am well satisfied with its composition. It is not
a bit more radical than the government of last year; perhaps a
little less. And we have got some good young hands, which please
me very much. Yet short as the Salisbury government has been, it
would not at all surprise me if this were to be shorter still,
such are the difficulties that bristle round the Irish question.
But the great thing is to be right; and as far as matters have yet
advanced, I see no reason to be apprehensive in this capital
respect. I have framed a plan for the land and for the finance of
what must be a very large transaction. It is necessary to see our
way a little on these at the outset, for, unless these portions of
anything we attempt are sound and well constructed, we cannot hope
to succeed. On the other hand, if we fail, as I believe the late
ministers would have failed even to pass their plan of repressive
legislation, the consequences will be deplorable in every way.
There seems to be no doubt that some, and notably Lord R.
Churchill, fully reckoned on my failing to form a government.(186)

II

The work pressed, and time was terribly short. The new ministers had
barely gone through their re-elections before the opposition began to
harry them for their policy, and went so far, before the government was
five weeks old, as to make the extreme motion for refusing supply. Even if
the opposition had been in more modest humour, no considerable delay could
be defended. Social order in Ireland was in a profoundly unsatisfactory
phase. That fact was the starting-point of the reversal of policy which
the government had come into existence to carry out. You cannot announce a
grand revolution, and then beg the world to wait. The very reason that
justified the policy commanded expedition. Anxiety and excitement were too
intense out of doors for anything but a speedy date, and it was quite
certain that if the new plan were not at once propounded, no other public
business would have much chance.

The new administration did not meet parliament until after the middle of
February, and the two Irish bills, in which their policy was contained,
were ready by the end of the first week of April. Considering the enormous
breadth and intricacy of the subjects, the pressure of parliamentary
business all the time, the exigencies of administrative work in the case
of at least one of the ministers pri