questions about settlements. But his doubts were removed in forty-eight hours.

WOBURN ABBEY: March 22, 1835.

MY DEAR JOHN,—I have nothing to add to my last letter, except to give my entire approbation of your marriage. The sooner it can take place the better, as I wish to get to Endsleigh before Easter week.—Ever your affectionate father. B.

And again :

WOBURN ABBEY: Tuesday [? March 31.]

MY DEAR JOHN,-You are perfectly welcome to bring your bride to the old abbey. I hope the time I suggested to you will suit. The Duchess says you are quite wrong in saying the Ministry are shaken to the foundation. They never had a foundation to shake. -Your affectionate father.

B.

The Duke had his way. Lord John's marriage was first announced on March 20. Ten days later the great debate on the Irish Church commenced; nine days later still, Sir R. Peel resigned; three days afterwards Lord John was married at St. George's, Hanover Square, and at two o'clock, after breakfast at Kent House, he and his bride drove down to Woburn.

In the meanwhile active negotiations were in progress for the formation of a new Government. After an ineffectual attempt to persuade Lord Grey to form an Administration either alone or in concert with others, the King on April 11, the day of Lord John's marriage, sent for Lord Melbourne. Lord Melbourne at once called the leading members of his former Government together, and, with their aid, drew up the following memorandum, which was sent to Lord Grey :

LANSDOWNE HOUSE: April 11, 1835.

Having well considered the state of parties and the circumstances of the country, we are decidedly of opinion that no Administration which will command any public confidence, or give any promise of stability, can be formed without uniting every element of strength which the present state of parties and opinions admits of combining; and most of all we think it desirable that you should be induced to give your active support and assistance in office. We submit to you this as

VOL. I.

Q

our deliberate judgment, and earnestly entreat you to give it your most serious consideration. It would naturally be our wish that you should place yourself at the head of the Treasury; but, if you should for any reason be desirous of declining that situation, we trust that you will not refuse to fill the post of Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, which will secure to the public the benefit of your abilities and experience, and to your colleagues the protection and encouragement of your countenance and authority. Lord John Russell has not been informed of our intention to make this communication, but we feel no doubt whatever of his entire concurrence in it. We have not thought it expedient to incur any delay by inviting the agreement of others, but we are confident that it would be cordially and universally given.

(Signed) MELBOURNE, LANSDOWNE, VASSALL HOLLAND, PALMERSTON, J. S. RICE.

'1

A copy of this paper was forwarded by Lord Melbourne to the King, who desired 'the Viscount to make known to Lord Grey his Majesty's anxious wish to see the Earl at the head of the Government.' But neither the wishes of the King nor the desire of his old colleagues prevailed with Lord Grey, and on the 12th Lord Melbourne found himself compelled to proceed with his task without his former chief's assistance.

Lord Melbourne at once sent the following letter to Lord John:

SOUTH STREET: April 12, 1835.

MY DEAR JOHN,-Lord Grey entirely declines taking any part, and the King considers me as employed in making arrangements. I am sorry for it, but you must see the necessity of your immediately coming to London. Here is much that must be decided without further delay. The questions of Brougham and Palmerston are of the utmost importance, full as much as any questions of principle can be. Pray do not delay.-Yours faithfully, MELBOURNE.2

1 The King's letter to Lord Melbourne is published by Mr. Torrens in Lord Melbourne's Life, ii. 103. The memorandum addressed to Lord Grey has not, I believe, been previously published.

2 Lord Palmerston, it must be recollected, was at this time out of Parliament. He was the most Conservative of Lord Melbourne's old colleagues, and it was apparently intended to exclude him from office, Lord John himself taking the Foreign Secretary's seals (Greville, iii. 253). Lord Brougham naturally resented

And So, within forty-eight hours of its commencement, Lord John's honeymoon was abruptly terminated, and he was suddenly involved in all the difficulties of Cabinet-making. The task proved easier than was anticipated. Lord Brougham, much to his annoyance, was left out; Lord Palmerston became Foreign Secretary; and Lord John took the Home Office. His brother, Lord William, wrote to him from Stuttgart

You are more useful to Ireland where you are, otherwise I should have been glad to have seen you at the Foreign Office. On the Continent the Conservatives look upon you as a most dangerous and detestable democrat. But they would have preferred you to Palmerston, who gives them all the stomach-ache.

There was, however, another question of far more serious importance than the exclusion of Lord Brougham or the inclusion of Lord Palmerston in the Administration. No one could doubt that the victory of the Whigs had only been secured by the assistance of Mr. O'Connell, and that the defection of the Irish would convert, at any moment, their majority into a minority. In his communications with Mr. O'Connell Lord John had made no promises and no compact. But he was too loyal in the hour of his victory to overlook the claims which Mr. O'Connell had established by his conduct. Mr. Ball, in a curious paper in Macmillan's Magazine, has shown that office was actually offered to Mr. O'Connell, who anounced the offer to a friend in Mr. Ball's presence, and a few hours afterwards begged his confidant to regard the communication as private, as circumstances had his own exclusion, and was inclined to blame Lord John and his other former colleagues for not standing up for him. But Lord John had, in fact, two months before suggested that he should be Secretary of State in any future Whig Government. Lord Melbourne, however, writing on Feb. 7, 1835, replied: 'The more I think of it, the more I am convinced that whatever may happen with respect to Brougham, it can never be safe to place him, as you suggest, in an important executive office. nothing. He could talk, God knows, Secretary of State you would find things done without your privity which you could neither amend nor recall, nor blame him for doing.' Cf. Recollections and Suggestions, 135 sq.

Recollect, as Chancellor he could do but he could do no act. If he were

occurred which had made it impossible for him to accept office.1 The offer, which was made at Lord John's suggestion, was ultimately abandoned in deference to the objections of the King. But so strongly did Lord John feel in the matter that he sent a message to Mr. O'Connell to say that—

I was quite willing to renounce office for myself if he thought his exclusion was an injustice which he would be disposed to resent. O'Connell in the handsomest manner declined to put forward any pretensions on his own part, and expressed his wish that I should take a leading part in the Administration. I communicated this result to Lord Grey, Lord Melbourne, and Lord Holland, who were assembled at Lord Grey's house to consider of the formation of a new Ministry. Lord Grey said to me, 'I did not know you were so far engaged to O'Connell.' 'I replied, 'I have no engagement with him whatever, but I thought it due to him, considering the part he has acted, to do what I have done.' 2

On April 18 the new Cabinet was practically complete, and writs were moved for the seats vacated by the Ministers on acceptance of office. On Monday the 20th there was a Cabinet Council; and on the 24th Lord John and his bride were arriving in Devonshire for the election.

Mr. Buller, of

The occasion was sufficiently anxious. Stoke Raleigh, his chief supporter in the county, wrote, on April 19, that he had very little doubt of success; and, if distant sympathy could help a popular candidate, addresses of grateful thanks to Lord John flowed in from York and other places. The citizens of Bedford did not confine their sympathy to words, but sent £100 to Lord John's London committee as a small proof of the deep interest which they took in the election. But neither Mr. Buller's confidence nor distant sympathy could have deceived Lord John. He knew how defeat had been avoided three months before by dividing the representation with the Tories, and he faced the contest 1 Macmillan's Magazine for 1873, p. 222. Mr. Ball relates the anecdote of 1837; but I think it plain the incident must have occurred in 1835.

2 From a memorandum dictated by Lord Russell to Lady Russell.

with much hesitation. His fears were fully justified. The Tory candidate, Mr. Parker, won by 627 votes.1

His father wrote at once

BELGRAVE SQUARE: Wednesday.

MY DEAR JOHN,-You are defeated but not disgraced. Like Francis I., you have lost everything but honour. They must prepare fresh triumphs for you in some other quarter, and that without delay. . . -Your affectionate father,

A seat was easily procured.

B.

At the previous election, Colonel Fox, the son of Lord and Lady Holland, had been returned for Stroud. He wrote to Lord John, with whom he had been on terms of closest intimacy from boyhood—

ADDISON ROAD: May 6.

MY DEAR JOHN,-I suppose some arrangement has been made. in case of what has happened so unfortunately. . . . But, as I am not certain of this, I lose no time in letting you know that Stroud is at your service, and I feel sure that you would be elected unanimously and without expense. I shall write this day to my right-hand man, to say what I have done, but he will not, of course, reveal it till I hear from you.-Ever yours sincerely,

C. R. Fox.

The offer was accepted. Colonel Fox retired from Parliament, and Lord John took his seat in the House of Commons as member for Stroud.

Few men had probably ever passed through so much as had happened to Lord John during the forty days which had followed his marriage. Yet, busy as he had been, he had found time to think of an old friend. On the Sunday which preceded the Devonshire election, he wrote the following letter:

MAMHEAD: May 3.

MY DEAR MOORE,—I have been too busy, since I last saw you, to be able to write on any but public concerns. Having, however, a little time to spare to-day, I wish to consult you on your own private affairs. I am now in a better position than I formerly was for serving my friends. Still there are very few

1 The final numbers were: Mr. Parker, 3,755; Lord John, 3,128 votes.