o vote for one of the
motions announced for the previous question." To the Duke of Argyll Mr.
Gladstone wrote on the 4th:--

Our friends of the late cabinet have fallen into a sad series of
errors, some of which I fear will be greatly resented in the
country. To meet on Wednesday; to use the private pressure which
is being used, as I am told, against the resolutions; and above
all to have announced the result of the meeting in the papers of
yesterday; these form a combination, in my opinion, deplorable and
almost incredible. I shall do all in my power to avert
consequences, but my difficulties are greatly increased.

It looked as if a mortal split within the party were inevitable.

_From the Diary. May 5._--The post brought me near 140 letters
to-day which took some hours to examine, but they are most
remarkable. Saw Lord Granville with Lord Wolverton. They opened
the means of bridging over the chasm inadvertently made; and I
readily went into the scheme. It was carried through by Granville
at a meeting of his friends after the Academy dinner, and he came
to me at Wolverton's with Hartington to make known the result and
consider some details of execution. What they ask of me is really,
from my point of view, little more than nominal. They have in
truth been awakened as from a slumber by the extraordinary
demonstrations in the country. 3--4-1/2 attended the Academy
exhibition. 6-1/2-10-1/4 at the dinner; spoke for literature! My
reception surprised me, it was so good.

(M183) What was asked was that he should consent to an amended form of his
second resolution, declaring more simply and categorically that the Turk,
by his misgovernment, had lost his claims. As to the other resolutions,
according to a common usage, it was at his choice to accept a division on
the first or first two, and not divide upon the rest. His speech, of
course, would cover the ground of all the resolutions. This reduction was,
as he truly said, "little more than nominal." A friendly question was to
be put when the time came, and in reply he would state how things stood.

The critical day arrived, and not often has parliamentary excitement been
so high. It was a battle of high national and even European policy, for
England was now at the front; it was a battle between two sections of a
party; it was the ordeal of a man admitted to be the greatest in the