al ministers, each minding his own affairs, available as casual
members of this or the other sub-committee, and without an eye for the
general drift and tendency of their proceedings. Of course ministers
differed in importance. One was pleasant and popular, but not forcible.
Another overflowed with knowledge and was really an able man, but somehow
he carried no guns, and nobody cared what he said. One had aptitude
without weight--perhaps the true definition of our grossly overworked
epithet of clever. Another had weight and character, without much
aptitude. The cabinet as a whole was one of extraordinary power, not
merely because its chief had both aptitude and momentum enough for a
dozen, but because it was actively homogeneous in reforming spirit and
purpose. This solidarity is the great element in such combinations, and
the mainspring of all vigorous cabinet work.

Of Mr. Gladstone as head of his first cabinet, we have a glimpse from Mr.
Stansfeld:--

Mr. Gladstone's conduct in the cabinet was very curious. When I
first joined in 1871, I naturally thought that his position was so
commanding, that he would be able to say, "This is my policy;
accept it or not as you like." But he did not. He was always
profuse in his expressions of respect for the cabinet. There was a
wonderful combination in Mr. Gladstone of imperiousness and of
deference. In the cabinet he would assume that he was nothing. I
thought he should have said, "This is my policy. What do you think
of it?" and then have fought it out until they had come to an
agreement. He always tried to lead them on by unconscious steps to
his own conclusions.(269)

To this we may add some words of Lord Granville used in 1883, but
doubtless just as true of 1868-74:--

I have served under several prime ministers, men for whom I had
high respect and to whom I had the greatest attachment, but I can
say that I never knew one who showed a finer temper, a greater
patience, or more consideration for his colleagues than Mr.
Gladstone in all deliberations on any important subject. In his
official position, with his knowledge, with his ability, and with
the wonderful power of work that characterises him, he of course
has an immense influence on the deliberations of the cabinet; but
notwithstanding his tenacity of purpose and his earnestness, it is
quite extraordinary how he attends to the a