he House of Commons'--in reference to the very point of
the success of his government.

One thing is worth noting as we pass. The exact proceedings of the
memorable cabinets of November and the opening days of December are
still obscure. It has generally been held that Disraeli planted a rather
awkward stroke when he taunted Peel with his inconsistency in declaring
that he was not the proper minister to propose repeal, and yet in trying
to persuade his colleagues to make the attempt before giving the whigs a
chance. The following note of Mr. Gladstone's (written in 1851 after
reading Sir R. Peel's original memoir on the Corn Act of 1846) throws
some light on the question:--

When Sir R. Peel invited me to take office in December 1845 he did
not make me aware of the offer he had made to the cabinet in his
memorandum, I think of Dec. 2, to propose a new corn law with a
lowered sliding duty, which should diminish annually by a shilling
until in some eight or ten years the trade would be free. No doubt
he felt that after Lord John Russell had made his attempt to form a
government, and after, by Lord Stanley's resignation, he had lost
the advantages of unanimity, he could not be justified in a
proposal involving so considerable an element of protection. It has
become matter of history. But as matter of history it is important
to show how honestly and perseveringly he strove to hold the
balance fairly between contending claims, and how far he was from
being the mere puppet of abstract theories.

That is to say, what he proposed to his cabinet early in December was
not the total and immediate repeal to which he was led by events before
the end of the month.

II

OUT OF PARLIAMENT

The acceptance of office vacated the seat at Newark, and Mr. Gladstone
declined to offer himself again as a candidate. He had been member for
Newark for thirteen years, and had been five times elected. So ended his
connection with the first of the five constituencies that in his course
he represented. 'I part from my constituents,' he tells his father,
'with deep regret. Though I took office under circumstances which might
reasonably arouse the jealousy of my friends, an agricultural
constituency, the _great_ majority of my committee were prepared to
support me, and took action and strong measures in my favour.' '