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is only one of time. I feel strongly that we could give no such assurance, because, 1st, with two out of three of the advocates of postponement, the question is not one of time but of principle. They use the plea of war now, and will easily find a plea as good, if not better, next year. 2nd, No one will venture to say what may be the state of the country next year. War usually brings with it distress-distress, discontent; and the discontent may assume the shape of a demand for a much larger measure of Reform.

After considering the possibility of dividing the Bill, and of proceeding with only a portion of it, a compromise which he concluded was impracticable, he went on—

The next course is one which I should gladly adopt. It is that the Government should give up the Bill for the present, and that I should retire. I am pledged to Reform; and, what is much more, I think a period of increased taxation a fit period for giving enlarged franchises. Others who have not that opinion, and are not so deeply pledged, might honourably and usefully continue the Government. I hope this course may be adopted, and I could then, out of the Cabinet, yield at once to the general desire. The only other course remaining would be to move the second reading of the Bill on the 27th of April. It involves a probability of defeat -a choice of continuing in office, thus defeated, dissolving Parliament, or resigning upon defeat. But, while I point out this course as an alternative, I must repeat that the course which I should prefer would be that I should leave the Government, alone. All the departments are filled, I should not leave the army or the navy uncared for; and, during the first year of the war, the leadership of the House of Commons would be easy for my

successor.

Lord Aberdeen, replying on the following day, said—

You have stated very clearly the different courses which it is open for us to pursue, and the advantages-or rather, disadvantages-attending on each. But there is a preliminary consideration, which may render any choice impracticable. When you propose to the Cabinet . to read the Bill a second time . . I suspect that you will be met by some of our colleagues with a decided objection to your proceeding any further with the Bill at all. I am further of opinion that this view will be shared by a majority of the Cabinet, and that you will be prevented from

VOL. II.

moving anything as a member of the Government. You have not taken this contingency into account, which, nevertheless, I regard as certain.

Lord John replied on the 25th

I had considered the state of the Cabinet, but it did not seem to me a sufficient reason for not proposing the course which I thought the best. I had not, indeed, considered that the majority of the Cabinet would object to go on at all with the Reform Bill. If they do so, I can only object on my part to going on any longer with them.

So stood matters on March 25. During the next few days Lord Aberdeen ascertained that, while the prosecution of the Bill would lead to the inmediate retirement of Lord Palmerston and Lord Lansdowne, any other course would involve the resignation of Lord John and Sir James Graham. The secession of the two first would deprive the Government, so he thought, of the necessary efficiency; the loss of the two last would virtually destroy it. He told Lord John on April 4 that, though he had anticipated that the Queen would be affected by the aspect of affairs, he found that these feelings prevailed to a greater degree than he had expected; and he asked Lord John to consider whether under the circumstances it were practicable for him to postpone the Bill. Lord John replying on the 6th said-

The more I think of the alternative the less I like it. . . . In making the declaration of postponement. any promise I could make would be disbelieved; and I should not believe it myself—then how could I hope to persuade others? Such being the case, it remains to be considered whether I can withdraw the Bill, making no promise for the future. I will consider this point carefully.

Two days' consideration did not overcome Lord John's scruples, and on Saturday, April 8, he wrote to Lord Aberdeen and resigned his seat in the Cabinet.

On the meeting of the Cabinet, however, Lord John, urged from all sides to postpone the Bill, and to withdraw his resig

nation, yielded to the unanimous wish of his colleagues. Sir. Charles Wood wrote to him—

CHESHAM PLACE: April 10, 1854.

DEAR LORD JOHN,-We had got into conversation on other matters so much yesterday before you joined us that I had no opportunity of doing what was the main object of my ride--to thank you not only for what you did, but for the manner in which you did it, on Saturday.

I think the general feeling of your colleagues was one of gratitude for the sacrifice which you made of your own feelings and wishes for what they believe to be a great public object.

You may be assured, so far as my own opinion goes, and that which I can collect from others, that, so far from having impaired your character or means of usefulness, you will have raised both most essentially by the course which you have taken.

Your position will be strengthened comparatively and positively as we go on. . . .-Yours ever, C. WOOD.

But the sacrifice was very great. Lord John frankly told the Queen, who had expressed to him her warm approval of his conduct, that he was 'affected by deep feelings of mortification on reviewing the proceedings of the Cabinet, at which,' he added, 'Lord Aberdeen was the only person who behaved with a due regard to the honour of the Administration; and, in the comparative quiet of the Sunday, he concluded that a Cabinet in which Lord Palmerston's objections to Reform had prevailed was not one in which he ought to remain. He communicated his scruples to Lord Palmerston on Monday morning, who endeavoured to combat them, adding very generously

If you have brought your mind to the conclusion, in which I certainly do not participate, that our respective views and opinions on the question of Parliamentary Reform make it impossible for us to continue members of the same Cabinet, I must claim for myself the right to be the one whose retirement should remove the difficulty. And it stands to reason that this ought to be, because it is evident that the head of the Government and the majority of the Cabinet incline to your views rather than to mine; and it is therefore demonstrable, with reference both to time present and to time future, that I am the person who must necessarily give way.

My retirement would be the more easy, because the Government would not thereby lose, in a moment of European crisis, a leader of the House of Commons, a Minister of Foreign Affairs, or a Minister of War, three offices in regard to which it might justly be urged that any change at the present moment would be injurious to the public service. . . .-Yours sincerely,

PALMERSTON.

Another colleague made a still more striking appeal :BELGRAVE SQUARE: April 11, 1854.

...

MY DEAR LORD JOHN,-I have now served under your lead for sixteen months, and I have learned to take a strong interest in whatever concerns your political and personal position. . . . Surely this is a moment when no one ought to evade what are great difficulties and great responsibilities. Whatever course you take, the country will believe, as I shall believe, in the rectitude of your motives, but there will have been a sacrifice to be made and a service to be rendered which will not have been done, and I cannot think you will stand in the position you ought if you leave it undone.

...

I earnestly hope that you will not lightly abandon [the] position, which you occupy under engagements not only to party but to the country. It will be a great political error and a great public misfortune, and I doubt whether the country, on whom the loss will fall, will think your course justifiable.

Pardon me for writing so freely; I would venture to do it for no reason but that stated in the first sentence of this letter.

Whatever course you take, I shall recollect with pleasure the period during which I have served under you, and learned to know the many noble qualities of one to whom I was once politically opposed.-Believe me, my dear Lord John, most faithfully yours, SIDNEY HERBERT.

Moved by this appeal, and the entreaties of his Queen and colleagues, Lord John consented to go on; and on the night of April 11 he accordingly explained in the House of Commons the reasons which had induced the Government to postpone the measure. It is hardly necessary to refer to the speech which he then made. Many people still recollect how Lord John declared that he was well aware that the course which he was pursuing exposed him to the taunts and sarcasms of

his opponents, of which he should not complain, and to the suspicions of his supporters, which could hardly be entertained without weakening and destroying his utility and his position; and how, when his voice broke down from emotion, he was sustained by sympathetic cheering from every part of the House. The scene, in fact, was as remarkable as it was unusual, and from the letters of congratulation which poured in upon him it is only necessary to give a few extracts.

Lord Aberdeen wrote

I cannot help congratulating you on the success which attended your decision last night. Had it been otherwise, I should have reproached myself as having been more or less instrumental in leading you to adopt it: but I felt that there would be no danger to yourself. It is true that we have lost the Reform Bill, which is undoubtedly a great sactifice; but we have preserved your honour, character, and influence, not only undiminished but increased.

Sir Francis Baring said—

The reception you met with in the House will have shown you that they know how to estimate the conduct of a man who risks his position for what he considers his duty.

Lord Clarendon said—

You cannot doubt the unanimity of public opinion, or that the House of Commons regards your honour as precious public property.

Lord Oranmore, 'as a Reformer of fifty years,' congratulated Lord John

on the universal testimony to your noble conduct.

While Mr. Vernon, as a very humble member of the Peelite party, wrote

The cheers from every part of the House of Commons which greeted the touching sentences at the close of your speech must have convinced you of the general sentiment: . . . and, I speak from knowledge, the eyes of young men and of old were brimming with tears of sympathy and almost affectionate respect, than which perhaps no richer tribute, no more grateful homage, could be wished for or received by a statesman and a patriot.

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