W. W. Lloyd.]
A MODERN LINER COMING UP THE THAMES.
The Royal Mail Steamer “Caledonia,” belonging to the P. & O. Company, is given as a contrast to the “William Fawcett.” Tonnage, 7,758, horse-power, 11,000.
EARLY TRAVELLING POSTAL VAN, LONDON AND BIRMINGHAM RAILWAY.
The Queen sent first for the Duke of Wellington, but he, having probably little relish for leading a Government without a majority in the House of Commons, excused himself on the grounds of his age and deafness, and advised Her Majesty to lay the task on Sir Robert Peel. That statesman replied, that having been party to a vote of the House which brought about the situation, nothing should make him recoil from the obvious difficulty of it, and he formed a Cabinet without delay. |Sir Robert Peel sent for.| Then arose a peculiar and unforeseen difficulty, known as “The Bedchamber Question.” |The “Bedchamber Question.”| Peel found no difficulty in filling up the important posts in the Government, until it was explained to him that the Court Offices were vacated with the Administrative ones, and that they also must be supplied. He took up a Red Book, as he afterwards explained in Parliament, learnt from it for the first time what were the different appointments, and submitted to the Queen a list of names to replace all except those below the rank of Lady of the Bedchamber. But Her Majesty had other views, and the reader will more readily understand her reluctance to part with those personal attendants, of whom she had grown fond, by remembering the singular isolation of her youth, and the very few acquaintances she possessed at the beginning of her reign.
A difficulty of such slender proportions seems one that might have been got round, but it was not to be. The Queen was inflexible, and Peel, on principle, resigned his office. |Melbourne recalled to Office.| Lord Melbourne and his colleagues were recalled; explanations followed in both Houses, and the incident disappeared in a cloud of angry gossip. Peel was relieved from a position the reverse of enviable, and Melbourne had to stand the brunt of a tirade from the relentless Brougham and resume the reins which he had allowed to slip from a somewhat reluctant hand.
TRAVELLING POSTAL VAN ON THE LONDON AND NORTH-WESTERN RAILWAY.