[130] [It was on the 22nd of February that Lord John Russell moved the postponement of the Committee of Ways and Means, which implied his intention to resign, though it was not generally understood to have that meaning. An interesting and accurate account of this transaction is to be found in a letter from Lord Canning to Lord Malmesbury in the first volume of Lord Malmesbury's Journal, p. 274.]
[131] [Lord Malmesbury gives an account of the failure of Lord Stanley to form a Government in his Journals (vol. i. p. 278), which was mainly due to the timid conduct of Mr. Henley and Mr. Herries. Mr. Disraeli did not conceal his anger at the want of courage and interest shown by those persons. They may, however, have had better reasons for refusing to join a Protectionist Cabinet.]
[132] [Lord Stanley said of this speech of Graham's that it was very bitter but very telling; and it convinced him that the Tories had nothing to hope for from the leading Peelites but opposition.]
[133] [The details of this negotiation between the Whigs, Lord Aberdeen and Sir James Graham, have been published in an article on the 'Correspondence of Lord Aberdeen,' which appeared in the 'Edinburgh Review' for October 1883. The insurmountable objections of the Peelites to the Anti-Papal Bill was the deciding cause of the failure; but the transaction is interesting, because it was the forerunner of the Coalition ultimately formed between the Whigs and the Peelites in 1852.]
[134] [In the negotiations with the Peelites, Lord John Russell had offered to reduce the provisions of the 'Ecclesiastical Titles Bill' to a minimum, and to omit the preamble. It was impossible for him, after what had passed, to withdraw it altogether.]
[135] [It is a remarkable proof of the candid and dispassionate spirit of the Queen, that the three men who, at different times and for different reasons, were notoriously the objects of her distrust and aversion, subsequently obtained, as First Ministers of the Crown, her entire confidence. Sir Robert Peel was no favourite at the time of his abortive attempt to succeed Lord Melbourne in 1839. Lord Palmerston was entirely at variance with the Court whilst he held the seals of the Foreign Office. And Mr. Disraeli was supposed to be especially disliked. Yet in the higher office of Prime Minister each of these statesmen enjoyed the confidence and approval of the Sovereign, and carried on the Government with success for several years. None, certainly, ever received higher marks of favour and distinction than have been bestowed, in life and in death, on Sir Robert Peel and Lord Beaconsfield.]
[136] [The provisions of the Ecclesiastical Titles Bill were considerably curtailed, when Sir George Grey moved the next stage of the proceedings on this measure.]
[137] [George Turner, Esq., Q.C., afterwards one of the Lords Justices in Equity.]
[138] [On April 11 Mr. Disraeli moved resolutions in favour of the owners and occupiers of land, which were negatived by 263 to 250 votes.]
[139] [A motion of Mr. Hume, limiting the Income Tax to one year, was carried against the Government by 244 to 230.]