lor of the duchy of Lancaster
until the dissolution of the ministry in 1841. Deeply convinced that the
maintenance of a cordial understanding with France was the most
essential condition of peace and of a liberal policy in Europe, he
reluctantly concurred in the measures proposed by Lord Palmerston for
the expulsion of the pasha of Egypt from Syria; he strenuously
advocated, with Lord Holland, a more conciliatory policy towards France;
and he was only restrained from sending in his resignation by the
dislike he felt to break up a cabinet he had so recently joined.

The interval of Sir Robert Peel's great administration (1841-1846) was
to the leaders of the Whig party a period of repose; but Lord Clarendon
took the warmest interest in the triumph of the principles of free trade
and in the repeal of the corn-laws, of which his brother, Charles Pelham
Villiers (q.v.), had been one of the earliest champions. For this
reason, upon the formation of Lord John Russell's first administration,
Lord Clarendon accepted the office of president of the Board of Trade.
Twice in his career the governor-generalship of India was offered him,
and once the governor-generalship of Canada;--these he refused from
reluctance to withdraw from the politics of Europe. But in 1847 a sense
of duty compelled him to take a far more laborious and uncongenial
appointment. The desire of the cabinet was to abolish the
lord-lieutenancy of Ireland, and Lord Clarendon was prevailed upon to
accept that office, with a view to transform it ere long into an Irish
secretaryship of state. But he had not been many months in Dublin before
he acknowledged that the difficulties then existing in Ireland could
only be met by the most vigilant and energetic authority, exercised on
the spot. The crisis was one of extraordinary peril. Agrarian crimes of
horrible atrocity had increased threefold. The Catholic clergy were
openly disaffected. This was the second year of the Irish famine, and
extraordinary measures were required to regulate the bounty of the
government and the nation. In 1848 the revolution in France let loose
fresh elements of discord, which culminated in an abortive insurrection,
and for a lengthened period Ireland was a prey to more than her wonted
symptoms of disaffection and disorder. Lord Clarendon remained viceroy
of Ireland till 1852, and left behind him permanent marks of
improvement. His services were expressly acknowledged in the queen's
speech to b