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the evil associations of Courts.' But others were not disposed to deal with it so lightly, and discussed it very gravely. The truth being all the time that the Premier had not the remotest idea of touching upon such an abstruse topic as original sin,' but was talking to labouring men about those ordinary features of generally good or generally bad conduct which could be evident to every one of them.

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One of the provisions of the Act forbidding intramural interment gave power to the Home Secretary to make exceptions in cases which he might deem fit. Lord Palmerston, however, appears to have deemed none fit, as may be gathered from the following answer to a request for special permission in the case of a deceased dignitary of the Church :

Broadlands: January 3, 1855.

My dear Stanley,'-I am sorry to say that I have already felt myself obliged to decline compliance with the request contained in the enclosed letter. The practice of burying dead bodies under buildings in which living people assemble in large numbers is a barbarous one, and ought to be at once and for ever put an end to, and I have made this a general rule in all But a rule is no rule if partial exceptions are made; the rule then degenerates into an invidious selection of particular persons for its application, and other particular persons for its relaxation.

cases.

And why, pray, should archbishops and bishops, and deans and canons, be buried under churches if other persons are not to be so? What special connection is there between church dignities and the privilege of being decomposed under the feet of survivors? Do you seriously mean to imply that a soul is more likely to go to heaven because the body which it inhabited lies decomposing under the pavement of a church instead of being placed in a churchyard?

If commemoration is what is wanted, a monument may be placed in a church though the body is in the burial-ground; but why cannot the monument be equally well erected in the consecrated burial-ground?

of

As to what you say about pain to feelings by shutting up burial-grounds, that is perfectly true. I am quite aware that

1 Lord Stanley of Alderley.

RESIGNATION; BUT NOT ACCEPTED.

269

the measure is necessarily attended with pain to feelings which excite respect, as well as to pressure upon pecuniary interests which are not undeserving of consideration. But no great measure of social improvement can be effected without some such temporary inconvenience to individuals, and the necessity of the case justifies the demand for such sacrifices. To have attempted to make the application of the new system gradual would have reduced it to a nullity. England is, I believe, the only country in which, in these days, people accumulate putrefying dead bodies amid the dwellings of the living; and as to burying bodies under thronged churches, you might as well put them under libraries, drawing-rooms, and dining-rooms.

During the first year of his renewed tenure of office he very nearly parted from his colleagues. In the "Annual Register' for 1853 occurs this passage:

On the 16th of December an important ministerial crisis was occasioned by the announcement that Viscount Palmerston had resigned his office. His resignation, however, was not accepted, and, after an interval of some days' suspense, the noble lord was prevailed upon to withdraw it. The opponents of the Government asserted that Lord Palmerston's secession from office was occasioned by a difference of opinion on his part as to the policy of the Cabinet upon the Eastern Question. On the other hand, it was strenuously contradicted by the adherents of the Ministry; but as all explanation upon the subject was declined in Parliament, the motive for a step so dangerous to the stability of the Earl of Aberdeen's Cabinet must remain matter for conjecture.

I quote a letter to his brother-in-law, the Right Hon. Laurence Sulivan, which states the case :—

C. G.: December 19, 1853.

The state of the matter is plain and simple. I told Aberdeen and Lansdowne last year, when I joined the Government, that I felt great doubts as to my being able to concur in the plan of Parliamentary reform which John Russell might propose this

year.

The other day I was put on the Committee of Cabinet to prepare the plan. John Russell stated his scheme. I wrote to him next day to state my objections. I re-stated them

verbally in the Committee, and stated them again to the Cabinet when John Russell explained his scheme to the Cabinet. I stated them in a private interview afterwards, on two occasions, to Aberdeen. I stated them afterwards to him in writing. In reply to that communication, I was first told by him that he would communicate with the Queen and his colleagues. He then afterwards wrote me word that he had communicated with John Russell and Graham; that they said my objections were inadmissible; and that he concurred in their decision. I had then nothing left for it but to resign. My office is too closely connected with Parliamentary changes to allow me to sit silent during the whole progress of a Reform Bill through Parliament; and I could not take up a Bill which contained material things of which I disapproved, and assist to fight it through the House of Commons, to force it on the Lords, and to stand upon it at the hustings. I am sorry to leave an office in which I took interest, and political associates whom I like; but I could not do otherwise.

The Times says there has been no difference in the Cabinet about Eastern affairs. This is an untruth; but I felt that it would have been silly to have gone out because I could not have my own way about Turkish affairs, seeing that my presence in the Cabinet did good, by modifying the views of those whose policy I thought bad.

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What were the differences' on Turkish affairs will be seen later on, when we come to the Eastern Question; but they concerned the moving of our fleet up to the scene of conflict. However, Lord Palmerston withdrew his resignation, as is shown by the next letter:

C. G.: December 25, 1853.

I remain in the Government. I was much and strongly pressed to do so for several days by many of the members of the Government, who declared that they were no parties to Aberdeen's answer to me, and that they considered all the details of the intended Reform measure as still open to discussion. Their earnest representations, and the knowledge that the Cabinet had on Thursday taken a decision on Turkish affairs in entire accordance with opinions which I had long unsuccessfully pressed upon them, decided me to withdraw my resignation, which I did yesterday.

Of course, what I say to you about the Cabinet decision on

'THE BACKBONE OF THE MINISTRY.'

271

Turkish affairs is entirely for yourself, and not to be mentioned to anybody. But it is very important, and will give the allied squadrons the command of the Black Sea.

The French ambassador rejoiced at the return of the Home Secretary to the Cabinet. As soon as he heard that the resignation was withdrawn, he wrote to him :

Au début de la campagne que nous allons faire ensemble, c'est un grand confort pour moi et une grande garantie pour l'Empereur que de vous savoir l'âme des conseils de notre allié. Votre concours d'ailleurs pèse d'un poids très-réel dans la balance, et on sait à Paris en apprécier toute la valeur.

Abroad as well as at home Lord Palmerston was regarded as the backbone of the Ministry.

CHAPTER X.

RUSSIAN POLICY-OCCUPATION OF PRINCIPALITIES; MOVEMENTS OF ENGLISH FLEET-LORD ABERDEEN-ACTIVE PREPARATIONS FOR WAR-REFORM CLUB BANQUET-PROPOSES CRIMEAN EXPEDITION -1855-MOTION OF MR. ROEBUCK-RESIGNATION OF LORD JOHN RUSSELL-DEFEAT OF THE GOVERNMENT.

IT can hardly be doubted that the prospects of peace were darkened during the eventful preliminaries of 1853 by the fact of Lord Palmerston's absence from the Foreign Office. He had won a character in Europe for being resolute, and was regarded as the embodiment of English pugnacity. That a statesman of his undoubted prestige should at this crisis in foreign affairs be relegated to the Home Office meant, in the opinion of the adversaries of England, that his policy was at a discount, and that the tide of national spirit was ebbing which had formerly floated him through so many foreign difficulties. Lord Palmerston, all the same, was not so thoroughly engrossed by questions of health, police, and local administration as to view with any indifference the dispute between Russia and Turkey. On the contrary, he watched every turn with the keenest interest, and held himself not only entitled but bound to evince his active concern in the progress of the negotiations.

Many a man, ousted from his old post, would have shown, or at any rate would have felt, some slight jealousy towards the person who had been preferred to him. Lord Palmerston, so far from being influenced by any such feeling or indulging in any carping criticism, frankly acknowledged that Lord Clarendon was the more fit Minister to be at the Foreign Office at this moment. His reasons for saying so may be gleaned from

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