and in the Government, who are indignant
with him for his _finality_ speech last year, to which they
ascribe the ruin of their cause, and Duncannon at the time, or
soon after, abused him openly and loudly for it. This reached
Lord John's ears, who complained of such conduct, and the more
because he had summoned a special Cabinet for the purpose of
announcing that it was his intention to make this declaration,
therefore they were all apprised of it, whereas Duncannon had
asserted that he did it without the knowledge of his colleagues.
It turned out in the course of the explanation that Duncannon had
been laid up at the time, and was not present at this Cabinet,
but he could hardly have been ignorant of such an important
circumstance, and this shows the _animus_ there was among some of
them. The principal object of the more radically-inclined was to
let Ballot be an open question, and to this Melbourne had been
persuaded to consent, though no doubt quite contrary to his own
wishes and opinions. But Melbourne has no strong convictions or
opinions founded on political principles deeply engraven on his
mind; he is easy, _insouciant_, persuadable, averse to disputes,
and preferring to sacrifice his own convictions to the
pertinacity and violence of others, rather than manfully and
consistently defend and maintain them; still he looks up to John
Russell and defers to him more than to any of his colleagues,
both on account of his respect for his character and the station
he holds as leader of the House of Commons; and when any struggle
occurs, and he must side with one or the other party, he goes
with Lord John, and accordingly Ballot was not made an open
question.

[Page Head: LORD JOHN'S FRIENDLINESS TO PEEL.]

What Lord John says is this: That when the Reform Bill was
introduced, the extent and sweeping character of the measure were
hateful and alarming to many members of the Cabinet and
supporters of the Government; that the ground on which he urged
the adoption of the measure was the expediency of leaving nothing
for future agitation, and of giving the country a measure so
ample and satisfactory that it might and ought to be final. To
this argument many who dreaded its consequences ended by
yielding, though reluctantly, and he considers himself,
therefore, bound in honour to resist any further changes, and to
take his stand where we now are. Besides this he now (as I
gather) is seriously alarmed at the state of the c