million' names by upwards of three millions. Many of those which
did appear were palpably fictitious; indeed the rude wit of the London
apprentice was responsible for scores of silly signatures. Lord John's
comment on the affair was characteristic. After stating that no great
numbers followed the cab which contained the petition, and that there
was no mob at the door of the House of Commons, he adds: 'London
escaped the fate of Paris, Berlin, and Vienna. For my own part, I saw
in these proceedings a fresh proof that the people of England were
satisfied with the Government under which they had the happiness to
live, did not wish to be instructed by their neighbours in the
principles of freedom, and did not envy them either the liberty they had
enjoyed under Robespierre, or the order which had been established among
them by Napoleon the Great.'

[Sidenote: PALMERSTON'S OPPORTUNITY]

Lord John's allusion to Paris, Berlin, and Vienna suggests foreign
politics, and also the growing lack of harmony between Lord Palmerston
on the one hand and the Court and Cabinet on the other. Although he long
held the highest office under the Crown, Lord Palmerston's chief claim
to distinction was won as Foreign Minister. He began his official career
as a Tory in the Portland Administration of 1807, and two years
later--at the age of five-and-twenty--was appointed Secretary at War in
the Perceval Government. He held this post for the long term of eighteen
years, and when Canning succeeded to power still retained it, with a
seat in the Cabinet. Palmerston was a liberal Tory of the school of
Canning, and, when Lord Grey became Premier in 1830, was a man of
sufficient mark to be entrusted with the seals of the Foreign Office,
though, until his retirement in 1834, Grey exercised a controlling voice
in the foreign policy of the nation. It was not until Grey was succeeded
by Melbourne that Palmerston began to display both his strength and his
weakness in independent action.

He saw his opportunity and took it. He knew his own mind and disliked
interference, and this made him more and more inclined to be heedless of
the aid, and almost of the approval, of his colleagues. Under a
provokingly pleasant manner lurked, increasingly, the temper of an
autocrat. Melbourne sat lightly to most things, and not least to
questions of foreign policy. He was easily bored, and believed in
_laissez-faire_ to an extent which has never been matched by any other