d with expressions of mutual regard, which on
my side were perfectly sincere, as I have no doubt they were on his.
These expressions I am happy in having this opportunity to renew; as
well as with my admiration of his great powers and noble impulses to
assure you that I shall always feel a warm interest in his reputation
and honour.' Lord Stanmore states that his father 'steadily maintained
that Lord John was the proper head of the Liberal party, and never
ceased to desire that he should succeed him as Prime Minister.' Rashness
and impatience are hard sayings to one who looks steadily at the annals
of the Coalition Government. Lord Aberdeen and the majority of his
Cabinet, were, to borrow a phrase from Swift, 'huge idolators of delay.'
Their policy of masterly inactivity was disastrous, and, though Lord
John made a mistake in quitting the Ministry in face of a hostile vote
of censure, his chief mistake arose from the 'generous and high-minded
motives' which Lord Aberdeen attributes to him, and which led him to
join the Coalition Government.

[Sidenote: RELATIONS WITH POLITICAL OPPONENTS]

His personal relations with his political opponents, from the Duke of
Wellington to Lord Salisbury, were cordial. His friendship with Lord
Derby was intimate, and he visited him at Knowsley, and in his closing
years he had much pleasant intercourse with Lord Salisbury at Dieppe.
His association with Lord Beaconsfield was slight; but one of the
kindest letters which Lady Russell received on the death of her husband
was written by a statesman with whom Lord Russell had little in common.
Sir Robert Peel, in spite of the encounters of party warfare, always
maintained towards Lord John the most friendly attitude. 'The idea which
the stranger or casual acquaintance,' states his brother-in-law and
former private secretary, Mr. George Elliot, 'conceived of Lord Russell
was very unlike the real man as seen in his own home or among his
intimates. There he was lively, playful, and uniformily good-humoured,
full of anecdote, and a good teller of a story.... In conversation he
was easy and pleasant, and the reverse of disputatious. Even in the
worst of his political difficulties--and he had some pretty hard trials
in this way--he had the power of throwing off public cares for the time,
and in his house retained his cheerfulness and good-humour.... In
matters of business he was an easy master to serve, and the duties of
his private secretary were