CHAPTER II.

New Administration-Lord Aberdeen-Sir James Graham-Lord Stanley-Lord Wharncliffe-Mr. Gladstone-First Nights in Parliament-Prorogation.

THE distribution of office was watched with great eagerness by the whole country. The first great hope was, that Sir Robert Peel would unite the offices of first lord of the treasury and chancellor of the exchequer. The most pressing evil was the state of our finances. The people were becoming fretted and alarmed at the annual deficit, for the cure of which no vigorous measures were taken; and the distress had now, for a long time, been such as to pull down the national courage, and press the workingclasses into depths of hopelessness. If any power could redeem us from this distress and debt, it was Peel; for we had no other such financier. There was some regret, therefore, when it was known that Mr. Goulburn was made chancellor of the exchequer; but still it was considered certain that Peel's mind would preside in that department, and that all its action would proceed upon

his views.

The next most interesting point was, who was to be foreign secretary, and who at the Board of Control. Next to retrieving our affairs at home, was the consideration of keeping the peace in Europe and America, and returning to a state of peace in Asia. Our accord with the United States was in peril from boundary questions which we shall have to review, and from the right-of-search question, which threatened also to embroil us with powers nearer home. Our 'good understanding' with France was far from being what it was; and the right of search, and some Spanish difficulties, made our peace with the French very precarious; while the sagacious saw that the great continental struggle, so sure to happen, might henceforth begin on any occasion of provocation, however slight. And we were now, as will presently be seen, actually at

war with China, and suffering under an accumulation of disasters in India. After twenty-six years of peace, we were apparently in imminent danger of war, at a time when everything was going wrong at home; when agriculture was moaning with hunger, and manufactures seemed dying, and commerce was well-nigh bankrupt; when Ireland was stirring in rebellion, and the workingclasses in England and Scotland were growing desperate, and debt was stealing upon us, and the nerves of the stoutest were beginning to be shaken, from the young sovereign în her palace, to the field-labourer in his damp hovel, and the gaunt weaver chafing beside his empty loom. It was no time for war; and great was the importance of appointing men in connection with foreign affairs, and with the India House, who should be trustworthy for prudence and a quiet demeanour, and averse from meddling and noise, showing their sense of their country's dignity and honour by taking them for granted, and relying upon them. Lord Ellenborough was at the Board of Control; and people thought this a very doubtful appointment. It did not mend the matter that he soon went out to India as governor-general. It was impossible to suppose him the right man for such offices at such a time. The appointment of Lord Aberdeen as foreign secretary was more fortunate. It was soon evident that the honour of England and her peace with the world were safe in his hands. It seems strange,' observed an eminent American statesman to an English traveller, 'that we republicans should be glad when your Tories come into power. One would think that our sympathies should be with your reform governments. But the truth is, we cannot get on with your Whig ministers. They do not understand business, and they do not understand official good-manners. Your Tory ministers are able, and attentive, and courteous; and when we do not agree, we are not likely to quarrel. But with the Whigs, we have to forbear, and nothing goes smoothly.' This feeling being shared by other governments, the chances of peace were much improved by the retirement of an unpopular foreign minister, and the appearance in his stead of one of such weight of character, and quiet dignity of temper, as Lord

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Aberdeen. Another thoroughly satisfactory appointment was that of Sir James Graham as home secretary. quality had been proved by the good work he had done at the Admiralty. Lord Ripon was not thought strong enough for his post at the Board of Trade. Lord Stanley was unhappily made colonial minister-an office for which superhuman powers and angelic attributes of temper are requisite; and in which his superficial cleverness, and his insolent and irritable temper, might work more mischief in five years than a century could cure. Another objectionable appointment was that of the Duke of Buckingham to be lord privy seal; but the displeasure at this was soon put an end to by the duke's retirement from office, on his discovery that he was a member of a reforming administration. Another who had no business in such a ministry, was Sir Edward Knatchbull; but he was only paymaster of the forces, and naval treasurer, and not a man of any ability; so that his power for mischief was small. Lord Lyndhurst was, of course, lord chancellor. Lord Wharncliffe, president of the council, perhaps, proved as agreeable a surprise to the nation as any one of his colleagues. Amidst some old Tory tendencies to regard office too much as a personal and family privilege, and too little as a trust, he manifested, throughout his term of occupancy, such an earnest desire for the promotion of popular education, such liberality of views, such sagacity and diligence in business, as made him one of the most valued members of the government.

Out of the cabinet, the most notable man was, perhaps, Mr. W. E. Gladstone, who was vice-president of the Board of Trade, and master of the Mint. The character of his mind was not very clearly understood; and the prevalent doubt was whether he understood it himself; but enough was known of his seriousness, his thoughtfulness, and his conscientiousness, to cause him to be regarded with emphatic respect and hope, at a time when earnest men were to be prized above all others. Some other young men came into minor offices, from whom much was expected by the few who already knew them as Lord Lincoln, heir of the Duke of Newcastle, and the Hon. Sidney Herbert; Lord Lincoln going to the woods and

forests department, and Mr. Sidney Herbert being secretary to the Admiralty. Lord Lowther was postmaster-general; Lord G. Somerset, chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster; and Sir George Murray, master-general of the ordnance.

The day after the mournful dining of the court, when the queen and her household were about to part-to undergo a separation far more complete than would have been necessary if they had not been at once near relations of the late ministers and her majesty's domestic companions -the queen had to go through much painful business. On that Friday morning, September 3, crowds thronged the approaches of Claremont, where the court was staying. It was not like an ordinary change of ministry. The exhaustion of the Whigs was so complete, that men knew that a former period of national history was closing, and another coming in; and the crowd was on the watch, that gray autumnal morning, not only for the old ministers and the new, but for every incident which might be construed as an omen. The old ministers drove up first, in plain clothes-were admitted to the royal presence, and delivered up the seals of office. Meantime, the new ministers arrived in court-dresses; and the first sunburst' occurred as Sir R. Peel drove in at the gates. He was warmly cheered, as was the Duke of Wellington; and both looked very well pleased, the people said. When the ex-ministers departed, Sir R. Peel had audience of the queen, to kiss hands on his appointment; and after him, the Duke of Wellington, and three or four more. Then the queen and Prince Albert repaired to the corridor, and held a privy-council, the queen declaring Lord Wharncliffe its president. The swearing-in of new members was got over quickly-the whole business, with luncheon, occupying only half-an-hour. By half-past two, the anxious young sovereign was left to make domestic acquaintance with her new household, and to miss the familiar friends under whose guidance she had been accustomed to do her share of state business. She was probably little aware how soon she could repose entire confidence in her firstminister, and feel a new kind of ease about the conduct of public affairs.

The next amusement for observers was seeing the

eminent men of the country change places, on the reassembling of parliament on the 16th of September. The new ministers had lost no seats in the process of their re-election; and they therefore assembled their whole number. Some of the Liberals went over, and occupied the front benches of opposition; some seemed at a loss where to place themselves, after having sat in the same seats for ten years, with only a short interval. One or two members, too Radical to belong to any party, would not move, but sat composedly among the Tories. The next interest for those who saw how serious was our condition, was in hearing the minister's statement as to how government meant to proceed. The chancellor of the exchequer must ask a vote of £2,500,000; and he would then state how he proposed temporarily to meet the existing deficiency. At the beginning of the next session, ministers would declare by what large measures they proposed to rectify the finances of the country, and equalise the revenue and the expenditure; an object of the very first importance in their eyes. Lord J. Russell made captious and taunting speeches, finding fault with this delay, and calling for an exposition of the government policy in regard to the corn-trade, within a month; and this provoked a retort from the minister, in the form of a question why the late government had deferred for five years of power a question which they would not now allow a new ministry five months to consider and mature; and thus it was immediately evident that there was to be parliamentary strife between the late and present leaders in the Commons. It was harrowing to the feelings of men of all parties to hear the statements made of the intense suffering of the operative classes from hunger, and the frequent declarations of their representatives that many of them could not live to learn what measures government would propose for their relief; and to the minister it must have been wearing to be appealed to, night after night, to declare what he proposed to do for the relief of the starving, and reproached in advance as purposing to keep up the price of food, and to sacrifice the lives of the poor to the purses of the aristocracy. These things seem foolish now-hasty, pettish, and unreasonable; but we must