, therefore, we had no apology or ground for change;
further, that we ought if necessary to dissolve upon defeat in order to
carry the measure. No one else went this length. All the three I have
named were, from their different points of view, disposed to concur in
the expedient of postponement, which none of them preferred on its
merits. Of the rest of the cabinet, Molesworth and I expressed decidedly
our preference for the more decided course of at once giving up the bill
for the year, as did the chancellor, and this for the ultimate interest
of the plan itself. Lord Lansdowne, Wood, Clarendon, Herbert were all,
with more or less decision of phrase, in the same sense. Newcastle,
Granville, and Argyll were, I believe, of the same mind. But all were
willing to accept the postponement until April 27, rather than the very
serious alternative. Molesworth and I both expressed our apprehension
that this course would in the end subject the government to far more of
censure and of suspicion than if we dealt with the difficulty at once.
Next day Lord John came to see me, and told me he had the idea that in
April it might probably be found advisable to divide the part of the
bill which enfranchises new classes from that which disfranchises places
and redistributes seats; with a view of passing the first and letting
the latter take its chance; as the popular feeling would tell for the
first while the selfish interests were provoked by the last. He thought
that withdrawal of the bill was equivalent to defeat, and that either
must lead to a summary winding up of the session. I said the division
of the bill was a new idea and a new light to me; but observed that it
would by no means help Graham, who felt himself chiefly tied to the
disfranchising part; and submitted to him that his view of a withdrawal
of the bill, given such circumstances as would alone induce the cabinet
to think of it, was more unfavourable than the case warranted--_March_
3, 1854.

CIVIL SERVICE REFORM

_Page 511_

_Extracts from a letter to Lord John Russell, Jan. 20, 1854_

... I do not hesitate to say that one of the great recommendations of
the change in my eyes would be its tendency to strengthen and multiply
the ties between the higher classes and the possession of administrative
power. As a member for Oxford, I look forward eagerly to its operation.
There, happily, we are not without some