hout any reasonable probability of his
giving such an accession of vigour and capacity to the Government
as would justify this operation, and accordingly as more than
ordinary success was requisite for a man promoted under such
circumstances, the deeper were the mortification and
disappointment at his failure. The Irish Committee, which put him
on the defence of his administration there, distracted his
attention and disturbed his mind, and he turned out to be unequal
to his situation. His defence of himself upon Ireland was very
weak, and his whole parliamentary conduct of colonial affairs
lamentably inefficient. Then Mr. Spring Rice kept falling into
continual discredit by his financial incompetence, so that day
after day, from one cause or another, the Ministry sank in
estimation, and got more weak and ridiculous. Of this they were
not at all unconscious, and it was settled that something was to
be done, though the difficulty both as to the manner and the
matter was exceedingly great. Rice himself was eager to escape,
and tried hard to be Speaker; but though the Cabinet had resolved
he should be the Government candidate, it was found that no
adequate support could be depended upon for him, and he was
obliged, and they were obliged, to let Lefevre stand instead; at
which Rice himself was so sulky that he showed his spite by
contriving to arrive too late from Tunbridge for the division.
They scrambled on till the end of the Session, when the changes
which had long been discussed and battled were to take place, and
then, naturally, came into play all the vanity, selfishness, and
rival pretensions, which a sense of common danger could not
silence. In the arrangement of all these things, Melbourne is
said to have severely suffered, so repugnant is it to his nature
and habits to be the arbiter and adjuster of rival claims and
pretensions.

It seems to have been arranged long ago that Normanby and John
Russell should change places, ostensibly that the Colonial
Minister might be in the House of Commons, and really because
Normanby broke down, so that it was necessary to harness Lord
John to the Colonial machine. Then they determined to send
Poulett Thomson to Canada, without any consideration of the
effect such an appointment would produce, either here or there,
and his vacancy opened a fresh embarrassment about the Board of
Trade. Labouchere having quitted the Vice-Presidency, and gone to
the Colonial Office to work for