was carried, he was strongly in favour of the
+introduction of the Bible, accompanied by purely undenominational
+teaching. This was, I think, one of his last important declarations on
+public policy. I recollect a scathing article in the "Saturday Review,"
+demonstrating the absurdity of supposing that such teaching was
+possible. But the people of England took a different view. The great
+majority of the School Boards adopted the system which Lord Russell
+recommended, and it prevailed with almost perfect harmony for more than
+twenty years.
+
+'In foreign politics he looked with peculiar pleasure to the services he
+had rendered to the Italian cause. Italy was always very dear to him. He
+had many valued friends there, and he spoke Italian (as he also did
+Spanish) with much fluency. Among my most vivid recollections are those
+of some happy days I spent with him at San Remo.'
+
+Two years before the disestablishment of the Irish Church, Lord John
+Russell, knowing how great a stumbling-block its privileges were to the
+progress of the people, moved for a Commission to inquire into the
+expenditure of its revenues. The investigation was, however, staved off,
+and the larger question was, in consequence, hastened. He supported Mr.
+Gladstone in a powerful speech in 1870, and showed himself in
+substantial agreement with Mr. Forster over his great scheme of
+education, though he thought that some of its provisions bore heavily
+upon Nonconformists. The outbreak of war between France and Germany
+seemed at first to threaten the interests of England, and Lord John
+introduced a Militia Bill, which was only withdrawn when the Government
+promised to take action. The interests of Belgium were threatened by the
+struggle on the Continent, and Lord John took occasion to remind the
+nation that we were bound to defend that country, and had guaranteed by
+treaty to uphold its independence:--
+
+'... I am persuaded that if it is once manfully declared that England
+means to stand by her treaties, to perform her engagements--that her
+honour and her interest would allow nothing else--such a declaration
+would check the greater part of these intrigues, and that neither France
+nor Prussia would wish to add a second enemy to the formidable foe which
+each has to meet.... When the choice is between honour and infamy, I
+cannot doubt that her Majesty's Government will pursue the course of
+honour, the only one worthy of the British people.... I consider that if
+England shrank from the performance of her engagements--if she acted in
+a faithless manner with respect to this matter--her extinction as a
+Great Power must very soon follow.'
+
+  [Sidenote: ATTACKS THE CLAIMS OF PIUS IX.]
+
+Lord John's vigorous protest did not go unheeded, and the King of the
+Belgians sent him an autograph letter in acknowledgment of his generous
+and opportune words. On the other hand, Lord John Russell resented the
+determination of Mr. Gladstone to submit the 'Alabama' claims to
+arbitration, and also opposed the adoption of the Ballot and the
+abolition of purchase in the Army. The conflict which arose in the
+autumn of 1872 between the Emperor of Germany and Pius IX. was a matter
+which appealed to all lovers of liberty of conscience. Lord John, though
+now in his eighty second year, rose promptly to the occasion, and
+promised to preside at a great public meeting in London, called to
+protest against the claims of the Vatican. At the last moment, though
+the spirit was willing, the flesh was weak, and yielding to medical
+advice, he contented himself with a written expression of sympathy. This
+was read to the meeting, and brought him the thanks of the Kaiser and
+Prince Bismarck. Lord John's letters, declared Mr. Kinglake seem to
+carry with them the very ring of his voice; and the one which was
+written from Pembroke Lodge on January 19, 1874, was full of the old
+fire of enthusiasm and the resolution which springs from clean-cut
+convictions:--'I hasten to declare with all friends of freedom, and I
+trust with the great majority of the English nation, that I could no
+longer call myself a lover of civil and religious liberty were I not to
+proclaim my sympathy with the Emperor of Germany in the noble struggle
+in which he is engaged.'
+
+Lord John Russell's pamphlets, published in 1868-9--in the shape of
+letters to Mr. Chichester Fortescue--show that in old age and out of
+office he was still anxious to see justice done to the legitimate
+demands of Ireland. He declared that he witnessed with alarm the attempt
+to involve the whole Irish nation in a charge of disaffection,
+conspiracy, and treason. He contended that Englishmen ought to seek to
+rid their minds of exaggerated fears and national animosities, so that
+they might be in a position to consider patiently all the facts of the
+case. 'We ought to weigh with care the complaints that are made, and
+examine with still more care and circumspection the remedies that are
+proposed, lest in our attempts to cure the disease we give the patient a
+new and more dangerous disorder.' In his 'Life of Fox' Lord John Russell
+maintained that the wisest system that could be devised for the
+conciliation of Ireland had yet to be discovered; and in his third
+letter to Mr. Chichester Fortescue, published in January 1869, he made a
+remarkable allusion to Mr. Gladstone as a statesman who might yet seek
+to 'perform a permanent and immortal service to his country' by
+endeavouring to reconcile England and Ireland. If, added Lord John, Mr.
+Gladstone should 'undertake the heroic task of riveting the union of the
+three kingdoms by affection, even more than by statute; if he should
+endeavour to efface the stains which proscription and prejudice have
+affixed on the fair fame of Great Britain, then, though he may not
+reunite his party ... he will be enrolled among the noblest of England's
+statesmen, and will have laid the foundations of a great work, which
+either he or a younger generation will not fail to accomplish.'
+
+  [Sidenote: IRISH PROPOSALS]
+
+The proposals Lord John Russell made in the columns of the 'Times,' on
+August 9, 1872, for the better government of Ireland have been claimed
+as a tentative scheme of Home Rule. 'It appears to me, that if Ireland
+were to be allowed to elect a representative assembly for each of its
+four provinces of Leinster, Ulster, Munster, and Connaught, and if
+Scotland in a similar manner were to be divided into Lowlands and
+Highlands, having for each province a representative assembly, the
+local wants of Ireland and Scotland might be better provided for than
+they are at present.' Lord John went on to say that the Imperial
+Parliament might still retain its hold over local legislation, and added
+that it was his purpose to explain in a pamphlet a policy which he
+thought might be adopted to the 'satisfaction of the nation at large.'
+The pamphlet, however, remained unwritten, and the scheme in its
+fulness, therefore, was never explained. Evidently Lord Russell's mind
+was changing in its attitude towards the Irish problem; but, as Mr.
+Lecky points out in the personal reminiscences with which he has
+enriched these pages, though in advance of the opinion of the hour he
+was not prepared to accept the principle of Home Rule. Although Mr.
+Lecky does not mention the year in which Lord John declared that any
+statesman who 'proposed to repeal the Union ought to be impeached,' Lord
+Russell himself in his published 'Recollections' admits that he saw no
+hope that Ireland would be well and quietly governed by the adoption of
+Home Rule. In fact, he makes it quite clear that he was in sympathy with
+the view which Lord Althorp expressed when O'Connell demanded the repeal
+of the Union--namely, that such a request amounted to a dismemberment of
+the Empire. On the other hand, Lord John was wont in his latest years to
+discuss the question in all its bearings with an Irish representative
+who held opposite views. There can be no doubt that he was feeling his
+way to a more generous interpretation of the problem than that which is
+commonly attributed to him. His own words on this point are: 'I should
+have been very glad if the leaders of popular opinion in Ireland had so
+modified and mollified their demand for Home Rule as to make it
+consistent with the unity of the Empire.' His mind, till within a few
+years of his death, was clear, and did not stand still. Whether he would
+have gradually become a Home Ruler is open to question, but in 1874 he
+had gone quite as far in that direction as Mr. Gladstone.
+
+Lord John, though the most loyal of subjects, made it plain throughout
+his career that he was not in the least degree a courtier. His nephew,
+Mr. George Russell, after stating that Lord John supported, with voice
+and vote, Mr. Hume's motion for the revision of the Civil List under
+George IV., and urged in vigorous terms the restoration of Queen
+Caroline's name to the Liturgy, as well as subscribing to compensate an
+officer, friendly to the Queen, whom the King's animosity had driven
+from the army, adds: 'It may well be that some tradition of this early
+independence, or some playful desire to test the fibre of Whiggery by
+putting an extreme case, led in much later years to an embarrassing
+question by an illustrious personage, and gave the opportunity for an
+apt reply. "Is it true, Lord John, that you hold that a subject is
+justified, under certain circumstances, in disobeying his Sovereign's
+will?" "Well," I said, "speaking to a Sovereign of the House of Hanover,
+I can only say that I suppose it is!"'[43]
+
+  [Sidenote: IMPULSIVE BUT CHIVALROUS]
+
+Looking back in the autumn of last year on the length and breadth of
+Earl Russell's public career, the late Earl Selborne sent for these
+pages the following words, which gather up his general, and, alas! final
+impressions of his old friend and colleague: 'I have tried to imagine in
+what words an ancient Roman panegyrist might have summed up such a
+public and private character as that of Lord Russell. "Animosa
+juventus," and "jucunda senectus," would not inaptly have described his
+earlier and his latter days. But for the life of long and active public
+service which came between, it is difficult to find any phrase equally
+pointed and characteristic. Always patriotic, always faithful to the
+traditions associated with his name, there was, as Sydney Smith said,
+nothing which he had not courage to undertake. What he undertook he did
+energetically, and generally in a noble spirit; though sometimes
+yielding to too sudden impulses. As time went on, the generosity and
+sagacity of his nature gained strength; and, though he had not always
+been patient when the control of affairs was in other hands, a
+successful rival found in him the most loyal of colleagues. Any estimate
+of his character would be imperfect which omitted to recognise either
+his appreciative and sympathetic disposition towards those who differed
+from him, even on points of importance, when he believed their
+convictions to be sincere and their conduct upright, or the rare dignity
+and magnanimity with which, after 1866, he retired from a great
+position, of which he was neither unambitious nor unworthy, under no
+pressure from without, and before age or infirmity had made it necessary
+for him to do so.'
+
+Lord Selborne's allusion to Lord John's sympathetic disposition to those
+who differed from him, even on points of importance, is borne out by the
+terms in which he referred to Lord Aberdeen in correspondence--which was
+published first in the 'Times,' and afterwards in a pamphlet--between
+himself and Sir Arthur Gordon over statements in the first edition of
+'Recollections and Suggestions.' Lord John admitted that, through lapse
+of memory, he had fallen into error, and that his words conveyed a wrong
+impression concerning Lord Aberdeen. He added: 'I believe no man has
+entered public life in my time more pure in his personal views, and
+more free from grasping ambition or selfish consideration. I am much
+grieved that anything I have written should be liable to an
+interpretation injurious to Lord Aberdeen.' It is pleasant in this
+connection to be able to cite a letter, written by Lord Aberdeen to the
+Duke of Bedford, when the Crimean War was happily only a memory. The
+Duke had told Lord Aberdeen that his brother admitted his mistake in
+leaving the Coalition Government in the way in which he did. Lord
+Aberdeen in his reply declared that he did not doubt that Lord John
+entered the Government on generous and high-minded motives, or that, in
+consequence of delay, he might have arrived at the conclusion that he
+was in a somewhat false position. Any appearance of lack of confidence
+in Lord John, Lord Aberdeen remarked, was 'entirely the effect of
+accident and never of intention.' He hints that he sometimes thought
+Lord John over-sensitive and even rash or impracticable. He adds: 'But
+these are trifles. We parted with expressions of mutual regard, which on
+my side were perfectly sincere, as I have no doubt they were on his.
+These expressions I am happy in having this opportunity to renew; as
+well as with my admiration of his great powers and noble impulses to
+assure you that I shall always feel a warm interest in his reputation
+and honour.' Lord Stanmore states that his father 'steadily maintained
+that Lord John was the proper head of the Liberal party, and never
+ceased to desire that he should succeed him as Prime Minister.' Rashness
+and impatience are hard sayings to one who looks steadily at the annals
+of the Coalition Government. Lord Aberdeen and the majority of his
+Cabinet, were, to borrow a phrase from Swift, 'huge idolators of delay.'
+Their policy of masterly inactivity was disastrous, and, though Lord
+John made a mistake in quitting the Ministry in face of a hostile vote
+of censure, his chief mistake arose from the 'generous and high-minded
+motives' which Lord Aberdeen attributes to him, and which led him to
+join the Coalition Government.
+
+  [Sidenote: RELATIONS WITH POLITICAL OPPONENTS]
+
+His personal relations with his political opponents, from the Duke of
+Wellington to Lord Salisbury, were cordial. His friendship with Lord
+Derby was intimate, and he visited him at Knowsley, and in his closing
+years he had much pleasant intercourse with Lord Salisbury at Dieppe.
+His association with Lord Beaconsfield was slight; but one of the
+kindest letters which Lady Russell received on the death of her husband
+was written by a statesman with whom Lord Russell had little in common.
+Sir Robert Peel, in spite of the encounters of party warfare, always
+maintained towards Lord John the most friendly attitude. 'The idea which
+the stranger or casual acquaintance,' states his brother-in-law and
+former private secretary, Mr. George Elliot, 'conceived of Lord Russell
+was very unlike the real man as seen in his own home or among his
+intimates. There he was lively, playful, and uniformily good-humoured,
+full of anecdote, and a good teller of a story.... In conversation he
+was easy and pleasant, and the reverse of disputatious. Even in the
+worst of his political difficulties--and he had some pretty hard trials
+in this way--he had the power of throwing off public cares for the time,
+and in his house retained his cheerfulness and good-humour.... In
+matters of business he was an easy master to serve, and the duties of
+his private secretary were light as compared to others in the same
+position. He never made work and never was fussy, and even at the
+busiest times never seemed in a hurry.... Large matters he never
+neglected, but the difficulty of the private secretary was to get him to
+attend to the trifling and unimportant ones with which he had chiefly
+to deal.'
+
+The Hon. Charles Gore, who was also private secretary to Lord John when
+the latter held the Home Office in the Melbourne Administration, gives
+in the following words his recollections: 'Often members of Parliament
+and others used to come into my room adjoining, after their interview
+with Lord John, looking, and seeming, much dissatisfied with their
+reception. His manner was cold and shy, and, even when he intended to
+comply with the request made, in his answer he rather implied no than
+yes. He often used to say to me that he liked to hear the laugh which
+came to him through the door which separated us, as proof that I had
+been able to soothe the disappointed feelings with which his interviewer
+had left him. As a companion, when not feeling shy, no one was more
+agreeable or full of anecdote than Lord John--simple in his manner,
+never assuming superiority, and always ready to listen to what others
+had to say.' This impression is confirmed by Sir Villiers Lister, who
+served under Lord John at the Foreign Office. He states that his old
+chief, whilst always quick to seize great problems, was somewhat
+inclined to treat the humdrum details of official life with fitful
+attention.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[43] _Contemporary Review_, vol. 56, p. 814.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+PEMBROKE LODGE
+
+1847-1878
+
+     Looking back--Society at Pembroke Lodge--Home life--The house and
+     its memories--Charles Dickens's speech at Liverpool--Literary
+     friendships--Lady Russell's description of her husband--A packet of
+     letters--His children's recollections--A glimpse of Carlyle--A
+     witty impromptu--Closing days--Mr. and Mrs. Gladstone--The jubilee
+     of the Repeal of the Test and Corporation Acts--'Punch' on the
+     'Golden Wedding'--Death--The Queen's letter--Lord Shaftesbury's
+     estimate of Lord John's career--His great qualities.
+
+
+PEACE with honour--a phrase which Lord John used long before Lord
+Beaconsfield made it famous--sums up the settled tranquillity and simple
+dignity of the life at Pembroke Lodge. No man was more entitled to rest
+on his laurels than Lord John Russell. He was in the House of Commons,
+and made his first proposals for Parliamentary redress, in the reign of
+George III. His great victory on behalf of the rights of conscience was
+won by the repeal of the Test and Corporation Acts in the reign of
+George IV. He had piloted the first Reform Bill through the storms of
+prejudice and passion which had assailed that great measure in the reign
+of William IV. He was Home Secretary when Queen Victoria's reign began,
+and since then he had served her Majesty and the nation with unwearied
+devotion for almost the life-time of a generation. He was Secretary for
+the Colonies during a period when the expansion of England brought
+delicate constitutional questions to the front, and was Minister of
+Foreign Affairs when struggling nationalities looked to England, and did
+not seek her help in vain. Twice Prime Minister in periods of storm and
+stress, he had left his mark, directly or indirectly, on the
+statute-book in much progressive legislation, and, in spite of mistakes
+in policy, had at length quitted office with the reputation of an honest
+and enlightened statesman.
+
+Peel at the age of fifty-eight had judged himself worthy of retirement;
+but Russell was almost seventy-four, and only his indomitable spirit had
+enabled him to hold his own in public life against uncertain health
+during the whole course of his career. In this respect, at least, Lord
+John possessed that 'strong patience which outwearies fate.' He was
+always delicate, and in his closing years he was accustomed to tell,
+with great glee, those about him an incident in his own experience,
+which happened when the century was entering its teens and he was just
+leaving his own. Three physicians were summoned in consultation, for his
+life appeared to be hanging on a thread. He described how they carefully
+thumped him, and put him through the usual ordeal. Then they looked
+extremely grave and retired to an adjoining room. The young invalid
+could hear them talking quite plainly, and dreaded their return with the
+sentence of death. Presently the conversation grew animated, and Lord
+John found, to his surprise, they were talking about anything in the
+world except himself. On coming back, all the advice they gave was that
+he ought to travel abroad for a time. It jumped with his mood, and he
+took it, and to the end of his days travel never failed to restore his
+energies.
+
+  [Sidenote: IN SYLVAN RETREAT]
+
+'For some years after his retirement from Ministerial life,' says Mr.
+Lecky, 'he gathered round him at Pembroke Lodge a society that could
+hardly be equalled--certainly not surpassed--in England. In the summer
+Sunday afternoons there might be seen beneath the shade of those
+majestic oaks nearly all that was distinguished in English politics and
+much that was distinguished in English literature, and few eminent
+foreigners visited England without making a pilgrimage to the old
+statesman. Unhappily, this did not last to the end. Failing memory and
+the weakness of extreme old age at last withdrew him completely from the
+society he was so eminently fitted to adorn, but to those who had known
+him in his brighter days he has left a memory which can never be
+effaced.'
+
+Pembroke Lodge, on the fringe of Richmond Park, was, for more than
+thirty years, Lord John Russell's home. In his busiest years, whenever
+he could escape from town, the rambling, picturesque old house, which
+the Queen had given him, was his chosen and greatly loved place of
+retreat. 'Happy days,' records Lady Russell, 'so full of reality. The
+hours of work so cheerfully got through, the hours of leisure so
+delightful.' When in office much of each week was of necessity passed at
+his house in Chesham Place, but he appreciated the freedom and seclusion
+of Pembroke Lodge, and took a keen delight in its beautiful garden, with
+its winding walks, magnificent views, and spreading forest trees--truly
+a haunt of ancient peace, as well as of modern fellowship. There, in old
+age, Lord Russell loved to wander with wife or child or friend, and
+there, through the loop-holes of retreat amid his books and flowers, he
+watched the great world, and occasionally sallied forth, so long as
+strength remained, to bear his part in its affairs.
+
+Lord John Russell in his closing years thoroughly distrusted Turkish
+rule in Europe. He declared that he had formerly tried with Lord
+Palmerston's aid to improve the Turks, but came to the conclusion that
+the task was hopeless, and he witnessed with gladness the various
+movements to throw off their control in South-Eastern Europe. He was one
+of the first to call attention to the Bulgarian atrocities, and he
+joined the national protest with the political ardour which moral
+indignation was still able to kindle in a statesman who cherished his
+old ideals at the age of eighty-four. Two passages from Lady Russell's
+journal in the year 1876 speak for themselves:--'August 18. My dearest
+husband eighty-four. The year has left its mark upon him, a deeper mark
+than most years ... but he is happy, even merry. Seventy or eighty of
+our school children came up and sang in front of his window. They had
+made a gay flag on which were written four lines of a little poem to
+him. He was much pleased and moved with the pretty sight and pretty
+sound. I may say the same of Lord Granville, who happened to be here at
+the time.' Two months later occurs the following entry: 'Interesting
+visit from the Bulgarian delegates, who called to thank John for the
+part he has taken. They utterly deny the probability of civil war or
+bloodshed between different Christian sects, or between Christian and
+Mussulman, in case of Bulgaria and the other insurgent provinces
+obtaining self-government. Their simple, heart-felt words of gratitude
+to John were touching to us all.'
+
+History repeats itself at Pembroke Lodge. On May 16, 1895, a party of
+Armenian refugees went thither on the ground that 'the name of Lord John
+Russell is honoured by every Christian under the rule of the Turk.' It
+recalled to Lady Russell the incident just recorded, and the interview,
+she states, was 'a heart-breaking one, although gratitude for British
+sympathy seemed uppermost in what they wished to express. After they
+were gone I thought, as I have often thought before, how right my
+husband was in feeling and in saying, as he often did, that Goldsmith
+was quite wrong in these two lines in "The Traveller":
+
+    'How small of all that human hearts endure
+    That part which laws or kings can cause or cure!
+
+He often recited them with disapproval when any occurrence made him feel
+how false they were.'
+
+  [Sidenote: KINGLAKE'S DESCRIPTION]
+
+Lord John's manner of life, like his personal tastes, was simple. He
+contrived to set the guests who gathered around him at his wife's
+receptions perfectly at their ease, by his old-fashioned gallantry,
+happy humour, and bright, vigorous talk. One room in Pembroke Lodge,
+from the windows of which a glorious view of the wooded valley is
+obtained, has been rendered famous by Kinglake's description[44] of a
+certain drowsy summer evening in June 1854, when the Aberdeen Cabinet
+assembled in it, at the very moment when they were drifting into war.
+Other rooms in the house are full of memories of Garibaldi and
+Livingstone, of statesmen, ambassadors, authors, and, indeed, of men
+distinguished in every walk of life, but chiefly of Lord John himself,
+in days of intellectual toil, as well as in hours of friendly
+intercourse and happy relaxation.
+
+Charles Dickens, speaking in 1869 at a banquet in Liverpool, held in his
+honour, over which Lord Dufferin presided, refused to allow what he
+regarded as a covert sneer against the House of Lords to pass
+unchallenged. He repelled the insinuation with unusual warmth, and laid
+stress on his own regard for individual members of that assembly. Then,
+on the spur of the moment, came an unexpected personal tribute. He
+declared that 'there was no man in England whom he respected more in his
+public capacity, loved more in his private capacity, or from whom he had
+received more remarkable proofs of his honour and love of literature
+than Lord John Russell.' The compliment took Lord Russell by surprise;
+but if space allowed, or necessity claimed, it would be easy to prove
+that it was not undeserved. From the days of his youth, when he lived
+under the roof of Dr. Playfair, and attended the classes of Professor
+Dugald Stewart in Edinburgh, and took his part, as a _protege_ of Lord
+Holland, in the brilliant society of Holland House, Lord John's leanings
+towards literature, and friendship with other literary men had been
+marked. As in the case of other Prime Ministers of the Queen's reign,
+and notably of Derby, Beaconsfield, and Mr. Gladstone, literature was
+his pastime, if politics was his pursuit, for his interests were always
+wider than the question of the hour. He was the friend of Sir James
+Mackintosh and of Sydney Smith, who playfully termed him 'Lord John
+Reformer,' of Moore and Rogers, Jeffrey and Macaulay, Dickens and
+Thackeray, Tyndall and Sir Richard Owen, Motley and Sir Henry Taylor,
+Browning and Tennyson, to mention only a few representative men.
+
+  [Sidenote: LITERARY FRIENDSHIPS]
+
+When the students of Glasgow University wished, in 1846, to do him
+honour, Lord John gracefully begged them to appoint as Lord Rector a
+man of creative genius, like Wordsworth, rather than himself. As Prime
+Minister he honoured science by selecting Sir John Herschel as Master of
+the Mint, and literature, by the recommendation of Alfred Tennyson as
+Poet Laureate. When Sir Walter Scott was creeping back in broken health
+from Naples to die at Abbotsford it was Lord John who cheered the sad
+hours of illness in the St. James's Hotel, Jermyn Street, by a
+delicately worded offer of financial help from the public funds. Leigh
+Hunt, Christopher North, Sheridan Knowles, Father Mathew, the widow of
+Dr. Chalmers, and the children of Tom Hood are names which suggest the
+direction in which he used his patronage as First Minister of the Crown.
+He was in the habit of enlivening his political dinner parties by
+invoking the aid of literary men of wit and distinction, and nothing
+delighted him more than to bring, in this pleasant fashion, literature
+and politics to close quarters. The final pages of his 'Recollections
+and Suggestions' were written in Lord Tennyson's study at Aldworth, and
+his relations with Moore at an earlier stage of his life were even more
+intimate.
+
+Lord John Russell was twice married: first, on April 11, 1835, to
+Adelaide, daughter of Mr. Thomas Lister, of Armitage Park,
+Staffordshire, the young widow of Thomas, second Lord Ribblesdale; and
+second, on July 20, 1841, to Lady Frances Anna Maria Elliot, second
+daughter of Gilbert, second Earl of Minto. By his first wife he had two
+daughters, the late Lady Victoria Villiers, and Lady Georgiana Peel; and
+by his second three sons and one daughter--John, Viscount Amberley, the
+Hon. George William Gilbert, formerly of the 9th Lancers, the Hon.
+Francis Albert Rollo, and Lady Mary Agatha. Viscount Amberley married,
+on November 8, 1864, the fifth daughter of Lord Stanley of Alderley.
+Lord Amberley died two years before his father, and the peerage
+descended to the elder of his two sons, the present Earl Russell.
+
+Lady Russell states: 'Our way of life during the session, from the time
+we first settled in Pembroke Lodge till John ceased to take any active
+part in politics, was to be there from Wednesday to Thursday and from
+Saturday to Monday. This made him spend much time on the road; but he
+always said the good it did him to snatch all he could of the delight of
+his own quiet country home, to breathe its pure air, and be cheered by
+the sight of his merry children, far outweighed the time and trouble it
+cost him. When he was able to leave town tolerably early, he used
+sometimes to ride down all the way; but he oftener drove to Hammersmith
+Bridge, where his horse, and such of our children as were old enough to
+ride met him, and how joyfully I used to catch the first sight of the
+happy riders--he on his roan "Surrey" and they on their pretty
+ponies--from the little mount in our grounds! He was very fond of
+riding, and in far later days, when age and infirmity obliged him to
+give it up, used often to say in a sad tone, pointing to some of his
+favourite grassy rides, as we drove together in the park, "Ah! what
+pleasant gallops we used to have along there!"' Lord John was seen to
+great advantage in his own home and with his children. Even when the
+cares of State pressed most heavily on him he always seemed to the
+children about him to have leisure to enter with gay alacrity into their
+plans and amusements. When at home, no matter how urgent the business in
+hand, he always saw them either in the house or the garden every day,
+and took the liveliest interest in the round of their life, alike in
+work and play. He had conquered the art of bearing care lightly. He
+seldom allowed public affairs to distract him in moments of leisure. He
+was able to throw aside the cares of office, and to enter with vivacity
+and humour into social diversions. His equable temper and placid
+disposition served him in good stead amid the turmoil and excitement of
+political life.
+
+  [Sidenote: A PACKET OF OLD LETTERS]
+
+Sorrows, neither few nor light, fell upon the household at Pembroke
+Lodge in the closing years of Lord Russell's life; but 'trials,' as Lady
+Russell puts it in her journal, 'had taught Lord John to feel for
+others, and age had but deepened his religion of love.' In reply to a
+birthday letter from Mr. Archibald Peel, his son-in-law, and nephew of
+his great political rival he said: 'Thanks for your good wishes. Happy
+returns! I always find them, as my children are so affectionate and
+loving; "many" I cannot expect, but I have played my part.' Two or three
+extracts from a packet of letters addressed by Lord John to his
+daughter, Lady Georgiana Peel, will be read with interest. The majority
+of them are of too intimate and personal a kind for quotation. Yet the
+whole of them leave the impression that Lord John, who reproaches
+himself in one instance as a bad correspondent, was at least a
+singularly good father. They cover a considerable term of years, and
+though for the most part dealing with private affairs, and often in a
+spirit of pleasant raillery, here and there allusions to public events
+occur in passing. In one of them, written from Gotha in the autumn of
+1862, when Lord John was in attendance on her Majesty, he says: 'We have
+been dull here, but the time has never hung heavy on our hands. Four
+boxes of despatches and then telegrams, all requiring answers, have been
+our daily food.' He refers touchingly to the Queen's grief, and there is
+also an allusion to the minor tribulation of a certain little boy in
+England who had just crossed the threshold of school-life. Probably
+Lord John was thinking of his own harsh treatment at Westminster, more
+than sixty years before, when he wrote: 'Poor Willy! He will find a
+public school a rough place, and the tears will come into his eyes when
+he thinks of the very soft nest he left at home.'
+
+Ecclesiastical affairs never lost their interest to the author of the
+Durham Letter, and the following comments show his attitude on Church
+questions. The first is from a letter written on May 23, 1867: 'The
+Church has been greatly disturbed. The Bishop of Salisbury has claimed
+for the English clergy all the power of the Roman priests. The question
+whether they are to wear white surplices, or blue, green, yellow, or
+red, becomes a minor question in comparison. Of course the Bishop and
+those who think with him throw off the authority of our excellent
+Thirty-nine Articles altogether, and ought to leave the Church to the
+Protestant clergy and laity.' England just then, in Carlyle's judgment,
+was 'shooting Niagara,' and Disraeli's reform proposals were making a
+stir in the opposite camp. In the letter above quoted Lord John says:
+'Happily, we are about to get rid of the compound householder. I am told
+Dizzy expects to be the first President of the British Republic.' Mr.
+Gladstone, according to Lord Houghton, seemed at the same moment 'quite
+awed with the diabolical cleverness of Dizzy.' The second bears date
+Woburn Abbey, September 29, 1868: 'Dr. Temple is a man I greatly admire,
+and he has become more valuable to his country since the death of our
+admirable Dean of St. Paul's. If I had any voice in the appointment,
+Temple is the man I should wish to see succeed to Milman; but I suppose
+the "Essays and Reviews" will tell heavily against him.' 'We lead a very
+quiet life here and a very happy one. I sometimes regret not seeing my
+old political friends a little oftener.' 'In June [1869] I expect
+Dickens to visit us. We went to see him last night in the murder of
+Nancy by Sikes, and Mrs. Gamp. He acts like a great actor, and writes
+like a great author. Irish Church is looming very near in the Commons,
+and, in June, in the Lords. The Archbishops and Bishops do not wish to
+oppose the second reading, but Lord Cairns is prepared to hack and hew
+in committee.'
+
+  [Sidenote: LADY GEORGIANA PEEL]
+
+The recollections of Lord John's children reveal, by incidents too
+trivial in themselves to quote, how completely he entered into their
+life. Lady Georgiana Peel recalls her childish tears when her father
+arrived too late from London one evening to see one of the glorious
+sunsets which he had taught her to admire. 'I can feel now his hand on
+my forehead in any childish illness, or clasping mine in the garden, as
+he led me out to forget some trifling sorrow.' She lays stress on his
+patience and serene temper, on his tender heart, and on the fact that he
+always found leisure on the busiest day to enter into the daily life of
+his little girls. Half heartedness, either in work or play, was not to
+his mind. '_Do_ what you are doing' was the advice he gave to his
+children.
+
+One of the elder children in far-off days at Pembroke Lodge, Mrs.
+Warburton, Lord John's step-daughter, recalls wet days in the country,
+when her father would break the tedium of temporary imprisonment indoors
+by romping with his children. 'I have never forgotten his expression of
+horror when in a game of hide-and-seek he banged the door accidentally
+in my elder sister's face and we heard her fall. Looking back to the
+home life, its regularity always astonishes me. The daily walks,
+prayers, and meals regular and punctual as a rule.... He was shy and we
+were shy, but I think we spoke quite freely with him, and he seldom
+said more than "Foolish child" when we ventured on any startling views
+on things. Once I remember rousing his indignation when I gave out, with
+sententious priggishness, that the Duke of Wellington laboured under
+great difficulties in Spain caused by the "factious opposition at home;"
+that was beyond "Foolish child," but my discomforted distress was soon
+soothed by a pat on the cheek, and an amused twinkle in his kind eyes.'
+Lord Amberley, four days before his death, declared that he had all his
+life 'met with nothing but kindness and gentleness' from his father. He
+added: 'I do earnestly hope that at the end of his long and noble life
+he may be spared the pain of losing a son.'
+
+Mr. Rollo Russell says: 'My father was very fond of history, and I can
+remember his often turning back to Hume, Macaulay, Hallam, and other
+historical works. He read various books on the French Revolution with
+great interest. He had several classics always near him, such as Homer
+and Virgil; and he always carried about with him a small edition of
+Horace. Of Shakespeare he could repeat much, and knew the plays well,
+entering into and discussing the characters. He admired Milton very
+greatly and was fond of reading "Paradise Lost." He was very fond of
+several Italian and Spanish books, by the greatest authors of those
+countries. Of lighter reading, he admired most, I think, "Don Quixote,"
+Sir Walter Scott's novels, Miss Evans' ("George Eliot") novels, Miss
+Austen's, and Dickens and Thackeray. Scott especially he loved to read
+over again. He told me he bought "Waverley" when it first came out, and
+was so interested in it that he sat up a great part of the night till he
+had finished it.'
+
+  [Sidenote: THE FRIENDSHIP OF BOOKS]
+
+Lady Russell states that Grote's 'History of Greece' was one of the
+last books her husband read, and she adds: 'Many of his friends must
+have seen its volumes open before him on the desk of his blue armchair
+in his sitting-room at Pembroke Lodge in the last year or two of his
+life. It was often exchanged for Jowett's "Plato," in which he took
+great delight, and which he persevered in trying to read, when, alas!
+the worn-out brain refused to take in the meaning.'
+
+Lord John was a delightful travelling companion, and he liked to journey
+with his children about him. His cheerfulness and merriment on these
+occasions is a happy memory. Dr. Anderson, of Richmond, who has been for
+many years on intimate terms at Pembroke Lodge, and was much abroad with
+Lord John in the capacity of physician and friend, states that all who
+came in contact personally with him became deeply attached to him. This
+arose not only from the charm of his manner and conversation, but from
+the fact that he felt they trusted him implicitly. 'I never saw anyone
+laugh so heartily. He seemed almost convulsed with merriment, and he
+once told me that after a supper with Tom Moore, the recollection of
+some of the witty things said during the course of the evening so
+tickled him, that he had to stop and hold by the railings while laughing
+on his way home. I once asked which of all the merry pictures in "Punch"
+referring to himself amused him the most, and he at once replied: "The
+little boy who has written 'No Popery' on a wall and is running away
+because he sees a policeman coming. I think that was very funny!"' Dr.
+Anderson says that Lord John was generous to a fault and easily moved to
+tears, and adds: 'I never knew any one more tender in illness or more
+anxious to help.' He states that Lord John told him that he had
+encountered Carlyle one day in Regent Street. He stopped, and asked him
+if he had seen a paragraph in that morning's 'Times' about the Pope.
+'What!' exclaimed Carlyle, 'the Pope, the Pope! The back of ma han' for
+that auld chimera!'
+
+Lady Russell says: 'As far as I recollect he never but once worked after
+dinner. He always came up to the drawing-room with us, was able to cast
+off public cares, and chat and laugh, and read and be read to, or join
+in little games, such as capping verses, of which he was very fond.'
+Lord John used often to write prologues and epilogues for the
+drawing-room plays which they were accustomed to perform. Space forbids
+the quotation of these sparkling and often humorous verses, but the
+following instance of his ready wit occurred in the drawing-room at
+Minto, and is given on the authority of Mr. George Elliot. At a game
+where everyone was required to write some verses, answering the question
+written on a paper to be handed to him, and bringing in a word written
+on the same, the paper that fell to the lot of Lord John contained this
+question: 'Do you admire Sir Robert Peel?' and 'soldier' the word to be
+brought in. His answer was:
+
+    'I ne'er was a soldier of Peel,
+      Or ever yet stood at his back;
+    For while he wriggled on like an eel,
+      I swam straight ahead like a _Jack_.'
+
+Mr. Gladstone states that perhaps the finest retort he ever heard in the
+House of Commons was that of Lord John in reply to Sir Francis Burdett.
+The latter had abandoned his Radicalism in old age, and was foolish
+enough to sneer at the 'cant of patriotism.' 'I quite agree, said Lord
+John, 'with the honourable baronet that the cant of patriotism is a bad
+thing. But I can tell him a worse--the _re_cant of patriotism--which I
+will gladly go along with him in reprobating whenever he shows me an
+example of it.'
+
+  [Sidenote: LORD DUFFERIN'S RECOLLECTIONS]
+
+Lord John Russell once declared that he had no need to go far in search
+of happiness, as he had it at his own doors, and this was the impression
+left on every visitor to Pembroke Lodge. Lord Dufferin states that all
+his recollections gather around Lord John's domestic life. He never
+possessed a kinder friend or one who was more pleasant in the retirement
+of his home. Lord Dufferin adds: 'One of his most charming
+characteristics was that he was so simple, so untheatrical, so genuine,
+that his existence, at least when I knew him, flowed at a very high
+level of thought and feeling, but was unmarked by anything very
+dramatic. His conversation was too delightful, full of anecdote; but
+then his anecdotes were not like those told by the ordinary _raconteur_,
+and were simple reminiscences of his own personal experience and
+intercourse with other distinguished men. Again, his stories were told
+in such an unpretending way that, though you were delighted with what
+you had heard, you were still more delighted with the speaker himself.'
+
+The closing years of Lord Russell's career were marked by settled peace,
+the consciousness of great tasks worthily accomplished, the unfaltering
+devotion of household love, the friendship of the Queen, the confidence
+of a younger race of statesmen, and the respect of the nation.
+Deputations of working men found their way to Pembroke Lodge to greet
+the old leader of the party of progress, and school children gathered
+about him in summer on the lawn, and were gladdened by his kindly smile
+and passing word. In good report and in evil report, in days of power
+and in days of weakness, the Countess Russell cheered, helped, and
+solaced him, and brought not only rare womanly devotion, but unusual
+intellectual gifts to his aid at the critical moments of his life, when
+bearing the strain of public responsibility, and in the simple round of
+common duty. The nation may recognise the services of its great men, but
+can never gauge to the full extent the influences which sustained them.
+The uplifting associations of a singularly happy domestic life must be
+taken into account in any estimate of the forces which shaped Lord John
+Russell's career. It is enough to say--indeed, more cannot with
+propriety be added--that through the political stress and strain of
+nearly forty years Lady Russell proved herself to be a loyal and
+noble-hearted wife.
+
+There is another subject, which cannot be paraded on the printed page,
+and yet, since religion was the central principle of Lord John Russell's
+life, some allusion to his position on the highest of all subjects
+becomes imperative. His religion was thorough; it ran right through his
+nature. It was practical, and revealed itself in deeds which spoke
+louder than words. 'I rest in the faith of Jeremy Taylor,' were his
+words, 'Barrow, Tillotson, Hoadly, Samuel Clarke, Middleton, Warburton,
+and Arnold, without attempting to reconcile points of difference between
+these great men. I prefer the simple words of Christ to any dogmatic
+interpretation of them.' Dean Stanley, whom he used to call his
+Pope--always playfully adding, 'but not an infallible one'--declared
+shortly before Lord Russell's death that 'he was a man who was firmly
+convinced that in Christianity, whether as held by the National Church
+or Nonconformist, there was something greater and vaster than each of
+the particular communions professed and advocated, something which made
+it worth while to develop those universal principles of religion that
+are common to all who accept in any real sense the fundamental truths of
+Christianity.'
+
+  [Sidenote: MR. SPURGEON'S BLESSING]
+
+Mr. Spurgeon, in conversation with the writer of these pages, related an
+incident concerning Lord John which deserves at least passing record, as
+an illustration of his swift appreciation of ability and the reality of
+his recognition of religious equality. Lord John was upwards of sixty at
+the time, and the famous Baptist preacher, though the rage of the town,
+was scarcely more than twenty. The Metropolitan Tabernacle had as yet
+not been built. Mr. Spurgeon was at the Surrey Music Hall, and there the
+great congregation had gathered around this youthful master of
+assemblies. One Sunday night, at the close of the service, Lord John
+Russell came into the vestry to speak a kindly word of encouragement to
+the young preacher. One of the children of the ex-Prime Minister was
+with him, and before the interview ended Lord John asked the
+Nonconformist minister to give his blessing to the child. Mr. Spurgeon
+never forgot the incident, or the bearing of the man who came to him,
+amid a crowd of others, on that Sunday night.
+
+In opening the new buildings of Cheshunt College in 1871, Lord John
+alluded to the foundress of that seat of theological learning, Lady
+Huntingdon, as a woman who was far in advance of her times, since, a
+century before the abolition of University tests, she made it possible
+to divinity students to obtain academical training without binding
+themselves at the outset to any religious community.
+
+During the early months of 1878 Lord John's strength failed rapidly, and
+it became more and more apparent that the plough was nearing the end of
+the furrow. His old courage and calmness remained to the end. Mr. and
+Mrs. Gladstone called at Pembroke Lodge on April 20, and he sent down
+word that he wished to see them. 'I took them to him for a few minutes,'
+relates Lady Russell. 'Happily, he was clear in his mind, and said to
+Mr. Gladstone, "I am sorry you are not in the Ministry," and kissed her
+affectionately, and was so cordial to both that they were greatly
+touched.' He told Lady Russell that he had enjoyed his life. 'I have
+made mistakes, but in all I did my object was the public good!' Then
+after a pause: 'I have sometimes seemed cold to my friends, but it was
+not in my heart.' A change for the worse set in on May 1, and the last
+sands of life were slipping quietly through the glass when the
+Nonconformist deputation came on the 9th of that month to present Lord
+Russell with an address of congratulation on the occasion of the jubilee
+of the Repeal of the Corporation and Test Acts.[45] Lady Russell and her
+children received the Deputation. In the course of her reply to the
+address Lady Russell said that of all the 'victories won by that great
+party to which in his later as in his earlier years Lord John had been
+inseparably attached,' there was none dearer to his memory at that
+moment than that which they had called to remembrance. 'It was a proud
+and a sad day,' is the entry in Lady Russell's journal. 'We had hoped
+some time ago that he might perhaps see the Deputation for a moment in
+his room, but he was too ill for that to be possible.'
+
+A few days later, there appeared in the columns of 'Punch' some
+commemorative verses entitled 'A Golden Wedding.' They expressed the
+feeling that was uppermost in the heart of the nation, and two or three
+verses may here be recorded:--
+
+   The Golden Wedding of Lord John and Liberty his love--
+   'Twixt the Russells' House and Liberty, 'twas ever hand and glove--
+   His love in those dark ages, he has lived through with his bride,
+   To look back on them from the sunset of his quiet eventide.
+
+   His love when he that loved her and sought her for his own
+   Must do more than suit and service, must do battle, trumpet blown,
+   Must slay the fiery dragons that guarded every gate
+   On the roads by which men travelled for work of Church and State.
+
+   Now time brings its revenges, and all are loud to own
+   How beautiful a bride she was, how fond, how faithful shown;
+   But she knows the man who loved her when lovers were but few,
+   And she hails this golden wedding--fifty years of tried and true.
+
+   Look and listen, my Lord Russell: 'tis your golden wedding-day;
+   We may not press your brave old hand, but you hear what we've to say.
+   A blessing on the bridal that has known its fifty years,
+   But never known its fallings-out, delusions, doubt, or fears.
+
+  [Sidenote: VICTORIOUS PEACE]
+
+The end came softly. 'I fall back on the faith of my childhood,' were
+the words he uttered to Dr. Anderson. The closing scene is thus recorded
+in Mr. Rollo Russell's journal: 'May 28 [1878].--He was better this
+morning, though still in a very weak state. He spoke more distinctly,
+called me by my name, and said something which I could not understand.
+He did not seem to be suffering ... and has, all through his long
+illness, been cheerful to a degree that surprises everybody about him,
+not complaining of anything, but seeming to feel that he was being well
+cared for. About midday he became worse ... but bore it all calmly. My
+mother was with him continually.... Towards ten he was much worse, and
+in a few minutes, while my mother was holding his hand, he breathed out
+gently the remainder of life.' Westminster Abbey was offered as a place
+of burial, but, in accordance with his own expressed wish, Lord John
+Russell was gathered to his fathers at Chenies. The Queen's sympathy and
+her sense of loss were expressed in the following letter:--
+
+
+    'Balmoral: May 30, 1878.
+
+'DEAR LADY RUSSELL,--It was only yesterday afternoon that I heard
+through the papers that your dear husband had left this world of sorrows
+and trials peacefully and full of years the night before, or I would
+have telegraphed and written sooner. You will believe that I truly
+regret an old friend of forty years' standing, and whose personal
+kindness in trying and anxious times I shall _ever_ remember. "Lord
+John," as I knew him best, was one of my _first_ and _most
+distinguished_ Ministers, and his departure recalls many eventful times.
+
+'To you, dear Lady Russell, who were ever one of the most devoted of
+wives, this must be a terrible blow, though you must have for some time
+been prepared for it. But one is _never_ prepared for the blow when it
+comes, and you have had such trials and sorrows of late years that I
+most truly sympathise with you. Your dear and devoted daughter will, I
+know, be the greatest possible comfort to you, and I trust that your
+grandsons will grow up to be all you could wish.
+
+    'Believe me always, yours affectionately,
+    'VICTORIA R. AND I.'
+
+
+
+  [Sidenote: HIS GREAT QUALITIES]
+
+Lord Shaftesbury wrote in his journal some words about Lord Russell
+which speak for themselves. After recording that he had reached the ripe
+age of eighty-six, and that he had been a conspicuous man for more than
+half a century, he added that to have 'begun with disapprobation, to
+have fought through many difficulties, to have announced, and acted
+on, principles new to the day in which he lived, to have filled many
+important offices, to have made many speeches, and written many books,
+and in his whole course to have done much with credit, and nothing with
+dishonour, and so to have sustained and advanced his reputation to the
+very end, is a mighty commendation.'
+
+When some one told Sir Stafford Northcote that Lord John was dead, the
+tidings were accompanied by the trite but sympathetic comment, 'Poor
+Lord Russell!' 'Why do you call him poor?' was the quick retort. 'Lord
+Russell had the chance of doing a great work and--he did it.'
+
+Lord John was not faultless, and most assuredly he was not infallible.
+He made mistakes, and sometimes was inclined to pay too little heed to
+the claims of others, and not to weigh with sufficient care the force of
+his own impetuous words. The taunt of 'finality' has seldom been less
+deserved. In most directions he kept an open mind, and seems, like
+Coleridge, to have believed that an error is sometimes the shadow of a
+great truth yet behind the horizon. Mr. Gladstone asserts that his old
+chief was always ready to stand in the post of difficulty, and possessed
+an inexhaustible sympathy with human suffering.
+
+It is at least certain that Lord John Russell served England--the
+country whose freedom, he once declared, he 'worshipped'--with unwearied
+devotion, with a high sense of honour, with a courage which never
+faltered, with an integrity which has never been impeached. He followed
+duty to the utmost verge of life, and--full himself of moral
+susceptibility--he reverenced the conscience of every man.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[44] _History of the War in the Crimea_, by A. W, Kinglake, vol. ii.
+sixth edition, pp. 249-50.
+
+Lady Russell states that Lord John used to smile at Kinglake's
+rhetorical exaggeration of the scene. Her impression is that only two of
+the Cabinet, and not, as the historian puts it, 'all but a small
+minority,' fell asleep. The Duke of Argyll or Mr. Gladstone can alone
+settle the point at issue.
+
+[45] Amongst those who assembled in the drawing-room of Pembroke Lodge
+on that historic occasion were Mr. Henry Richard, M.P., Mr. Samuel
+Morley, M.P., Mr. Edward Baines, Sir Charles Reed, Mr. Carvell Williams,
+M.P., who came on behalf of the Protestant Dissenting Deputies. The
+Congregationalists were represented by such men as the Rev. Baldwin
+Brown and the Rev. Guinness Rogers; the Baptists by Dr. Underhill; the
+Presbyterians by Dr. McEwan; and the Unitarians by Mr. Middleton
+Aspland.
+
+
+
+
+INDEX
+
+
+  ABERCROMBY, Mr., 103
+
+  Aberdeen, Lord, Foreign Secretary in Peel's Cabinet, 125;
+    and the repeal of the Corn Laws, 132;
+    forms the Coalition Government, 203, 206;
+    early political life and characteristics, 209;
+    and the Secret Memorandum, 216, 225;
+    friendly relations with the Emperor Nicholas, 217, 233;
+    belief in the peaceful intentions of Russia, 225, 231;
+    vacillation on the eve of the Crimean War, 229, 234;
+    public prejudice against him, 233;
+    home policy, 240;
+    fall of his Government, 257;
+    relations with Lord John Russell, 346, 347
+
+  Adelaide, Queen, 82, 83
+
+  'Adullamites,' 329
+
+  Afghanistan, invasion of, 121, 170
+
+  'Alabama' Case, the, 312-319
+
+  Albert, Prince, and Lord Palmerston, 177;
+    letter on the defeat of the Turks at Sinope, 232;
+    and Count Buol's scheme, 261;
+    letter on the position of affairs in the Crimea, 263;
+    death, and characteristics, 308, 309;
+    last official act, 310
+
+  Alexander II., 259, 321
+
+  Alien Acts, the, 27
+
+  All the Talents, Ministry of, 63, 64
+
+  Alma, the battle of, 246
+
+  Althorp, Lord, 48, 56, 67, 79;
+    and his part in carrying the Reform Bill, 81, 82, 87;
+    characteristics, 81, 82, 88, 92;
+    introduces the Poor Law Amendment Act (Ireland), 93, 96;
+    and the Coercion Act, 96;
+    succeeds to the Peerage as Earl Spencer, 100.
+      _See also_ Spencer, Lord
+
+  Amberley, Viscount, 356
+
+  America, war between England and, 21, 22;
+    Napoleon's opinion of the war, 31;
+    and the 'Trent' affair, 310-312;
+    Civil War, 310, 313;
+    and the Alabama Case, 312-319
+
+  Anti-Corn-Law League, its founding 121, 126, 131
+
+  Argyll, Duke of, 295, 327
+
+  Armenia, massacres in, 269, 353
+
+  Arms Bill, 146, 147;
+    of 1847, 154
+
+  Auckland, Lord, 96
+
+  Austria, revolt in Vienna of 1848, 171;
+    and the retention of Lombardy and Venice, 172, 300;
+    and the Vienna Note, 227;
+    and the Crimean War, 243;
+    proposed alliance with England and France to defend the integrity of
+      Turkey, 261;
+    her power in Italy, 300;
+    campaign against France and Italy, and battles of Magenta and
+      Solferino, 302, 303;
+    and the peace of Villafranca, 303
+
+
+  BAGEHOT, Walter, 86, 323
+
+  Ballot, the: Grote's attempts to introduce a bill, 90, 111
+
+  Bathurst, Lord, 50
+
+  Bedford, fourth Duke of, his 'Correspondence' edited by Lord John
+      Russell, 278
+
+  -- Francis, fifth Duke of, 3
+
+  -- sixth Duke of, father of Lord John Russell, 3;
+    opinion of English Universities, 11, 16;
+    encouragement given to Lord John in political training, 14, 36;
+    characteristics, 16;
+    and Lord John's leadership of the Opposition, 103;
+    and Joseph Lancaster, 115
+
+  -- seventh Duke of, 202
+
+  -- first Earl of, 2
+
+  Belgium: the question of its independence, 172, 340, 341
+
+  Bentinck, Lord George, 138, 140, 141, 150, 160, 201
+
+  Bessborough, Lord, 146, 151
+
+  Birmingham, unrepresented in the House of Commons, 23, 38, 51, 60, 71;
+    great meeting on the Reform question at, 79, 296
+
+  Bismarck, Count, 321-323
+
+  Blandford, Lord, 59
+
+  Blessington, Lady, 42
+
+  Blomfield, Bishop, 115
+
+  Bradlaugh, Mr., 332
+
+  Bribery and corruption before the era of Reform, 23, 61;
+    Lord John Russell's resolutions for the discovery and punishment
+      of, 43
+
+  Bridgeman, Mr. George (afterwards Earl of Bradford), 16, 18, 20
+
+  Bright, John, on the influences at work in the repeal of the Corn
+      Laws, 130, 131;
+    on disaffection in Ireland, and the Arms Bill, 155, 156, 202, 206,
+      208, 287;
+    relations with Lord John Russell, 294, 329;
+    and the 'Adullamites,' 329
+
+  Brougham, Lord, 56, 67;
+    and the Reform Bill cry, 74;
+    speech on the second Reform Bill, 78, 83;
+    opinion of Lord John Russell, 110
+
+  Buccleuch, Duke of, 134, 136
+
+  Bulgaria, massacres in, 269, 352
+
+  Bulwer, Sir H., 174
+
+  Buol, Count, 261, 263
+
+  Burdett, Sir Francis, 25, 26;
+    his motion for universal suffrage, 35; 70
+
+  Buxton, Thomas Fowell, 89
+
+  Byng, Hon. Georgiana, 3
+
+
+  CAMELFORD, 40
+
+  Campbell, Lord, 157
+
+  Canada: the rebellion, 110;
+    Earl of Durham appointed Governor-General, 110
+
+  Canning, Mr., 43;
+    his Ministry, 50;
+    death, 51
+
+  Capital crimes, 107
+
+  Cardwell, Mr., 290
+
+  Carlisle, Earl of, 96
+
+  Carlyle, Thomas, and the Chartists, 166, 167, 358, 362
+
+  Caroline, Queen, proceedings against, 41
+
+  Cartwright, Dr., 5
+
+  Cartwright, Major, 5, 25, 26, 38, 39
+
+  Cassiobury, 36, 112
+
+  Castlereagh, Lord, 21, 40, 63
+
+  Catholics: political restrictions against them, 48;
+    agitation for Emancipation, 58, 59;
+    passing of the Emancipation Bill, 59;
+    and the decree of Pius IX., 182-184;
+    and the Durham Letter, 184-188
+
+  Cato Street Conspiracy, 40
+
+  'Cave of Adullam,' 329
+
+  Cavour, Count, 300, 301, 302
+
+  Chadwick, Sir Edwin, 162
+
+  Chartist movement, 163;
+    and Feargus O'Connor, 165-168;
+    and its literature, 166
+
+  Chatham, Lord, on borough representation, 24, 25, 26
+
+  Chelsea Hospital, 62
+
+  Cheshunt College, 365
+
+  China, opium war against, 121
+
+  Church of England, the, and its adoption of Romish practices, 185, 186
+
+  Clare, Lord, 6, 7
+
+  Clarendon, Lord, 119, 141;
+    his Vice-royalty of Ireland, 153, 182, 196;
+    at the Foreign Office, 221, 224, 231;
+    on Lord Stratford de Redcliffe, 260;
+    Count Buol's proposals, 262, 263, 327
+
+  Clive, Mr. Robert, 16, 20
+
+  Clubs for the advancement of Reform, 26
+
+  Cobbett, William, 26, 64
+
+  Cobden, Richard, and the repeal of the Corn Laws, 131, 132, 134;
+    and Wellington, 136, 202, 206, 208, 287;
+    relations with Lord John Russell, 294;
+    negotiates the Commercial Treaty with France, 295, 296;
+    death, 325
+
+  Coercion Act: Lord Grey proposes its renewal, 96;
+    Lord John Russell's speech, 97, 98;
+    and O'Connell, 98, 99;
+    Peel's proposal for its renewal, 140
+
+  Conspiracy Bill, the, 289, 290
+
+  Conyngham, Marquis of, 96
+
+  Corn Laws, 121;
+    John Bright on the influences working for their repeal, 130, 131;
+    of 1670 reproduced in 1815, 131 _n._;
+    Sir Robert Peel proposes their gradual repeal, 138;
+    bill for repeal passes both Houses, 139;
+    total repeal carried by Russell, 145
+
+  Cranworth, Lord, 327
+
+  Crime, excessive penalties for, 24
+
+  Crimean War: causes, 213-235;
+    outbreak, 243, 246;
+    Alma, 246;
+    Balaclava and Inkerman, 247;
+    siege of Sebastopol, 246, 247;
+    privation and pestilence amongst the Allies, 248, 252;
+    Roebuck's motion in the House of Commons to inquire into the
+      condition of the army before Sebastopol, and Lord John Russell's
+      speech on the question, 254-257;
+    failure of Vienna Conference and renewal of the campaign, 267;
+    fall of Sebastopol, 268;
+    losses of Russia, and of the Allies, 268;
+    treaty of Paris, 268
+
+  Croker, J. W., 80, 139
+
+
+  DALLING, Lord, 180
+
+  Denmark and the Schleswig-Holstein Question, 322, 323
+
+  Derby, Lord, Administration of, 199, 200, 202, 206;
+    fails to form a Ministry on the resignation of Lord Aberdeen, 258;
+    succeeds to the Premiership on the resignation of Lord Palmerston,
+      290;
+    resignation, 293
+
+  Devonshire, Duke of, 49
+
+  Dickens, Charles, his tribute to Lord Russell, 354
+
+  Disraeli, Benjamin, and the 'poisoned chalice,' 135;
+    attacks Peel on the proposal to repeal the Corn Laws, 138;
+    and the Coercion Bill, 140, 141, 160;
+    and 'Sybil,' 166;
+    and the dismissal of Lord Palmerston, 180, 181;
+    on Lord John Russell's position after the issue of the Durham
+      Letter, 188;
+    his Budget of 1852, 199, 210;
+    leadership of the Conservative party, 201;
+    resolution condemning the Palmerston Ministry, 264;
+    on the exclusion of Lord John from Lord Grey's Cabinet, 273, 290;
+    his Reform Bill, 291, 292;
+    on the Prince Consort, 309;
+    his 'diabolical cleverness,' 333 _n._
+
+  Dissenters. _See_ Nonconformists
+
+  'Don Carlos,' by Lord John Russell, 279
+
+  'Don Pacifico' affair, the, 175
+
+  Dufferin, Lord, 327, 363
+
+  Duffy, Sir Gavan, on Irish landowners, 149
+
+  Duhamel, General, his scheme for the acquisition of India by Russia,
+      218
+
+  Duncannon, Lord, 67, 91, 92;
+    appointed Home Secretary, 99. _See also_ Bessborough, Lord
+
+  Dunkellin, Lord, 329, 331
+
+  Durazzo, Madame, 37
+
+  Durham, Lord, his advanced opinions and popularity with the Radicals,
+      66, 164;
+    and the preparation of the Reform Bill, 67, 68;
+    and the scene in the House of Commons during the introduction of the
+      bill, 69, 89;
+    resigns office, 92;
+    appointed Governor-General of Canada, 110;
+    defended by Lord John Russell, 111;
+    popularity, 164
+
+  Durham Letter, the, 184-189, 191
+
+
+  EAST INDIA COMPANY, 89, 288, 289
+
+  East Retford, 51
+
+  Ebrington, Lord, 75;
+    moves a vote of confidence in Lord Grey's Government, 79;
+    moves a second vote of confidence, 83, 91, 92
+
+  Ecclesiastical Titles Bill, 191-193
+
+  'Edinburgh Letter,' the, 133
+
+  Edinburgh Speculative Society, 13
+
+  -- University, Lord John Russell at, 11-14;
+    and the influence of Professors Dugald Stewart and John Playfair,
+      12;
+    and the Speculative Society, 13
+
+  Education at the beginning of the century, 24;
+    Roebuck's scheme, 89;
+    Bill of 1839, 114, 115;
+    measure for providing competent teachers for elementary schools,
+      159;
+    Lord John Russell's scheme of National Education, 284;
+    Mr. Forster's measure, 285
+
+  Egypt, war between Turkey and, 119
+
+  Elcho, Lord, 329
+
+  Eldon, Lord, 40, 50;
+    and the proposed repeal of the Test and Corporation Acts, 57, 58, 63
+
+  Elections, Parliamentary, cost of, 23
+
+  Elliot, Hon. George, 195, 279, 347, 362
+
+  Encumbered Estates Act, 157
+
+  Erskine, Lord, 25
+
+  'Essay on the History of the English Government and Constitution,' by
+      Lord John Russell, 274, 275
+
+
+  FACTORY ACT, 159
+
+  Famine, Irish, 130, 146, 148, 149
+
+  Farnborough, Lord, 107
+
+  Fielden, Mr., 159
+
+  Fitzpatrick, General, 20
+
+  Flood, Mr., and Reform, 77, and _note_
+
+  Fonblanque, Albany, 47, 84, 196, 197
+
+  Forster, W. E., and the Irish famine, 149;
+    tribute to Lord John Russell for his work in the cause of education,
+      285, 327
+
+  Fortescue, Mr. Chichester, Lord John Russell's 'Letters on the State
+      of Ireland' to, 280, 342
+
+  Fox, Charles James, his influence on Lord John Russell, 8;
+    on Parliamentary Representation, 25;
+    and the Test and Corporation Acts, 54, 55;
+    Russell's Biography of him, 98, 272, 277
+
+  France: Napoleon's intention to create a new aristocracy, 31;
+    and England's alliance, 120;
+    overthrow and flight of Louis Philippe, 163, 171;
+    and the Spanish marriages, 171;
+    Revolution of 1848, 171;
+    and the 'Don Pacifico' affair, 175;
+    and the Crimean War, 225, 229;
+    the Orsini Conspiracy, 289, 290;
+    Commercial Treaty with England, 295, 296;
+    campaign with Italy, against Austria, 302, 303;
+    annexation of Savoy, 305
+
+  Free Trade: the question coming to the front, 121;
+    and Tory opposition, 132;
+    conversion of Peel, 137, 138;
+    and the Commercial Treaty with France, 296
+
+  French Revolution, its influence on the English people, 24, 36
+
+  Friends of the People, Society of the, 25, 63
+
+  Froude, Mr., on the improvements effected by the Reform Bill, 86, 87
+
+
+  'GAGGING ACTS,' the, 39, 40
+
+  Garibaldi, General, 300;
+    entry into Naples, 306;
+    visit to Pembroke Lodge, 307
+
+  Gascoigne, General, 73
+
+  Gatton, 23
+
+  Gavazzi, Father, 186
+
+  George III., his madness and blindness, 27;
+    and Catholic Emancipation, 59
+
+  George IV. and Queen Caroline, 41;
+    and Catholic Emancipation, 59;
+    death, 60, 64
+
+  Gibson, Milner, 141, 208, 287, 295
+
+  Gladstone, Mr., on the Colonial policy of the Melbourne Government,
+      117;
+    Colonial Secretary, 136;
+    and Sir Robert Peel, 176;
+    his attack on Disraeli's Budget, 199;
+    and Disraeli's claim to lead the Conservative party, 201 and _note_;
+    and Lord John Russell's claim to the Premiership on the fall of the
+      Derby Government, 202;
+    takes office under Lord Aberdeen, 207;
+    first Budget, 210;
+    and the income tax, 240;
+    resigns office, 258, 290;
+    Chancellor of the Exchequer (1859), 295;
+    tribute to Russell on his accession to the Peerage, 297, 298;
+    unseated at Oxford, 325;
+    Chancellor of the Exchequer under Lord Russell, 327;
+    introduces a Reform Bill, 328;
+    tribute to Lord Russell, 330;
+    ovation at Carlton House Terrace, 332;
+    and the Irish Question, 342, 363, 366
+
+  Glenelg, Lord, 112
+
+  Goderich, Lord, 52, 93
+
+  Gordon, Lady Georgiana, 3
+
+  Gore, Hon. Charles, 348
+
+  Gorham Case, the, 182
+
+  Gortschakoff, Prince, 261, 267
+
+  Goschen, Mr., 327
+
+  Graham, Sir James, 67;
+    withdraws from Lord Grey's Ministry, 95;
+    accuses Lord John Russell of encouraging sedition, 119;
+    Home Secretary under Peel, 125;
+    declines the Governor-Generalship of India, 141, 202, 207, 232, 254,
+      258, 290
+
+  Grampound, 27, 40, 41;
+    disfranchised, 43
+
+  Granville, Lord, appointed Foreign Secretary, 182;
+    on Lord John Russell's speech in defence of his late colleagues,
+      266;
+    fails to form a Ministry on the defeat of Lord Derby, 293;
+    becomes President of the Council, 295
+
+  Great Exhibition of 1851, 193, 200, 234, 308
+
+  Greece and the 'Don Pacifico' affair, 175
+
+  Greenock, Lord John Russell's speech on the prospects of war, at, 227
+
+  Greville, Charles, comments of, 61, 69, 72, 73, 102, 130, 180, 207,
+      257, 286
+
+  Grey, (Charles, second) Lord, 15, 25;
+    and Lord John Russell's efforts on behalf of liberty, 58, 61;
+    forms an Administration, 62, 65;
+    early labours in the cause of Reform, 63, 64;
+    characteristics, 65;
+    announcement in the House of Lords with regard to the introduction
+      of the first Reform Bill, 68;
+    speech on the second Reform Bill, 76-78;
+    resigns office, but resumes power on the inability of the Duke of
+      Wellington to form a Ministry, 83, 92;
+    changes in his Cabinet, 96;
+    proposes the renewal of the Coercion Act, 96;
+    resigns the Premiership, 99
+
+  Grey (Henry, third), Lord, 134;
+    Secretary to the Colonies under Lord John Russell, 141
+
+  Grey, Sir George, Home Secretary under Lord John Russell, 141;
+    and Irish crime, 153;
+    appointed Colonial Secretary, 245, 295;
+    Home Secretary, 327
+
+  Grillion's Club, 27, 28
+
+  Grosvenor, Earl, 329, 330
+
+  Grote, George, 90, 110, 111, 320
+
+
+  HABEAS CORPUS ACT, suspension of, 33, 34
+
+  Hampden, Dr., and the see of Hereford, 161
+
+  Hampden Clubs, 26
+
+  Harcourt, Archbishop, on religious tests, 57
+
+  Harding, Sir John, and the 'Alabama' Case, 315-317
+
+  Hardinge, Sir Henry (afterwards Viscount), 82, 249
+
+  Hartington, Lord, 292, 327
+
+  Henley, Mr., 291
+
+  Herbert of Lea, Lord, 232
+
+  Herbert, Sidney, 207, 244, 254, 258
+
+  Herschel, Sir John, 355
+
+  Hobhouse, Sir J. C., 70, 141
+
+  Holland, Lord, visit of Lord John Russell to the Peninsula with, 9-11,
+      30, 53, 57, 119;
+    and the Life of Charles James Fox, 276
+
+  Holland House, 8, 15, 143
+
+  Holy Places in Palestine, dispute concerning, 213, 218
+
+  Horsman, Mr., 329
+
+  Houghton, Lord, 294
+
+  House of Commons, abuses and defects in representation before the era
+      of Reform, 22, 23;
+    presentation of the petition of the Friends of the People, 25, 26;
+    suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act, 33, 34;
+    Sir Francis Burdett's motion for universal suffrage, and Lord John
+      Russell's speech, 35;
+    and the 'Gagging Acts,' 39, 40;
+    Lord John's first resolutions in favour of Reform, 40;
+    Lord John proposes an addition of 100 members, 43;
+    introduction and second reading of the first Reform Bill, 69-73;
+    dissolution, 74;
+    first Reform Bill, 69-73;
+    second Reform Bill, 75, 76;
+    third Reform Bill, 81;
+    the first Reformed Parliament, 88;
+    number of Protectionists in 1847, 160
+
+  House of Lords, and the proposed enfranchisement of Manchester, 52;
+    and the Test and Corporation Acts, 56, 57;
+    effect of the Duke of Wellington's declaration against Reform, 61;
+    its rejection of Reform, 78;
+    urged by William IV. to withdraw opposition to the Reform Bill, 84;
+    passing of the Reform Bill, 84;
+    and the Jewish Disabilities Bill, 198, 291
+
+  Howick, Lord, 134
+
+  Hume, Joseph, 72, 80, 90, 121
+
+  Hunt, Mr. Ward, 330
+
+  -- 'Orator,' 26
+
+  Huskisson, Mr., 56
+
+  Hyde Park, Reform demonstration in, 332
+
+
+  INDEMNITY BILL for Dissenters, 51
+
+  India, Napoleon's prophecy as to the acquisition by Russia of, 31;
+    Duhamel's scheme for its acquisition by Russia, 218;
+    Mutiny in, 288
+
+  India Bills, 210, 290
+
+  Inkerman, battle of, 247
+
+  Ireland: condition of affairs on the accession of the Duke of
+      Wellington to power, 53;
+    agitation for Catholic Emancipation, 58, 59;
+    and O'Connell, 90;
+    Lord John Russell's visit in 1833, 91, 92;
+    Poor Law Amendment Act, 93, 107;
+    Mr. Littleton's Tithe Bill, 93;
+    Tithe Bill of 1835, 105, 107;
+    Municipal Bill, 105, 112;
+    passing of the Tithe Bill, 112;
+    Maynooth grant, 127, 128;
+    potato famine, 130, 146, 148, 149;
+    Peel's proposal for renewal of Coercion Act, 140;
+    proposed renewal of Arms Bill, 147, 148;
+    revolt of Young Ireland against O'Connell, 147;
+    measures to relieve distress, 150-152;
+    crime, 153, 154;
+    Arms Bill (1847), 154;
+    Treason Felony Act, 157;
+    Encumbered Estates Act, 157;
+    emigration, 158
+
+  Irish Church: Mr. Ward's motion, 95;
+    Peel's accusation against Lord John Russell, 97;
+    Lord John's motion of April 1835, 103, 104
+
+  Italy: Lord John Russell's impressions, 37;
+    Lord John's second visit, 48, 49;
+    and the retention by Austria of Lombardy and Venice, 172, 300;
+    accession of Victor Emmanuel II. to the throne of Sardinia, 301;
+    campaign, with France, against Austria, 302, 303;
+    the Peace of Villafranca, 303;
+    intervention of England, 304;
+    annexation of Savoy by France, 305;
+    entry of Garibaldi into Naples, and proclamation of Victor Emmanuel
+      as King of Italy, 306
+
+
+  JAMAICA BILL, the, 114
+
+  Jews: exclusion from Parliament, 57;
+    rejection in the Lords of bill for their relief, 89, 198, 210;
+    passing of the bill in 1858, 290, 291
+
+  Jones, Gale, 13
+
+
+  KEBLE, Dr., 183
+
+  Kennington Common, Chartist demonstration on, 166-168
+
+  King, Mr. Locke, 193
+
+  Kinglake, Mr., 266, 353
+
+  Kingsley, Charles, his 'Alton Locke,' 166
+
+  Kossuth, Louis, his visit to England, 179
+
+
+  LABOUCHERE, Mr. (afterwards Lord Taunton), 116, 147
+
+  Lambton, Mr. (father of the first Earl of Durham), 25
+
+  Lancashire Cotton Famine, 319
+
+  Lancaster, Joseph, 115 and _note_, 281, 282
+
+  Lansdowne, Lord, 52, 141, 202, 205, 240, 251, 258
+
+  Lascelles, Mr., 23
+
+  Lecky, Mr. W. E. H., his reminiscences of Earl Russell, 335-339
+
+  Leech, John, 192, 241
+
+  Leeds, unrepresented in the House of Commons, 23, 38, 60, 71, 296
+
+  'Letters written for the Post, and not for the Press,' question of
+      authorship of, 279, 280
+
+  Lewis, Sir George Cornewall, 210, 226, 238;
+    Chancellor of the Exchequer in Lord Palmerston's Ministry, 258;
+    on Lord John Russell's speech announcing his resignation (1855),
+      265, 295
+
+  Lhuys, M. Drouyn de, 261, 262
+
+  Lincoln, President, assassination of, 325
+
+  Lister, Sir Villiers, 348
+
+  Littleton, Mr. (afterwards Lord Hatherton), and the Irish Title Bill,
+      93;
+    and the Coercion Act, 97
+
+  Liverpool, Lord, 21, 33, 50, 63
+
+  Llandaff, Bishop of, and the repeal of the Test and Corporation Acts,
+      57
+
+  London University, 106, 107;
+    proposed enfranchisement of, 296
+
+  Londonderry, Marquis of, 79
+
+  Louis Philippe, overthrow and flight of, 163, 171;
+    and the Spanish marriages, 171
+
+  Lowe, Mr., 327, 329, 332
+
+  Luddites, riots of the, 32
+
+  Lyndhurst, Lord, and Jewish Lord Chancellors, 291
+
+  Lyons, Sir Edmund, 252
+
+  Lytton, Sir Edward Bulwer, 208, 265
+
+
+  MACAULAY, Lord, 141;
+    urges Lord John Russell to take office in the Coalition Ministry,
+      204
+
+  Mackintosh, Sir James, 25, 39, 53
+
+  Magenta, battle of, 303
+
+  Malmesbury, Lord, 137
+
+  Maltby, Dr., Bishop of Durham, and Lord John Russell's 'Durham
+    Letter,' 184
+
+  Manchester, unrepresented in the House of Commons, 23, 38, 51, 60, 71,
+      126, 155;
+    creation of bishopric of, 160, 296
+
+  Martineau, Harriet, 129
+
+  Maule, Fox, 141
+
+  Maynooth College, 127-130
+
+  Mazzini, 300
+
+  McCarthy, Mr. Justin, on the attitude of the Catholics towards Lord
+      John Russell, 188
+
+  Melbourne, Lord, becomes Prime Minister, 99;
+    dismissed by William IV., 100, 101;
+    again Prime Minister, 104;
+    Queen Victoria's regard for him, 108, 109;
+    characteristics, 108, 170;
+    opinion of the ballot, 109;
+    resigns, but is recalled to power, 114;
+    his recognition of Russell's influence as leader in the Commons,
+      120;
+    blunders of his Government, 122;
+    defeat of his Government, 123, 144
+
+  Melville, Lord, 8
+
+  'Memoirs of the Affairs of Europe from the Peace of Utrecht,' by Lord
+      John Russell, 275
+
+  Memorandum, Secret, 216, 225
+
+  Menschikoff, Prince, 223, 224
+
+  Metternich, 171, 300
+
+  Miall, Edward, 242
+
+  Militia Bill, the, 194, 195
+
+  Milton, Lord, 23
+
+  Mitchel, John, 157, 158
+
+  Moldavia and Wallachia, occupation by Russia of, 224, 229, 259
+
+  Monson, Lord, 23
+
+  Moore, Thomas, his 'Remonstrance,' 34;
+    accompanies Lord John Russell to the Continent, 36;
+    extracts from his journal, 37, 39, 41;
+    anxiety as to Lord John's politics, 52;
+    on Lord John's success with his motion for the repeal of the Test
+      and Corporation Acts, 58;
+    and Lardner's Encyclopaedia, 91;
+    Russell's 'Memoirs and Correspondence' of Moore, 204, 272, 278
+
+  Morpeth, Lord, 141
+
+  Municipal Reform Act, 90, 104
+
+
+  NAPOLEON I., Lord Russell's boyish hatred of, 9;
+    Lord John's interview with him at Elba, 28-31;
+    his description of Wellington, 30;
+    opinions on European politics, &c., 29-31;
+    and Talma, 37
+
+  Napoleon III., 167;
+    and the _Coup d'Etat_ of 1851, 179;
+    and the fear of his invading England, 194;
+    and the custody of the Holy Places, 218;
+    his alliance with England during the Crimean War, 262;
+    visit to England (1855), 267;
+    interview with Count Cavour, 302;
+    designs with regard to Italy, 303, 304;
+    and the Peace of Villafranca, 303
+
+  Navigation Acts, 197
+
+  Nesselrode, Count, 214, 215
+
+  New Zealand becomes part of the British dominions, 117, 199
+
+  Newcastle, Duke of, 207, 232;
+    unpopularity as Secretary for War, 244, 249, 250;
+    incapacity as War Minister, 245
+
+  Newman, Dr., 161, 182
+
+  Nicholas, Emperor, his ambitious projects, 213, 214;
+    visit to England in 1844 and the Secret Memorandum, 215, 216;
+    friendship with Lord Aberdeen, 217;
+    letter to Queen Victoria, 230;
+    'Generals Janvier et Fevrier,' 259;
+    death, 259
+
+  Nightingale, Miss Florence, 250
+
+  Nonconformists: the Indemnity Bill, 51;
+    agitation for repeal of Test and Corporation Acts and their repeal
+      moved and carried by Lord John Russell, 53-57;
+    the Marriage Bill and Registration Act, 106;
+    and the struggle for civil and religious liberty, 184;
+    deputation to Lord Russell, 366
+
+  Normanby, Lord, 116, 179, 180
+
+  Northcote, Sir Stafford, 369
+
+  Nottingham Castle, 79
+
+  'Nun of Arrouca, The,' 278
+
+
+  O'BRIEN, Smith, 140, 157, 158
+
+  O'Connell, Daniel, 53;
+    his election for Clare, 58, 90, 92;
+    on the revenues of the Irish Church, 97;
+    and the Coercion Bill, 97, 99, 140, 146;
+    and Lord John Russell, 147;
+    and the potato famine, 149, 158
+
+  O'Connor, Feargus, 165-168
+
+  Old Sarum, 23, 71
+
+  Oltenitza, battle of, 230
+
+  Omar Pacha, 230
+
+  Opium war, the, 121
+
+  Orloff, Count, 214
+
+  Orsini conspiracy, the, 289, 290
+
+  Oxford Movement, the, 161, 182-186, 189
+
+
+  PALMERSTON, Lord, 21, 56, 119;
+    and the despatch to Metternich, 120;
+    Foreign Secretary under Lord John Russell, 141;
+    compared with Russell, 144;
+    early official life and politics, 169;
+    his independent action, 169, 174, 175, 177;
+    his despatch to France on the Spanish marriages, 171;
+    foreign policy, 173, 174;
+    despatch to Sir H. Bulwer at Madrid, 174;
+    and the 'Don Pacifico' affair, 175;
+    popularity, 177;
+    and the Queen's instructions, 178;
+    and the Kossuth incident, 179;
+    and the _Coup d'Etat_ in Paris (1851), 179;
+    dismissed from the Foreign Office, 180;
+    declines the Irish Viceroyalty, 181;
+    his amendment on the Militia Bill, 195;
+    offered a seat in Lord Derby's Cabinet, 201;
+    Home Secretary under Lord Aberdeen, 207;
+    urges the despatch of the fleet to the Bosphorus, 225;
+    resignation, and its withdrawal, 237, 238;
+    succeeds Lord Aberdeen as Prime Minister, 258;
+    and Count Buol's proposals, 262, 263;
+    defeat on the 'Arrow' question and return to power after the General
+      Election, 287;
+    defeat and resignation on the Conspiracy Bill, 290;
+    renewal of friendly relations with Russell, 293;
+    forms a Ministry on the defeat of Lord Derby, 293, 295;
+    indifference to Reform, 296;
+    on Cabinet opinions, 323;
+    death, 325;
+    Lord Lyttelton's opinion of him, 326
+
+  Panmure, Lord, 243, 258
+
+  Papal aggression, and the decree of Pius IX., 182-184;
+    and the Durham Letter, 184-188
+
+  Paris, Treaty of, 268
+
+  Parliamentary representation before the era of Reform, 22, 23
+
+  Parnell, Sir H., 62
+
+  'Partington, Dame,' and Sydney Smith's speech on Reform, 80
+
+  'Peace with honour,' 227, 349
+
+  Peel, Lady Georgiana, 357
+
+  Peel, Sir Robert, 21, 50;
+    leader of the House of Commons under the Duke of Wellington, 52;
+    opposes the repeal of the Test and Corporation Acts, 56;
+    and Catholic Emancipation, 58;
+    and the first Reform Bill, 69, 70, 73, 76, 83;
+    Prime Minister, 102;
+    resignation, 104;
+    and the Whig Ladies-in-Waiting, 114;
+    his motion of want of confidence in the Melbourne Administration,
+      122;
+    again Prime Minister, 123, 124;
+    characteristics, 126, 127;
+    and the grant to Maynooth College, 127, 128, 130;
+    on the state of Ireland, 128;
+    and the repeal of the Corn Laws, 131;
+    resignation and resumption of office, 134, 136;
+    proposes gradual repeal of Corn Laws, 138, 139;
+    defeat and resignation on the Coercion Bill, 140, 155;
+    and Lord Palmerston, 170;
+    death, 176, 177;
+    and the Emperor Nicholas, 215
+
+  Pelissier, General, 263, 267
+
+  Pembroke Lodge, 307, 351-353, 356, 357
+
+  Penal Code, the, before the era of Reform, 24, 48, 107
+
+  Peninsular Campaign, its costliness, 22
+
+  Penryn, 40, 51, 52
+
+  People's Charter, the, 165
+
+  Peterloo Massacre, the, 38
+
+  Petty, Lord Henry (afterwards third Marquis of Lansdowne), 12
+
+  Pius IX., and his decree of 1850, 182, 183
+
+  Playfair, Professor John, 12
+
+  Polignac, Prince de, 60, 61
+
+  Polish revolt of 1863, 321
+
+  Poor Law Amendment Act (Ireland), 93, 107, 151
+
+  Poor Law Board, 160
+
+  Poor Laws, 89, 126
+
+  Potato famine, 130, 146, 148, 149
+
+  Prisons, regulation of, 107
+
+  Protestant Operative Association of Dublin, 129
+
+  Prussia and the Vienna Note, 227;
+    and the Crimean War, 243
+
+  Public Health Act, 162
+
+  'Punch,' cartoons, &c., in, 192, 241, 242, 307, 367
+
+  Pusey, Dr., 161 and _note_, 183
+
+
+  RAGLAN, Lord, 246, 252, 267
+
+  'Recollections and Suggestions,' publication of, 280
+
+  Redistribution of Seats Bill, 330
+
+  Redcliffe, Lord Stratford de: skill in diplomacy, and early diplomatic
+      life, 218-220;
+    return to Constantinople, 220, 221;
+    and the second Congress at Vienna, 260
+
+  Reform: its early advocates, 25-27;
+    and the Society of the Friends of the People, 25;
+    Lord John Russell's first speech on the subject, 35;
+    Sir Francis Burdett's motion of 1819, 35;
+    Lord John brings forward his first resolutions in the House of
+      Commons, 40;
+    disfranchisement of Grampound, 43;
+    Lord John's motion for an addition of 100 members to the House of
+      Commons, 43;
+    resolutions brought forward by Lord Blandford, 59;
+    rejection of Lord John's Bill for enfranchising Manchester,
+      Birmingham, and Leeds, 60;
+    O'Connell's motion for Triennial Parliaments, &c., 60;
+    declaration of the Duke of Wellington, 61;
+    the Committee of Four and the first Reform Bill, 67, 68;
+    introduction and second reading of the first Bill in the Commons,
+      69-73;
+    the second Bill, 75-78;
+    public excitement on the rejection of the second Bill by the House
+      of Lords, 79, 80;
+    the third Bill passes the Commons, 81;
+    the Bill passes the House of Lords, and receives the Royal Assent,
+      84;
+    secured by popular enthusiasm, 85, 87;
+    Lord John's Bill of 1852, 196;
+    Bill of 1854, 236, 237, 239;
+    Disraeli's Bill, 291, 292;
+    Lord John's Bill of 1860, 296;
+    Bill introduced by Mr. Gladstone, 328
+
+  Regent, Prince, insulted on returning from opening Parliament, 32;
+    and the Peterloo Massacre, 38
+
+  Revolution, French (1848), 171
+
+  Rice, Mr. Spring, 96
+
+  Richmond, Duke of, 89, 95, 124
+
+  Ripon, Lord, 95, 124
+
+  Roden, Lord, 113
+
+  Roebuck, J. A., and education, 89;
+    moves vote of confidence in the Russell Administration, 176;
+    his motion to inquire into the condition of the Army in the Crimea,
+      254
+
+  Rogers, Samuel, 123, 276
+
+  Rothschild, Baron, 291
+
+  Russell, Mr. G. W. E., 344
+
+  Russell, John, the first Constable of Corfe Castle, 1, 2
+
+  Russell, Sir John, Speaker of the House of Commons, 2
+
+  Russell, John, the third, and first Earl of Bedford, 2
+
+  Russell, Lord John: ancestry, 1, 2;
+    boyhood and education, 3-9;
+    schooldays at Sunbury and Westminster, 3-5;
+    extracts from journal kept at Westminster, 4, 5;
+    passion for the theatre, 4;
+    education under Dr. Cartwright, 5;
+    dedicates a manuscript book to Pitt, 6;
+    schooldays and schoolfellows at Woodnesborough, 6-9;
+    writes satirical verses and dramatic prologues, 7, 8;
+    opinion on the case of Lord Melville, 8;
+    influence of Mr. Fox upon him, 8;
+    at Holland House, 8, 336;
+    friendship with Sydney Smith, 8;
+    visit to the English lakes and Scotland, 9;
+    impressions of Sir Walter Scott, 9;
+    first visit to the House of Lords, 9;
+    visit to the Peninsula with Lord and Lady Holland, 9-11;
+    political predilections and sympathy with Spain, 9-11;
+    goes to Edinburgh University, 11;
+    impressions of Professors Dugald Stewart and John Playfair, 12, 13;
+    his powers of debate at the Edinburgh Speculative Society, 13;
+    early bias towards Parliamentary Reform, 14;
+    second visit to Spain, 14, 15;
+    first impressions of Lord Wellington, 15;
+    commands a company of the Bedfordshire Militia, 16;
+    third visit to Spain, 16-20;
+    on the field of Salamanca, 17;
+    at Wellington's head-quarters, 17;
+    his ride to Frenida, 18;
+    dines with a canon at Plasencia, 19;
+    at Talavera and Madrid, 20;
+    elected member for Tavistock, 20;
+    his opinion of Lord Liverpool, 21;
+    maiden speech in Parliament, 27;
+    speech on the Alien Acts, 27;
+    elected a member of Grillion's Club, 27;
+    his Italian tour of 1814-15, 28-31;
+    interview with Napoleon at Elba, 28-31;
+    speeches in Parliament against the renewal of war with France,
+      against the income-tax and the Army Estimates, 32;
+    on the proposal to suspend the Habeas Corpus Act, 33, 34;
+    proposes to abandon politics, 34;
+    literary labours and travel, 34;
+    returned again for Tavistock at the General Election of 1818, 34;
+    first speech in the House of Commons on Parliamentary Reform, 35;
+    growth of his influence in Parliament, 36;
+    visit to the Continent with Thomas Moore, 36, 37;
+    impressions of Italy, 37;
+    brings forward in Parliament his first resolutions in favour of
+      Reform, 40;
+    his bill for disfranchising Penryn, Camelford, Grampound, and
+      Barnstaple, 40;
+    returned to Parliament for Huntingdon, 40;
+    and the case of Grampound, 40, 41, 42, 43;
+    takes the side of Queen Caroline, 41;
+    writes 'The Nun of Arrouca,' 42;
+    taciturnity in French society, 42;
+    his resolutions for the discovery and punishment of bribery, &c.,
+      43, 44;
+    proposes an addition of 100 members to the House of Commons, 43;
+    increase of his political influence, 45, 46;
+    unseated in Huntingdonshire, and his second visit to Italy, 48, 49;
+    elected for Bandon Bridge, 49;
+    on the condition of the Tory party on Canning's accession to power,
+      50;
+    and restrictions upon Dissenters, 51;
+    proposal to enfranchise Manchester, 51;
+    moves the repeal of the Test and Corporation Acts, 55-57;
+    and Catholic Emancipation, 59;
+    rejection of his bill for enfranchising Manchester, Birmingham, and
+      Leeds, 60;
+    defeated at Bedford, 60;
+    visit to Paris, and efforts to save the life of Prince de Polignac,
+      60, 61;
+    elected for Tavistock, and appointed Paymaster-General, 62;
+    prepares the first Reform Bill in conjunction with Lord Durham and
+      others, 67;
+    introduces the bill, 69-72;
+    moves the second reading of the Bill, 73;
+    returned to Parliament for Devonshire, 75;
+    raised to Cabinet rank, and introduces second Reform Bill, 75;
+    reply to vote of thanks from Birmingham, 79;
+    introduces the third Reform Bill, 80;
+    carries the bill to the Lords, 81;
+    and the Municipal Reform Act, 90, 104;
+    opposition to Radical measures, 90;
+    and the wants of Ireland, 91;
+    visit to Ireland, 91, 92;
+    on Mr. Littleton's Irish Tithe Bill, 94, 95;
+    'upsets the coach,' 95;
+    on Coercion Acts, 97, 98;
+    allusion to his Biography of Fox, 98;
+    and the leadership in the House of Commons under the first Melbourne
+      Ministry, 100, 101;
+    William IV.'s opinion of him, 101;
+    returned for South Devon on Peel's accession to power, 102;
+    as leader of the Opposition, 103;
+    and the meeting at Lichfield House, 103;
+    defeats the Government with his Irish Church motion, 104;
+    marriage, 104, 355;
+    appointment to the Home Office in the second Melbourne
+      Administration, 104;
+    defeated in Devonshire, and elected for Stroud, 104;
+    presented with a testimonial at Bristol, 105;
+    and the Dissenters' Marriage Bill, 106;
+    and the Tithe Commutation Act, 106, 107;
+    again returned for Stroud, 107;
+    allusion to the accession of the Queen, 108;
+    declines to take part in further measures of Reform, and is called
+      by Radicals 'Finality John,' 110;
+    death of his wife, 112;
+    Education Bill of 1839, 114, 115;
+    as Colonial Secretary, 116-118, 338;
+    his appointment of a Chartist magistrate, 119;
+    and the Corn Laws, 121;
+    returned for the City of London, 122;
+    second marriage, 123;
+    Wellington's opinion of him, 123;
+    his opinion of Peel's Administration, 126;
+    supports Peel on the Maynooth question, 129, 130;
+    and the repeal of the Corn Laws, 131-134, 139;
+    and the 'Edinburgh Letter,' 133;
+    fails to form a Ministry on the resignation of Peel, 134, 135;
+    opposes Peel's proposal for renewal of Coercion Act, 139, 140;
+    succeeds Peel as Prime Minister, 141;
+    address in the City, 142;
+    political qualities, 143, 145;
+    contrasted with Palmerston, 144;
+    his measure for total repeal of Corn Laws, 145;
+    and sugar duties, 146;
+    proposes renewal of Irish Arms Bill, 146;
+    his Irish policy, and anxiety and efforts for the improvement of the
+      people, 151, 152, 156, 157, 158, 338, 342;
+    and the Arms Bill (1847), 154;
+    again visits Ireland, 158;
+    education measures, 159;
+    returned again for the City, 160;
+    his appointment of Dr. Hampden to the see of Hereford, 161;
+    and the Chartist demonstration of 1848, 166, 168;
+    relations with Lord Palmerston, 170;
+    on the political situation in Europe after the French Revolution of
+      1848, 171, 172;
+    and Palmerston's action in the 'Don Pacifico' affair, 176;
+    tribute to Sir Robert Peel, 177;
+    dismisses Palmerston from the Foreign Office, 180;
+    and the breach with Palmerston, 181;
+    his 'Durham Letter,' 184-191;
+    introduces the Ecclesiastical Titles Bill, 191;
+    resigns the Premiership, but returns to office on the failure of
+      Lord Stanley to form a Ministry, 193;
+    resignation on the vote on the Militia Bill, 195;
+    his Reform Bill of 1852, 196;
+    defence of Lord Clarendon, 196;
+    edits 'Memoirs and Journal of Thomas Moore,' 204;
+    accepts Foreign Secretaryship in the Aberdeen Administration, 206;
+    his vacillation in taking office under Lord Aberdeen not due to
+      personal motives, 205;
+    retires from Foreign Office, 210, 221;
+    on the projects of Russia, 218, 224, 225;
+    and the Vienna Note, 227;
+    speech at Greenock on the prospects of war, 227;
+    memorandum to the Cabinet on the eve of the Crimean War, 228;
+    Reform Bill of 1854, 236, 239, 241;
+    resignation, 241;
+    resumes his seat in the Cabinet, 242;
+    speech in the House of Commons on withdrawing his Reform measure,
+      242, 243;
+    proposes a rearrangement of the War and Colonial departments, 244,
+      248, 251;
+    presses Lord Aberdeen to take decisive action with regard to the
+      Crimean War, 248;
+    memorandum on the Crimean War, 251;
+    proposed resignation, 251, 252;
+    resignation on Roebuck's motion to inquire into the condition of the
+      Army in the Crimea, and his speech on the question, 254-257;
+    becomes Colonial Secretary in Palmerston's Government, 258;
+    plenipotentiary at second Congress of Vienna, 259-263;
+    consents at Palmerston's request to remain in the Ministry, 263;
+    explanations in the House of Commons regarding the failure of the
+      Vienna Conference, 264, 265;
+    announces his resignation (1855), 265;
+    speech in defence of his late colleagues against Roebuck's motion of
+      censure, 266;
+    his mistake in joining the Coalition Ministry, 271;
+    leisure, travel, &c., 272;
+    literary labours, 272-281, 354;
+    and the pension for Moore, 278;
+    remarks on his own career in 'Recollections and Suggestions,' 281,
+      336;
+    allusions to Joseph Lancaster, 282;
+    work in the cause of education, 282-285, 339;
+    scheme of National Education (1856), 284;
+    opposes Lord Palmerston on the 'Arrow' question, 287;
+    speech in the City and re-election, 287, 288;
+    supports Palmerston at the Indian Mutiny crisis, 288;
+    on the Conspiracy Bill, 289, 290;
+    supports Lord Derby in passing the India Bill, 290;
+    thanked by Jews for his aid in removing their disabilities, 291;
+    attacks Disraeli's Reform Bill, 292;
+    renewal of friendly intercourse with Palmerston, 293;
+    relations with Cobden and Bright, 294;
+    joins Palmerston's Administration (1859) as Foreign Secretary, 295;
+    introduces a new Reform Bill, 296;
+    raised to the Peerage, 297;
+    acquires the Ardsalla estate, and receives the Garter, 298;
+    his work at the Foreign Office, 299, 300;
+    intervention in Italian affairs, 304, 339;
+    protests against the annexation of Savoy by France, 305;
+    receives Garibaldi at Pembroke Lodge, 307;
+    his reception in Italy, 307;
+    and the 'Trent' affair, 311;
+    and the 'Alabama' case, 313-319, 341;
+    on the Polish revolt, 321;
+    and the Schleswig-Holstein difficulty, 322, 323;
+    as Foreign Secretary, 323, 324;
+    on Palmerston's vivacity, 325;
+    second Premiership on the death of Palmerston, 325;
+    tribute to Lord Palmerston, 327;
+    defeated on the questions of Reform and Redistribution of Seats,
+      331;
+    Mr. Lecky's reminiscences of him, 335-339;
+    relations with colleagues and opponents, 336, 337, 347;
+    speech on the maintenance of the independence of Belgium, 340;
+    letter on the claims of the Vatican, 341, 342;
+    letters to the 'Times' on the government of Ireland, 343;
+    and Home Rule, 338, 343, 344;
+    independent attitude towards the throne, 344;
+    relations with Lord Aberdeen, 346, 347;
+    Lord Selborne's impressions of him, 345;
+    his private secretaries' impressions of him, 347, 348;
+    life at Pembroke Lodge, 351-353;
+    stories about doctors, 350;
+    visit of Bulgarian delegates, 352;
+    friendships, 355;
+    his use of patronage, 355;
+    his children, 356;
+    home life, and his children's reminiscences, 356-361;
+    Dr. Anderson's recollections, 361;
+    a meeting with Carlyle, 362;
+    Lord Dufferin's recollections, 363;
+    religious faith, 364;
+    interview with Spurgeon, 365;
+    at Cheshunt College, 365;
+    Nonconformist deputation, 366;
+    'Golden Wedding,' 367;
+    death, 367;
+    opinion of Lord Shaftesbury, 368;
+    a remark of Sir Stafford Northcote's, 369
+
+  Russell, Hon. Rollo, 360, 367
+
+  Russell, William, Member of Parliament in the reign of Edward II., 2
+
+  Russell, Lord William (of the seventeenth century), 1;
+    Lord John Russell's Biography of him, 274
+
+  Russell, Lord William, Lord John Russell's brother, 6;
+    wounded at Talavera, 14, 34;
+    letter to Lord John, 49
+
+  Russia, and India, 31, 218;
+    projects and demands with regard to Turkey, 223, 224;
+    occupation of Moldavia and Wallachia, 224, 229;
+    rejection of the Vienna Note, 226;
+    destroys Turkish fleet at Sinope, 230;
+    evacuates the Principalities, 243;
+    operations in the Crimea, 246-252;
+    death of the Emperor Nicholas, 259;
+    fall of Sebastopol, and losses in the war, 268;
+    and the Polish revolt, 321
+
+
+  SALAMANCA, battle of, 16, 17
+
+  Sardinia, and the Crimean War, 267
+
+  Schleswig-Holstein question, the, 172, 322, 323
+
+  Scott, Sir Walter, Lord John Russell's first acquaintance with, 9;
+    and the Edinburgh Speculative Society, 13, 91, 355
+
+  Sebastopol, siege and fall of, 246, 247, 268
+
+  Secret Memorandum, the, 216, 225
+
+  Sefton, Lord, 75
+
+  Selborne, Lord, on the 'Alabama' case, 312-319;
+    impressions of Lord Russell, 345
+
+  Seymour, Sir Hamilton, 214
+
+  Seymour, Lord Webb, 12
+
+  Shaftesbury, Lord, and factory children, 89;
+    and Lord John Russell's support of Peel, 129, 130;
+    and the Factory Bill, 159;
+    special constable in 1848, 167;
+    and Cardinal Wiseman's manifesto, 187;
+    on the Coalition Government, 211, 212, 368
+
+  'Shannon' and the 'Chesapeake,' battle between the, 22
+
+  Shelley and the Peterloo massacre, 38
+
+  Sheridan, Mr., 25
+
+  Sidmouth, Lord, 21, 40, 63, 85
+
+  Simpson, General, 267
+
+  Sinope, destruction of Turkish fleet at, 230, 232, 233
+
+  Slave trade, 22, 48, 89
+
+  Smith, Rev. --, Vicar of Woodnesborough, a tutor of Lord John
+      Russell's, 6
+
+  Smith, Dr. Southwood, and the Public Health Act, 162
+
+  Smith, Sydney, friendship with Lord John Russell, 8;
+    on Reform, 27;
+    on the political situation after Canning's accession to power, 50,
+      51;
+    and 'Dame Partington,' 80;
+    hopeful of the triumph of Reform, 84;
+    and 'Lord John Reformer,' 90;
+    on Lord John's influence in the Melbourne Government, 113
+
+  Society of the Friends of the People, 25, 63
+
+  Solferino, battle of, 303
+
+  Spain, Lord John Russell's visit with Lord and Lady Holland, 9-11;
+    Lord John's sympathy, 9, 10;
+    Lord John's second visit, 14, 15;
+    Lord John's third visit and adventures, 16-20;
+    entry of Wellington into Madrid, 16;
+    the Spanish marriages, 171, 172;
+    Lord Palmerston's interference, 174
+
+  Spencer, Lord, on the alliance of England with France, 120
+
+  Spurgeon, C. H., 365
+
+  Stanhope, Colonel, 14, 15
+
+  Stanley, Lord, and Irish affairs, 92, 93;
+    Secretary for the Colonies, 93;
+    and the Irish Church, 95;
+    withdraws from Lord Grey's Cabinet, 95;
+    Secretary for the Colonies under Peel, 124, 134;
+    succeeds to the House of Lords, 141;
+    challenges Palmerston's foreign policy, 176;
+    fails to form a Ministry on the resignation of Lord John Russell,
+      193
+
+  Stanmore, Lord, 118, 119, 211, 231, 233, 347
+
+  Stansfeld, Mr., 327
+
+  Stewart, Dugald, 12
+
+  Stockmar, Baron, 101, 216
+
+  Sussex, Duke of, and the claims of Dissenters, 53
+
+  Sweden, and the Crimean War, 267
+
+  Syllogism, a merry canon's, 19
+
+
+  TAHITI incident, the, 125
+
+  Tavistock, monastic lands granted to the first Earl of Bedford, 2;
+    election of Lord John Russell as member for, 20, 62
+
+  Tavistock, Lord, elder brother of Lord John Russell, 6, 11
+
+  Tennyson, Mr., 90
+
+  Tennyson, Lord, his appointment as Poet Laureate, 355
+
+  Test and Corporation Acts; agitation for their total repeal, 53, 54;
+    speech of Fox, 54, 55;
+    their provisions, 54;
+    jubilee of repeal, 366
+
+  Tithe Acts (Ireland): Mr. Littleton's Bill, 93, 94;
+    Bill of 1835, 105, 107;
+    Bill passes through Parliament, 112
+
+  Tithe Commutation Act, 106, 107
+
+  Tooke, Horne, 26
+
+  Trafalgar Square demonstration on the Reform question, 332
+
+  Treason Felony Act, 157
+
+  Treaty of Paris (1856), 268
+
+  'Trent' affair, the, 310-312
+
+  Turkey, war with Egypt, 119;
+    and the custody of the Holy Places in Palestine, 213;
+    the 'sick man' of Europe, 214, 215;
+    oppression of Christian subjects, 217;
+    reception of Lord Stratford de Redcliffe, 222;
+    and the Vienna Note, 224-227;
+    ultimatum to Russia, 229;
+    destruction of fleet by Russia at Sinope, 230;
+    and the second Congress at Vienna, 259-262;
+    and the Treaty of Paris, 268, 269
+
+
+  UNIVERSITY of London, 106, 107;
+    proposed enfranchisement of, 296
+
+
+  VANSITTART, Mr., 21
+
+  Vaughan, Cardinal, on Romish practices in the Anglican Church, 190,
+      191
+
+  Victor Emmanuel II., accession to the throne of Sardinia, and efforts
+      to secure Italian independence, 301;
+    proclaimed King of Italy, 306
+
+  Victoria, Queen, accession, 107;
+    her regard for Lord Melbourne, 108, 109;
+    declines to dismiss her Whig Ladies-in-Waiting, 114;
+    visit to Ireland, 158;
+    instructions to Lord Palmerston, 178;
+    letter to Lord John Russell on the formation of a Coalition
+      Government, 203;
+    her view of the Coalition Ministry, 208;
+    reply to letter from the Czar on the eve of the Crimean War, 230;
+    and the death of the Prince Consort, 309;
+    letter to Lord Russell on the death of Palmerston, 326;
+    opens Parliament (1866), 328;
+    letter to Lady Russell on the death of the Earl, 368
+
+  Vienna, revolt of (1848), 171;
+    Congress, 224;
+    second Congress, 259-262
+
+  Vienna Note, 224-228
+
+  Villafranca, Treaty of, 303
+
+  Villiers, Mr. Charles, 121, 208
+
+  Vittoria, battle of, 20
+
+  Vitzthum, Count, 217, 324
+
+
+  WALPOLE, Mr. Spencer, on the Arms Bill of the Russell Administration,
+      154;
+    retires from the Home Office on the introduction of Disraeli's
+      Reform Bill, 291, 330
+
+  Ward, Mr., and the Irish Church, 90, 95
+
+  Wellington, Duke of, Lord John Russell's first impressions of, 15,
+      16, 17;
+    described by Napoleon, 30, 50;
+    becomes Prime Minister, 52;
+    and Catholic Emancipation, 58, 59;
+    his declaration against Reform, 61, 65;
+    resignation, 62;
+    predictions on the Reform question, 69;
+    failure to form a Ministry, 83;
+    lament on the triumph of Reform, 85, 114;
+    opinion of Lord John, 123;
+    and the Anti-Corn-Law agitation, 136, 137;
+    and the demonstration on Kennington Common of 1848, 166, 167;
+    and Sir Robert Peel, 176;
+    death, 200;
+    and the Emperor Nicholas, 215
+
+  Wesley, influence of the preaching of, 24
+
+  Westminster School, its condition at the beginning of the century, 3;
+    Lord John's experiences at, 3-5;
+    some of its celebrated scholars, 3, 4
+
+  Westmoreland, Lord, 50
+
+  Wetherell, Mr., and the first Reform Bill, 69
+
+  Whitfield, influence of his preaching, 24
+
+  Wilberforce, William, 89
+
+  William IV., his accession, 61, 64;
+    receives a petition in favour of the Grey Administration, 80;
+    refuses his sanction for the creation of new peers, 83;
+    lampooned, 83;
+    urges the House of Lords to withdraw opposition to the Reform Bill,
+      84;
+    dismisses the first Melbourne Ministry, 100, 101;
+    his opinion of Lord John Russell, 101
+
+  Winchilsea, Lord, 57
+
+  Wiseman, Cardinal, 182, 183, 186, 187
+
+  Wolseley, Sir Charles, 38
+
+  Wood, Sir Charles, 141, 193, 258
+
+  Working classes, their condition and claims in 1848, 163-165
+
+  Wynn, Mr. Charles, 41
+
+
+  ZURICH, Treaty of, 303
+
+_Spottiswoode & Co. Printers, New-street Square, London._
+
+
+
+
+The Queen's Prime Ministers
+
+
+A SERIES OF POLITICAL BIOGRAPHIES
+
+EDITED BY
+
+STUART J. REID.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+     * *
+      * A Limited Library Edition of _Two Hundred and Fifty copies_,
+     each numbered, printed on hand-made paper, parchment binding, gilt
+     top, with facsimile reproductions, in some cases of characteristic
+     notes of Speeches and Letters, which are not included in the
+     ordinary Edition, and some additional Portraits.
+
+  Price for the Complete Set of NINE VOLUMES,
+  FOUR GUINEAS NETT.
+  NO VOLUMES OF THIS EDITION SOLD SEPARATELY.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+_VOLUMES ALREADY PUBLISHED._
+
+
+THE EARL OF BEACONSFIELD, K.G.
+
+BY JAMES ANTHONY FROUDE, D.C.L.
+
+SEVENTH EDITION. With Photogravure Portrait. Crown 8vo. 3_s._ 6_d._
+
+    'There is something in Mr. Froude's account even of these years
+    which will be new to Lord Beaconsfield's admirers as well as to his
+    critics, and will contribute to the final estimate of his place in
+    the annals of our generation.'--TIMES (Leader).
+
+    'We believe that Mr. Froude's estimate of Lord Beaconsfield, on the
+    whole, will be the one accepted by posterity.... It is the man's
+    character which interests us; and this, we think, Mr. Froude has
+    exhibited in its true light, and in colours that will not
+    fade.'--STANDARD.
+
+
+LORD MELBOURNE
+
+BY HENRY DUNCKLEY ('VERAX').
+
+With Photogravure Portrait. 3_s._ 6_d._
+
+    'It is hard to imagine a better piece of work than this short study
+    of Lord Melbourne by Mr. Dunckley. Amongst some of the most amusing
+    of Mr. Dunckley's pages--and hardly a page of this little book is
+    dull after the preliminary matter is passed by--is his account of
+    Lord Melbourne's dealings with theology and Church preferments....
+    Of two lives of the Queen's Prime Ministers which have as yet
+    appeared, we certainly give the preference to Mr. Dunckley's over
+    Mr. Froude's. Mr. Froude had the more attractive theme, but Mr.
+    Dunckley has made more of the less interesting theme.'--SPECTATOR.
+
+
+SIR ROBERT PEEL
+
+BY JUSTIN McCARTHY, M.P.
+
+SECOND EDITION, with an additional Chapter. With Photogravure Portrait.
+Crown 8vo. 3_s._ 6_d._
+
+    'Mr. McCarthy relates clearly and well the main incidents of Peel's
+    political life, and deals fairly with the great controversies which
+    still rage about his conduct in regard to the Roman Catholic Relief
+    Bill and the Repeal of the Corn Laws.'
+
+        SATURDAY REVIEW.
+
+    'Mr. McCarthy's chapters on Catholic Emancipation are written with
+    admirable impartiality, and he does ample justice to that
+    high-minded administrator, Lord Anglesey.'--ATHENAEUM.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+NEW EDITION. TWELFTH THOUSAND.
+
+THE RT. HON. W. E. GLADSTONE, M.P.
+
+BY G. W. E. RUSSELL.
+
+With Photogravure Portrait. Crown 8vo. 3_s._ 6_d._
+
+    'Written in a manly and independent spirit, which we should expect
+    in one of his lineage ... an honest book.'--WORLD.
+
+    'One of the most complete and succinct accounts of his extraordinary
+    career that we have yet received.... A volume which we may specially
+    commend as the most attractive and authoritative history of the man
+    with whom it deals that has yet been given to the world.... Mr.
+    Russell's clear and able sketch of one whom he is justly proud to
+    call his friend.'--SPEAKER.
+
+
+THE MARQUIS OF SALISBURY, K.G.
+
+BY H. D. TRAILL, D.C.L.
+
+SECOND EDITION. With Photogravure Portrait. Crown 8vo. 3_s._ 6_d._
+
+    'It is a good thing when a book is written as a gentleman should
+    write it; a good thing when it is written as a scholar should write
+    it; a good thing when it is written as a man full of practical and
+    theoretical knowledge of his subject should write it. But it is a
+    very rare thing indeed to find, as we find here, all three merits in
+    combination. The result is not only a remarkable criticism on a man;
+    it is, in part of it at least, the best and ... the most impartial
+    sketch of recent political history that we have recently
+    seen.'--SATURDAY REVIEW.
+
+
+LORD PALMERSTON
+
+BY THE MARQUIS OF LORNE.
+
+SECOND EDITION. With Photogravure Portrait. Crown 8vo. 3_s._ 6_d._
+
+    'The Marquis of Lorne's little book must be consulted by every
+    student who wishes to get a thorough understanding of European
+    history in the early part of the century. The documents to which the
+    author has obtained access ... are both interesting and
+    authoritative.'--STANDARD.
+
+
+THE EARL OF DERBY
+
+BY GEORGE SAINTSBURY.
+
+With Photogravure Portrait. Crown 8vo. 3_s._ 6_d._
+
+    'A biography distinguished throughout by scrupulous fairness to its
+    subject.... It is perhaps superfluous to add that the book is
+    written with all Mr. Saintsbury's customary animation of style, and
+    that it abounds in those shrewd and often humorous comments on men
+    and affairs which enliven everything he writes.'
+
+        SATURDAY REVIEW.
+
+
+THE EARL OF ABERDEEN
+
+BY SIR ARTHUR GORDON, G.C.M.G. &c.
+
+With Portrait. Crown 8vo. 3_s._ 6_d._
+
+    'This little book, unlike its companion volumes, contains original
+    documents of solid historical importance, and hitherto no authentic
+    biography of Lord Aberdeen has existed, and the editor of the series
+    certainly made a large demand upon Sir Arthur Gordon's good nature
+    when he requested a biography compressed within the limits
+    prescribed. The author, however, has surmounted all difficulties
+    with admirable skill.'--ATHENAEUM.
+
+
+LORD JOHN RUSSELL
+
+BY STUART J. REID.
+
+With Portrait. Crown 8vo. 3_s._ 6_d._
+
+    The book contains a good deal of new material concerning the career
+    of the last of the great Whig statesmen. The Dowager-Countess of
+    Russell has given Mr. Reid access to her own journals, and has
+    personally taken a lively interest in the book; while other
+    relatives, intimate friends, and political associates have lent
+    their assistance.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+London: SAMPSON LOW, MARSTON & COMPANY, LIMITED,
+
+St. Dunstan's House, Fetter Lane, Fleet Street, E.C.
+
+
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE:
+
+
+  The original punctuation, language and spelling have been retained,
+  except where noted [correction in brackets]. Minor typographical
+  errors have been corrected without note.
+
+
+  Pg. 8: atmosphere of Woburn and Woodnesborourgh[Woodnesborough]
+
+  Pg. 18: and ink, and a bag of money. He woul[would] not carry anything
+
+  Pg. 74: said that the electors in the approachhing[approaching]
+
+  Pg. 86: wrote Mr. Froude in in[omitted] 1874. 'Its population
+
+  Pg. 244: riend[friend], Mr. Sidney Herbert, were regarded, perhaps
+
+  Pg. 265: a matter magnified beyond its true porportions[proportions].'
+
+  Pg. 376: and the _Coup d'Etat [d'Etat]_ of 1851, 179;
+
+  Pg. 376: and the _Coup d'Etat [d'Etat]_ in Paris (1851), 179;
+
+
+
+***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LORD JOHN RUSSELL***
+
+
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