but only leaving the question of Durham's retirement in some manner open. I have been too anxious the last few days to put my ideas well together as to the state of Canada. But yesterday I wrote the enclosed, which you will see is positive and peremptory in regard to our measure, which I think cannot be delayed. . . . If my paper is sent in the form of a separate despatch, I can yield to your opinions not to assemble Parliament. If not, pray summon the Cabinet. I do not well see how I can remain, unless convinced contrary to my present opinion. . . .-Yours truly,

J. RUSSELL.

So stood the matter on October 25. But in the following week an event occurred which gave Lord Glenelg four months more of office, and made the meeting of Parliament impossible. Lady John Russell died at Brighton.

Throughout the summer of 1838 Lady John had been suffering from weakness which her condition did not sufficiently explain. For her sake, in June, Lord John took a house at Petersham in the hope that fresh air might do her good; and with the same object, after the prorogation, he went first to Ryde and then to Brighton, where the Duke of Bedford was staying. He remained at Brighton till September 12, when he was summoned to Windsor. From Windsor he paid a flying visit to Woburn, where he had a little partridge shooting; and from Woburn he went to Ireland with the object of seeing with his own eyes the condition of that country. On his way back from Ireland he was entertained at a public dinner at Liverpool, and was drawn into making a speech which became subsequently a subject for much adverse criticism. From Liverpool he hurried back to rejoin his wife at Brighton; where, on October 21, his second daughter, Lady Victoria Villiers, was born.

Lady John's sister, Miss Lister, was in attendance on the Queen at that time. Her letter will show how the child got

its name.

Windsor Castle: Monday, October 22, 1838.

My dear Lord John,-I am so very happy to hear of Adelaide and I hope you won't mind it being a little Victoria instead of a boy. I am much too happy to think that the wee thing is born safely to care what it is. I heard of it to my great joy yesterday

afternoon, and Lord Melbourne wrote word of it to the Queen. His letter began by telling her this before mentioning anything else. The dear good Queen was so kind about it; sent the Baroness up to me directly with the news; and, when I saw the Queen, she wished me joy so heartily, and said how much pleasure it gave her to be the first to tell me of it and she added, 'It will be a little Victoria,' and hoped that you were not disappointed that it was a girl.-Ever your affectionate,

:

H. LISTER.

Unhappily the joy which Lord John and Miss Lister experienced was soon turned into anxiety and sorrow. Lady John was seized with fever; and, though no fatal termination to her illness was anticipated, she became gradually worse, till at last, on November 1, she died.

Frail and delicate as Lady John had always been, her husband had never expected the blow. When the end came, and he found himself alone, he was stunned by the immensity. of his loss. The sympathy which poured in upon him from all sides perhaps rather sharpened than mitigated the intensity of his suffering.2 At first he thought it impossible to continue in public life, or at any rate to remain the leader of the Liberal party. But any idea of his retaining office and of resigning the lead was of course impracticable. As his

father put it on November 14

'The Baroness Lehzen, who had been the Queen's governess.

? I have neither the right nor the wish to publish the touching letters which were addressed at this time to Lord John both by political friends and by political opponents. But perhaps the following has a public interest which may justify its publication:

'Lacken: November 22, 1838.

'My dear Lord John,-We are old friends, and this will perhaps plead in my favour, when I claim my forgiveness for intruding on you, to express to you how sincerely and deeply I felt for you when I learned the dreadful loss that befel you. You know that I have some sad experience in these matters, and can therefore better enter into your feelings than many of your gayer friends.

'I trust that your powerful mind will enable you to struggle against the melancholy thoughts and impressions so natural to your bereft state. The eminent position you fill, and in which you may do so much good to your country, will perhaps be the means of drawing your attention some time at least in a direction which may prove beneficial to you.

'With my sincerest good wishes, and sentiments of the highest regard and esteem, I remain ever, my dear Lord John, yours most faithfully,

'LEOPOLD R."

As long as you are in the House of Commons, and a member of the Cabinet, you and you alone will be the representative of Government in the House. Any other may be nominally the leader, but you must always be so virtually.

The consideration to which his father thus gave expression, the advice of his best friends, as well as the taunts of his least considerate opponents, all combined to influence Lord John. After three weeks' reflection he made up his mind to try to go on. But the advice which he had given for the reconstruction of the Administration and for the summoning of Parliament was necessarily not acted on. No member of the Government would have dreamed of facing the House of Commons without Lord John's assistance; and Lord John, who retired, on his wife's death, to the seclusion of Cassiobury, which Lord Essex placed at his disposal, did not return to London till the middle of January. While his sorrow was still fresh, Lord John forbore from pressing on the Prime Minister the necessity for a change at the Colonial Office. Sir John Newport's recovery made the arrangement which had been suggested for facilitating Lord Glenelg's retirement impracticable; and, though Ministers made an ineffectual attempt to secure Mr. Macaulay's assistance, no further steps towards the reconstruction of the Administration were taken till the session of 1839.

The necessity for strengthening the Colonial Office had in the meanwhile increased. A difficulty, not unlike the Canadian rebellion, was threatening in Jamaica; and at the end of January important Cabinets were held on Colonial policy. At the first of these Cabinets a proposal, which Lord Howick considered inadequate, was made by Lord Glenelg for dealing with the West Indian crisis; the Cabinet arrived at no positive decision upon it; and Lord Howick expressed in strong terms his dissatisfaction to Lord John.

Notwithstanding Lord Howick's remonstrance, the Cabinet -at an adjourned meeting on the 30th of January-adopted

Lord Spencer said very sensibly, 'The more you work, the less you will suffer.' Lord Tavistock wrote on November 21, 'I see that John Bull already says that you are likely to take the opportunity of getting out of a public position which has become embarrassing.'

the proposal which Lord Glenelg had laid before it; and Lord Howick, profoundly dissatisfied with this decision, called upon Lord John, and announced to him his intention of retiring from the Ministry, on the ground that there was so wide a difference of opinion between himself and his colleagues that he could no longer remain a member of the Cabinet.

There is high authority for saying that, in a correspondence which subsequently ensued, Lord John prevailed on Lord Howick to promise to withdraw his resignation if the conduct of Colonial affairs could be placed on a more satisfactory footing; and there is equally high authority for adding that, though Lord Howick assented to this suggestion, he subsequently regretted his concession which, he thought, had obscured the true character of the difference between the Cabinet and himself. Lord John, however, plainly saw that the disruption of the Ministry could only be averted by the retirement of Lord Glenelg; and he accordingly wrote to that effect to Lord Melbourne. The nature of the Prime Minister's reply may perhaps be inferred from Lord John's answer to it.

1

February 2, 1839.

My dear Melbourne, -Your letter obliges me to enter into explanations which I would willingly have kept within my own breast. I have represented to you for at least a year that I could not feel satisfied with the conduct of our Colonial affairs. At last I reproached myself with the pertinacity of these representations to you. . .

However, be it as you please, I shall give in my resignation next week, and state that I thought that the destinies of our Colonial empire could no longer be continued in their present hands without imminent peril; that nothing but the utmost energy and activity are equal to the present emergency; and that, not finding these to exist where they ought to be found, I am compelled to leave office.— Yours,

J. RUSSELL.

Even Lord Melbourne, inclined as he always was to do nothing, could not leave matters alone after the receipt of this

The letter referred to is not among Lord John's papers, nor, as far as I can ascertain, at Panshanger. It was probably destroyed with many others of Lord Melbourne's letters.

letter. He at once promised that Lord Glenelg should be removed; and on the following day Lord John was urging that the terms in which his removal should be conveyed to him should be made as palatable as possible. In Lord Glenelg's place the Ministry decided on appointing the Irish Viceroy. Lord Mulgrave, who, in the previous summer, had become a Marquis and Lord Normanby, had expressed a desire to change his position at Dublin for some suitable office at home. At the same time Sir George Grey, who had been Under-Secretary at the Colonial Office, was made Judge-Advocate; and Mr. Labouchere, who had been VicePresident of the Board of Trade and Master of the Mint, was placed in the second post at the Colonial Office.

These important changes were made at Lord John's suggestion, or, at any rate, with his approval. The crisis, in fact, had brought out his full powers and made him virtually Prime Minister. And perhaps this circumstance suggested another arrangement to Lord Melbourne; for, with Lord John's privity and consent, he wrote at once to Lord Tavistock, and asked him to succeed Lord Normanby in Dublin.

Lord Tavistock, however, had for many years been in weak health, and did not feel himself equal physically or morally to the position; on his refusal the place was conferred on Lord Ebrington, Lord John's old colleague in Devonshire; while Lord Morpeth, who had acted as Chief Secretary for four years, and who had done good service both in his department and in the House of Commons, was admitted to the Cabinet.

These changes, designed to secure efficiency in the Administration, were attended with a further advantage. Most people now would be disposed to think that Lord Normanby had been singularly successful as Viceroy. But in 1838 Tories and Protestants were equally agreed in denouncing his measures and in condemning his clemency. It so happened that two distinct events, at the close of 1838 and the beginning of 1839, increased their exasperation. The magistrates of Tipperary applied for increased protection; and the Viceroy, instead of complying with their prayers, took the opportunity of lecturing them, through Mr.