of conscientious difference on important questions, for support. I
have had an opportunity of seeing Lord Aberdeen and Sidney Herbert;
and they fully concur in the sentiments I have just expressed.

LETTER FROM MR. BRIGHT

Mr. Gladstone had no close personal or political ties with the
Manchester men at this moment, but we may well believe that a sagacious
letter from Mr. Bright made its mark upon his meditations:--

_Mr. Bright to Mr. Gladstone._

_Reform Club, Feb. 21, '58._--Coming down Park Lane just now, I met
a leading lawyer of Lord Derby's party, who will doubtless be in
office with him if he succeeds in forming a government. He told me
that Lord Derby and his friends were expecting to be able to induce
you to join them.

Will you forgive me if I write to you on this matter? I say nothing
but in the most friendly spirit, and I have some confidence that
you will not misinterpret what I am doing. Lord Derby has only
about one-third of the House of Commons with him--and it is
impossible by any management, or by any dissolution, to convert
this minority into a majority. His minority in the House is greater
and more powerful than it is in the country--and any appeal to the
country, now or hereafter, must, I think, leave him in no better
position than that in which he now finds himself. The whole liberal
party in the country dislike him, and they dislike his former
leader in the Commons; and notoriously his own party in the
country, and in the House, have not much confidence in him. There
is no party in the country to rally round him, as Peel was
supported in 1841. A Derby government can only exist upon
forbearance, and will only last till it is convenient for us and
the whigs to overthrow it. Lord Palmerston may give it his support
for a time, but he can give it little more than his own vote and
speeches, for the liberal constituencies will not forgive their
members if they support it. If you join Lord Derby, you link your
fortunes with a constant minority, and with a party in the country
which is every day lessening in numbers and in power. If you remain
on our side of the House, you are with the majority, and no
government can be formed without you. You have many friends there,
and some who would grieve much to s