the
division of the 7th, he firmly resolved to resign. On doing so, he
received from the whole conservative party, of which he was the
creator, a most cordial address of thanks and confidence. Though his
short administration had consolidated the whig forces for the moment,
and given them a new lease of power, it showed him to be the foremost
statesman in the country, and paved the way for his triumphant return to
office. As Guizot said, he had proved himself "the most liberal of
conservatives, the most conservative of liberals, and the most capable
man of all in both parties".
[Pageheading: _MELBOURNE'S SECOND MINISTRY._]
The king now discovered the fatal mistake which he had made in
"dismissing" his whig cabinet, as he boasted, instead of waiting for it
to break down under the stress of internal dissensions. His first idea
was to fall back on Grey, who had already betrayed his growing mistrust
of radicalism, but Grey declined to enter the lists again. There was no
resource but to recall Melbourne, whom the king personally liked, and to
put up with the elevation of Russell to a position which all admitted
him to have fairly earned. He became home secretary, as well as leader
of the house of commons, and the new whig cabinet differed little from
the old. Palmerston, Lansdowne, Auckland, Thompson, and Holland returned
to their former offices. Grant was made secretary for war and the
colonies, Duncannon became lord privy seal, Spring Rice chancellor of
the exchequer, Hobhouse president of the board of control, and Viscount
Howick, son of Earl Grey, was appointed secretary at war. Outside the
cabinet, Viscount Morpeth, son of the Earl of Carlisle, became Irish
secretary. The most significant difference between the two cabinets lay
in the omission of Brougham, which was effected by the expedient of
placing the great seal in commission. This negative act was, in reality,
the boldest and most perilous in Melbourne's political life. A
correspondence between Brougham and Melbourne in February must have made
clear to the ex-chancellor that he would be excluded from office, and he
reluctantly acquiesced in Melbourne's decision, hoping that it would be
merely temporary, and that he would soon resume his place on the
woolsack as the dominant member of the cabinet, but his exclusion was
destined to be final, and the close of a career to which English history
in the nineteenth century presents no parallel.[131]
[Pageheading: _B
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