t, of special experience, confessed to "great
misgivings as to Gladstone's tact and judgment." "The heart of all Israel
is towards him," wrote his good friend Dean Church; "he is very great and
very noble. But he is hated as much as, or more than, he is loved. He is
fierce sometimes and wrathful and easily irritated; he wants knowledge of
men and speaks rashly. And I look on with some trembling to see what will
come of this his first attempt to lead the Commons and prove himself fit
to lead England."(107) It was pointed out that Roundell Palmer was the
only powerful auxiliary on whom he could rely in debate, and should the
leader himself offend the House by an indiscretion, no colleague was
competent to cover his retreat or baffle the triumph of the enemy. His
first public appearance as leader of the House of Commons and associate
premier was made at Glasgow, and his friends were relieved and exultant.
The point on which they trembled was caution, and at Glasgow he was
caution personified.

The changes in administration were not very difficult. Lowe's admission to
the cabinet was made impossible by his declaration against any lowering of
the borough franchise. The inclusion of Mr. Goschen, who had only been in
parliament three years, was the subject of remark. People who asked what
he had done to merit promotion so striking, did not know his book on
foreign exchanges, and were perhaps in no case competent to judge it.(108)
Something seems to have been said about Mr. Bright, for in a note to Lord
Russell (Dec. 11) Mr. Gladstone writes: "With reference to your remark
about Bright, he has for many years held language of a studious moderation
about reform. And there is something odious in fighting shy of a man, so
powerful in talent, of such undoubted integrity. Without feeling, however,
that he is permanently proscribed, I am under the impression that in the
present critical state of feeling on your own side with respect to the
franchise, his name would sink the government and the bill together." When
Palmerston invited Cobden to join his cabinet in 1859, Cobden spoke of
Bright, how he had avoided personalities in his recent speeches. "It is
not personalities that we complained of," Palmerston replied; "a public
man is right in attacking persons. But it is his attacks on _classes_ that
have given offence to powerful bodies, who can make their resentment
felt."(109)

Mr. Gladstone's first few weeks as leader of the House we