extract from it will explain its tendency and the policy which Lord John had initiated.

Bribery is clearly forbidden by the law, and it is competent for every British subject to petition the House of Commons, praying them to inquire into any particular instance of that offence which may have occurred under his own observation. The House may,

if it thinks fit, refer such a petition to the Committee of Privileges, or to any other committee it may choose to appoint for the purpose.

Bribery in a candidate, however, makes void the election, and a petition complaining of bribery committed, with a view to the last election in a borough, is properly an election petition. But a term of fourteen days is the limited period within which a petition of this nature can be presented, and various onerous duties are. imposed upon the petitioner-he must enter into a recognisance to pursue his complaint, and must incur an expense of some hundreds or even some thousands in prosecuting the inquiry.

Still this mode of inquiry is now so established that, when upon two or three occasions complaints have been sent to me of bribery in a particular borough, I feared to bring them before the House of Commons lest I should be told that the petition was an election petition which could not otherwise be entertained.

From this state of things great impunity has been allowed to gross acts of corruption. 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, a handsome reward is distributed to each of the worthy and independent electors.

This is the practice against which the resolutions of the late House of Commons were directed. They pledge the House to inquiry, not on a question between two rivals contending for a seat, but on a question affecting the character and purity of Parliament. They allow complaints to be made, not only against he sitting member, but against the borough; they enlarge the time within which such complaints may be made, and, instead of

deterring petitioners by expense, they provide that a specific complaint, if fit to be inquired into, shall be inquired into for the sake of the public at the public cost.

Such is the proposition approved by the late House of Commons, and which I venture to think not unworthy of being countenanced by a Whig Reformer. There are many other abuses in our present mode of elections, to which local remedies might, I think, be successfully applied; nor is there any one more fit or more able than yourself to conduct such measures. Undoubtedly many obstacles would be raised to delay our progress, especially on the part of the presiding genius of the House of Lords.' But I am persuaded that Reformers in general have never made a sufficient estimate of the support they would receive, or set a sufficient value on the objects they might attain, by a vigorous attack on particular abuses.

Having thus relieved his mind by enlisting Lord Althorp's support in favour of the measure, Lord John turned his back on London, crossed the Channel, and paid a visit to Paris, Geneva, Genoa, Florence, and Rome. He remained at Geneva long enough to compose the translation of the fifth book of the 'Odyssey,' two extracts from which have been given in the previous chapter; and he seems to have contemplated remaining abroad till the following May.

This decision alarmed some of his friends. His brother, Lord William, wrote to him—

BRIGHTON: Nov. 5.

MY DEAR JOHN,—I have received your letters, but did not answer them sooner from not knowing how to direct to you, and have waited till I thought you would be at Rome. But I am doubtful how to calculate, for a man who goes to Genoa to see a pretty woman is as likely to remain there as to go to Rome; and, were I writing to anybody but you, I should direct to Genoa, and not to Rome. You say you cannot think why people should wish you to come home to Parliament, and will

...

1 Madame Durazzo. The Durazzos had been in England in the autumn of 1824; and Lord John, in their company, had paid a series of visits at Bowood, Longleat, Cassiobury, Middleton, Panshanger, and other places. The record of some of these visits, which were enlivened by the society of Crabbe, Rogers, Luttrell, and Moore, may still be read in Mr. Moore's Memoirs.

Your only

not attend to you when there. You are too modest, but you are particularly wanted now to look after the rotten boroughs; they are under your special guard, and, if you are in Parliament without watching them, you will be in great disgrace. excuse will be not being in Parliament. . . . 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.

In Huntingdonshire they go on toasting you, and saying you will never desert them. My father is here, the Hollands, Tierneys, Flahaults; and Brighton may vie with Rome for givers and receivers of dinners.-Affectionately yours,

G. W. R.

In the meanwhile other friends were as anxious as Lord William for Lord John to return, and were busily engaged in procuring him some new seat. It was at first intended that he should be brought in for Lord Fitzwilliam's borough of Higham Ferrers, for which Mr. Frederick Ponsonby had been elected, and from which it was thought that he would be willing to retire. But it was ultimately arranged that Lord John should be nominated for the Irish borough, Bandon Bridge, to which the Duke of Devonshire had an alternate

nomination. The letter in which his old schoolfellow the. Duke made the offer reached Lord John in Genoa.

LONDON: Nov. 15, 1826.

MY DEAR LORD,—On my arrival here I find that my alternate nomination to the borough of Bandon is still at my disposal, and I have the greatest satisfaction in offering it to you. It may be necessary to name the member before your answer can have arrived; therefore I hope you will not be dissatisfied at finding yourself elected. The recollection of our early acquaintance, and my approval of your public character, add to the pleasure that I always feel in whatever connects me with your family.—Believe me, &c., DEVONSHIRE.

The election altered Lord John's plans. He spent his Christmas in Florence; but, instead of passing the winter in Italy, he returned to London. Mr. Moore met him there towards the end of February 1827, and gave him some natural pleasure by telling him that he was about to dedicate his new book, 'The Epicurean,' to him ; 2 and, at the end of that month, Lord John, as member for Bandon, was supporting the proposal which Lord Althorp was making for the suppression of bribery.

The session, thus begun, was destined to be a very memorable one. On February 18, Lord Liverpool, worn out with twenty years of office, and with the anxieties arising from the cares of his position and the dissensions of his colleagues, was seized with the mixed attack of paralysis and apoplexy from which he never recovered. On the 10th of the following April the King reluctantly decided to entrust Mr. Canning with the task of forming a Ministry. Mr. Peel, the Duke of Wellington, Lords Westmorland, Bathurst, Melville, and Bexley thereupon retired from the Cabinet; and Mr. Canning was compelled to form an Administration out

1 He wrote 'a very smart prologue' for some private theatricals which Lord Normanby gave in Florence. Lord Normanby reminded him of this twentynine years afterwards.

2 The dedication is as follows: 'To Lord John Russell. This volume is inscribed by one who admires his character and talents, and is proud of his friendship.'

of the remaining available materials. It was natural, in such circumstances, that he should look for support to the Whigs; and, though they were by no means unanimous on the subject, they agreed to support the Ministry without office, on the understanding that room should be found for them before the close of the session.

The arrangement, of course, was soon known. The provisional character of the Ministry was denounced, and Mr. Canning, in weak health and without efficient aid, found it necessary to hasten the intended coalition. Lord Lansdowne entered the Cabinet without office; Mr. Tierney accepted the Mastership of the Mint; and some minor situations in the Ministry were conferred on other members of the Whig party But these appointments, if they slightly increased the strength. of a weak Administration, had the effect of emphasising the differences of the Whig party. Lord Grey declined to act with Lord Lansdowne, either by joining or even supporting the Ministry; Lord Althorp agreed with Lord Grey; while, in the Russell family, the Duke of Bedford opposed the Ministry which Lord Tavistock and Lord John decided on supporting. Such a state of things was not favourable to Parliamentary activity. Lord John himself declared that he was 'too happy' to see Mr. Canning in office, free from the restrictions of Tory support, 'to wish to moot against him. the necessity of Parliamentary Reform;'1 and throughout the session he showed more disposition to support the Government than to forward his own views.

At the close of the session Mr. Canning, whose health had remained feeble, went down to Chiswick; and the public was startled to hear of his death before it had realised that he was ill. His death ought, perhaps, to have abruptly terminated the existence of the Ministry. But Lord Goderich was persuaded to succeed him; Lord Lansdowne and Mr. Tierney consented to serve under Lord Goderich, and the weak Ministry was enabled to go on till it crumbled into pieces at the opening of Parliament.

1 Hansard, N.S. xvii. 544.