f Commons on the occasion of the death of Wellington, and his
errors in tactics and taste as leader of the House, heightened the
prevailing impression that, even if the result of the General Election
had been different, the Derby Administration was doomed to failure. All
through the autumn the quidnuncs at the clubs were busy predicting the
probable course of events, and more or less absurd rumours ran round the
town concerning the statesmen who were likely to succeed to power in the
event of Derby's resignation. The choice in reality lay between Russell,
Palmerston, and Aberdeen, for Lansdowne was out of health, and therefore
out of the question.

As in a mirror Lady Russell's journal reflects what she calls the alarm
in the Whig camp at the rumour of the intended resignation of the Derby
Cabinet if Disraeli's financial proposals were defeated, and the hurried
consultations which followed between Lord Lansdowne, Lord Aberdeen, and
Lord John, Sir James Graham, Mr. Cobden, and Mr. Bright. Two days before
the division which overthrew the Government on December 17, Lord John
was at Woburn, and his brother, the Duke of Bedford, asked him what
course he thought the Queen should adopt in case the Ministry was
beaten. He replied that her Majesty, under such circumstances, ought to
send for Lord Lansdowne and Lord Aberdeen. This was the course which the
Queen adopted, but Lord Lansdowne, old and ill, felt powerless to
respond to the summons. Meanwhile, Lord John, who certainly possessed
the strongest claims--a circumstance which was recognised at the time by
Mr. Gladstone--had determined from a sense of public duty not to press
them, for he recognised that neither Palmerston nor the Peelites, who,
for the moment, in the nice balance of parties, commanded the situation,
would serve under him. He had led the Liberal forces for a long term of
years, both in power and in opposition, and neither his devotion nor his
ability was open to question, in spite of the offence which he had
given, on the one hand to a powerful colleague, and on the other to
powerful interests.

[Sidenote: LORD ABERDEEN]

Lord Aberdeen was regarded by the followers of Peel as their leader. He
was a favourite at Court, and a statesman of established reputation of
the doctrinaire type, but he was not a man who ever excited, or probably
was capable of exciting, popular enthusiasm. On the day after Disraeli's
defeat Lord Aberdeen met Lord John by chance in th