Palmerston to appoint Sumner (of Winchester) when he was
seventy-two. It was when they feared they could not get Longley (who
was sixty-eight)."

_ 62 Life and Letters of Dean Church_, p. 307.

M38 Church Appointments

_ 63 Life and Letters of Dean Church_, p. 307.

64 See vol. i. p. 47.

_ 65 Gleanings_, ii. p. 287.

M39 Reconstruction

66 Lord Derby had refused office in the previous May.

M40 Reconstruction

67 The matter itself has no importance, but a point of principle or
etiquette at one time connected with it is perhaps worth mentioning.
To a colleague earlier in the year Mr. Gladstone wrote: "I can
affirm with confidence that the notion of a title in the cabinet to
be consulted on the succession to a cabinet office is absurd. It is
a title which cabinet ministers do not possess. During thirty-eight
years since I first entered the cabinet, I have never known more
than a friendly announcement before publicity, and very partial
consultation perhaps with one or two, especially the leaders in the
second House."

M41 Holiday At Cannes

68 See Appendix.

69 The lines from Lucretius (in his speech on the Affirmation bill).
See above, p. 19.

70 In a party sense, as he told the cabinet, it might be wise enough to
grant it, as it would please the public, displease the tories, and
widen the breach between the fourth party and their front bench. Mr.
Gladstone had suffered an unpleasant experience in another case, of
the relations brought about by the refusal of a political pension
after inquiry as to the accuracy of the necessary statement as to
the applicant's need for it.

M42 Mr. Bright And The Irishmen

71 By an odd coincidence, on the day after my selection of this letter,
I read that the French prime minister, M. Combes, laid down the
doctrine that the government is never committed by a minister's
individual declarations, but only by those of the head of the
government. He alone has the power of making known the direction
given to policy, and each minister individually has authority only
for the administration of his department (September 25, 1902). Of
course this is wholly incompatible with Mr. Gladstone's ideas of
parliamentary responsibility and the cabinet system.

M43 Official Discipline
M4