299 of a very small number of electors whose votes had been controlled by some great land-owner. Lord John Russell's amendment was passed by three hundred and thirty votes against two hundred and ninety-one, and Parliament was at once dissolved.

The general elections were favorable to the Conservative party, without, however, bringing into its ranks a reinforcement strong enough to secure them against the attacks of their opponents. The patience of the Liberals was nearly at an end. It was becoming time for them to return into power. An alliance was concluded between the Whigs and the Radicals, and the Peelites consented to take part in it. Parliament met, and almost at once Lord Hartington, eldest son of the Duke of Devonshire, as yet a very young man, and but lately become a member of the House of Commons, proposed a vote of want of confidence. He was personally but little known, and this was his first step in the political career which was to make him one of the chiefs of the great Whig party. His resolution was accepted; the ministry, which had foreseen its fate from the moment a coalition had been formed among the various sections of the opposition, resigned, and the queen entrusted Lord Granville with the formation of a new Cabinet.

Lord Granville was an amiable and popular man; he was still young, extremely well-informed in European affairs, and at the same time strongly English in tastes and principles. The queen had hoped to conciliate the ancient rivalry between Lord John Russell and Lord Palmerston by selecting a prime minister under whose more modest flag the two great Liberal chiefs might be willing to serve. This design failed by reason of Lord John Russell's determination not to take office under Lord Granville. He would have been willing, he said, to serve under Lord Palmerston, but would form no other alliance. This unexpected concession facilitated ministerial combinations. Lord Granville promptly and willingly withdrew. Lord Palmerston

became prime minister; the Conservatives as well as the Liberals felt, without saying it, that he grasped the power with a triumphant hand, and that he would never let it escape him until that supreme moment when all human power is effaced before the uncontested authority of death.

CHAPTER XI.

THE LIBERALS WITHOUT REFORM. EASTERN DIFFI

CULTIES.

HE Liberal Ministry was strongly constituted, and stretched

TH

its far-reaching roots through all the parliamentary soil. Mr. Gladstone was Chancellor of the Exchequer, Lord John Russell had the Foreign portfolio, Sir George Lewis was Home Secretary, and Mr. Sidney Herbert, Minister of War. Colonial affairs were entrusted to the Duke of Newcastle, the Irish Secretaryship to Mr. Cardwell, and India to Sir Charles Wood. Lord Palmerston had even made advances to the Radical founders of the Manchester school, offering a place in the Cabinet to Mr. Cobden and to Mr. Milner Gibson. Mr. Cobden at the time of the formation of the ministry was at sea, on his way home from the United States; as he set foot on shore his friends hastened to inform him that he had been elected member for Rochdale, that the Tory Ministry had fallen, and in the construction of the Liberal Cabinet, a place had been reserved for him by Lord Palmerston. He was urged to accept it, but refused to commit himself until he had had a personal interview with Lord Palmerston. His decision, however, was made; he disapproved cf Lord Palmerston's foreign policy, and would not agree to serve under his flag. Nevertheless he counselled Mr. Milner Gibson not to follow his example, and that gentleman did, in fact, enter the new Cabinet.

The Whig Ministry had been formed at a moment of European agitation, of which the shock was felt in England. The long ambition and foresight of Count Cavour were bearing fruit.