oned, and Maclean was tried
for high treason. The result was what might have been expected: the jury
brought in a verdict of "not guilty, but insane"; and the prisoner was
sent to an asylum during Her Majesty's pleasure. Their verdict, however,
produced a remarkable consequence. Victoria, who doubtless carried in
her mind some memory of Albert's disapproval of a similar verdict in
the case of Oxford, was very much annoyed. What did the jury mean, she
asked, by saying that Maclean was not guilty? It was perfectly clear
that he was guilty--she had seen him fire off the pistol herself. It was
in vain that Her Majesty's constitutional advisers reminded her of the
principle of English law which lays down that no man can be found
guilty of a crime unless he be proved to have had a criminal intention.
Victoria was quite unconvinced. "If that is the law," she said, "the law
must be altered:" and altered it was. In 1883 an Act was passed changing
the form of the verdict in cases of insanity, and the confusing anomaly
remains upon the Statute Book to this day.

But it was not only through the feelings--commiserating or indignant--of
personal sympathy that the Queen and her people were being drawn more
nearly together; they were beginning, at last, to come to a close and
permanent agreement upon the conduct of public affairs. Mr. Gladstone's
second administration (1880-85) was a succession of failures, ending in
disaster and disgrace; liberalism fell into discredit with the country,
and Victoria perceived with joy that her distrust of her Ministers was
shared by an ever-increasing number of her subjects. During the crisis
in the Sudan, the popular temper was her own. She had been among the
first to urge the necessity of an expedition to Khartoum, and, when the
news came of the catastrophic death of General Gordon, her voice led the
chorus of denunciation which raved against the Government. In her rage,
she despatched a fulminating telegram to Mr. Gladstone, not in the usual
cypher, but open; and her letter of condolence to Miss Gordon, in which
she attacked her Ministers for breach of faith, was widely published.
It was rumoured that she had sent for Lord Hartington, the Secretary
of State for War, and vehemently upbraided him. "She rated me," he was
reported to have told a friend, "as if I'd been a footman." "Why didn't
she send for the butler?" asked his friend. "Oh," was the reply, "the
butler generally manages to keep out of th