ame way in which he met the proposal to allow Manchester,
Leeds, and Birmingham to send members to Parliament in 1830.' Finally,
Lord John announced his conviction that it was no longer worth while to
contend for a fixed duty, and his vigorous attack on the Ministry ended
with a call to arms. 'Let us unite to put an end to a system which has
been proved to be the blight of commerce, the bane of agriculture, the
source of bitter divisions among classes, the cause of penury, fever,
mortality, and crime among the people. The Government appear to be
waiting for some excuse to give up the present Corn Law. Let the people,
by petition, by address, by remonstrance, afford them the excuse they
seek.'

[Sidenote: THE 'POISONED CHALICE']

Sir Robert, when this manifesto appeared, had almost conquered the
reluctance of his own Cabinet to definite action; but his position grew
now untenable in consequence of the panic of Stanley and the Duke of
Buccleuch. Lord John's speech was quickly followed by a Ministerial
crisis, and Peel, beset by fightings without and fears within his
Cabinet, had no alternative but resignation. He accordingly relinquished
office on December 5, and three days later Lord John, much to his own
surprise, was summoned to Windsor and entrusted with the task of forming
a new Ministry. He was met by difficulties which, in spite of
negotiations, proved insurmountable, for Howick, who had succeeded in
the previous summer to his distinguished father's earldom, refused to
serve with Palmerston. Lord Grey raised another point which might
reasonably have been conceded, for he urged that Cobden, as the leader
of the Anti-Corn-Law League, ought to have the offer of a seat in the
Cabinet. Lord John was unable to bring about an amicable understanding,
and therefore, as the year was closing, he was compelled to inform her
Majesty of the fact, and to hand back what Disraeli theatrically
described as the 'poisoned chalice' to Sir Robert. 'It is all at an
end,' wrote Lord John to his wife. 'Power may come, some day or other,
in a less odious shape.'

FOOTNOTES:

[10] Justice has never yet been done to the founder of the Lancasterian
system of education. Joseph Lancaster was a remarkable man who aroused
the conscience of the nation, and even the dull intelligence of George
III., to the imperative need of popular education.

[11] 'The Melbourne Government: its Acts and Persons,' by the Right Hon.
W. E. Gladstone, M.P. _Th