it in this lonely and most
harassing fortnight was so odious to him that his only feeling at
first when he gave it all up was pure delight; and he slept, which
he had not been able to do before. It certainly was a terrible
prospect to us both--one immovable in Edinburgh, the other equally
immovable in London--and it required all my patriotism to wish the
thing to go on.

If it had gone on, the name of Lord John Russell would be now more often on
men's lips. Peel's popular fame rests upon the abolition of the Corn Laws,
Lord John's upon the first Reform Bill. It was but an accident--Lord Grey's
objection to Palmerston at the Foreign Office--which prevented the name of
Lord John Russell from being linked with those of Cobden and Bright, and
imperishably associated with both the great measures of the nineteenth
century.

CHAPTER V

1846

After Lord John's failure to form a Ministry, Peel returned to power;
Gladstone replaced Stanley at the War and Colonial Office, and Stanley
became the acknowledged leader of the protectionist Opposition. Having Lord
John's assurance that the Whigs would support anti-Corn Law legislation,
Peel set about preparing his famous measure. But before it could be
discussed in Parliament, the usual explanations with regard to resignation
and resumption of office had to be gone through. In his speech on this
occasion, Lord John tried to shield Lord Grey as far as possible from the
unpopularity which he had incurred by refusing to work with Palmerston in
the same Cabinet. Feeling on both sides of the House was against Lord Grey;
for both Free Traders and Protectionists thought that Repeal ought to have
come from the Whigs, and that it was Lord Grey who had made this
impossible.

Lady John remained in Edinburgh, too ill to move. While her husband was
helping Peel at Westminster, the following letters passed between them:

_Lord John to Lady John Russell_

LONDON, _January 23,_ 1846

I did not write to you last night, as I thought I could give you a
clearer account to-day. Sir Robert Peel gave up Protection
altogether on the ground that he had changed his opinion.... I dine
with the Fox Club [to-day?] and at Lansdowne House to-morrow. I
have rather startled Lord Lansdowne this morning by some of my
views about Ireland.

_Lady John to Lord John Russell_

EDINBURGH, _January_ 25, 1846

I never doubted that you wer