letter--Peel's dilemma--Lord John's comment on the situation 113

CHAPTER VII

FACTION AND FAMINE

1846-1847

Peel and Free Trade--Disraeli and Lord George Bentinck
lead the attack--Russell to the rescue--Fall of Peel--Lord
John summoned to power--Lord John's position in the
Commons and in the country--The Condition of Ireland
question--Famine and its deadly work--The Russell Government
and measures of relief--Crime and coercion--The Whigs
and Education--Factory Bill--The case of Dr. Hampden 136

CHAPTER VIII

IN ROUGH WATERS

1848-1852

The People's Charter--Feargus O'Connor and the crowd--Lord
Palmerston strikes from his own bat--Lord John's view of the
political situation--Death of Peel--Palmerston and the
Court--'No Popery'--The Durham Letter--The invasion scare--Lord
John's remark about Palmerston--Fall of the Russell
Administration 163

CHAPTER IX

COALITION BUT NOT UNION

1852-1853

The Aberdeen Ministry--Warring elements--Mr. Gladstone's
position--Lord John at the Foreign Office and Leader of the
House--Lady Russell's criticisms of Lord Macaulay's
statement--A small cloud in the East--Lord Shaftesbury has
his doubts 199

CHAPTER X

DOWNING STREET AND CONSTANTINOPLE

1853

Causes of the Crimean War--Nicholas seizes his opportunity--The
Secret Memorandum--Napoleon and the susceptibilities of the
Vatican--Lord Stratford de Redcliffe and the Porte--Prince
Menschikoff shows his hand--Lord Aberdeen hopes against
hope--Lord Palmerston's opinion of the crisis--The Vienna
Note--Lord John grows restive--Sinope arouses England--The
deadlock in the Cabinet 213

CHAPTER XI

WAR HINDERS REFORM

1854-1855

A Scheme of Reform--Palmerston's attitude--Lord John sore
let and hindered--Lord Stratford's diplomatic triumph--The
Duke of Newcastle and the War Office--The dash for
Sebastopol--Procrastination and its deadly work--The
Alma--Inkerman--The Duke's blunder--Famine and frost in the
trenches 236

CHAPTER XII

THE VIENNA DIFFICULTY

1855

Blunders at home and abroad--Roebuck's motion--'General
Fevrier' turns traitor--France and the Crimea--Lord John at
Vienna--The pride of the nation i