ormy petrel' of foreign politics, but
there never was a time when he ceased to labour in season and out for
what he believed to be the honour of England. 'I do not believe that any
English foreign statesman, who does his duty faithfully by his own
countrymen in difficult circumstances, can escape the blame of foreign
statesmen,' were his own words, and he assuredly came in for his full
share of abuse in Europe. One of Lord John Russell's subordinates at the
Foreign Office, well known and distinguished in the political life of
to-day, declares that Lord John, like Lord Clarendon, was accustomed to
write many drafts of despatches with his own hand, but as a rule did not
go with equal minuteness into the detail of the work. It sometimes
happened that he would take sudden resolutions without adequate
consideration of the points involved; but he would always listen
patiently to objections, and when convinced that he was wrong was
perfectly willing to modify his opinion. In most cases, however, Lord
John did not make up his mind without due reflection, and under such
circumstances he showed no vacillation. No tidings from abroad, however
startling or unpleasant, seemed able to disturb his equanimity. He was
an extremely considerate chief, but, though always willing to listen to
his subordinates, kept his own counsel and seldom took them much into
his confidence.

[Sidenote: COBDEN AND PALMERSTON]

The year 1865 was rendered memorable both in England and America by the
death of statesmen of the first rank. In the spring, that great master
of reason and economic reform, Richard Cobden, died in London, after a
few days' illness, in the prime of life; and almost before the nation
realised the greatness of such a loss, tidings came across the Atlantic
that President Abraham Lincoln had been assassinated at Washington, in
the hour of triumph, by a cowardly fanatic. The summer in England was
made restless by a General Election. Though Bright denounced Lord
Palmerston, and Mr. Gladstone lost his seat at Oxford, to stand
'unmuzzled' a few days later before the electors of South-West
Lancashire, the predicted Conservative reaction was not an accomplished
fact. Lord Palmerston's ascendency in the country, though diminished,
was still great, and the magic of his name carried the election. 'It is
clear,' wrote Lord John to the plucky octogenarian Premier, when the
latter, some time before the contest, made a fighting speech in the
cou