o me from day to
day." "Ever since the failure of the Irish University bill," he said, "the
government has been in a condition in which, to say the least, it has had
no strength to spare, and has stood in need of all the strength it could
derive from internal harmony and vigorous administration." The post office
scandal exposed to the broad light of day that neither harmony nor vigour
existed or could be counted on. It was evident that neither the postmaster
nor the chancellor of the exchequer could remain where they were. In
submitting new arrangements to the Queen, Mr. Gladstone said that he would
gladly have spared her the irksome duty of considering them, had it been
"in his power either on the one side to leave unnoticed the scandals that
have occurred, or on the other to have tendered a general resignation, or
to have advised a dissolution of parliament." The hot weather and the
lateness of the session made the House of Commons disinclined for serious
conflict; still at the end of July various proceedings upon the scandals
took place, which. Mr. Gladstone described to the Queen as of "a truly
mortifying character." Mr. Ayrton advanced doctrines of ministerial
responsibility that could not for a moment be maintained, and Mr.
Gladstone felt himself bound on the instant to disavow them.(292)

Sir Robert Phillimore gives a glimpse of him in these evil days:--

_July 24._--Gladstone dined here hastily; very unwell, and much
worn. He talked about little else than Bishop Wilberforce's
funeral and the ecclesiastical appeals in the Judicature bill.
29th.--Saw Gladstone, better but pale. Said the government deserved
a vote of censure on Monsell and Lowe's account. Monsell ought to
resign; but Lowe, he said, ought for past services to be defended.
30th..--Dined at Gladstone's. Radical M.P.'s ... agreed that
government was tottering, and that Gladstone did everything.
Gladstone walks with a stick. _Aug. 7._--An interview with
Gladstone. He was communicative. A great reform of his government
has become necessary. The treasury to be swept out. He looked much
better.

Nothing at any time was so painful, almost intolerably painful, to Mr.
Gladstone as personal questions, and cabinet reconstruction is made up of
personal questions of the most trying and invidious kind. "I have had a
fearful week," he wrote to the Duke of Argyll (Aug. 8), "but have come
through. A few behave odd