Rhine, for anything which she would be likely to get without too great an exertion. As to Russia, she will, in due time, become a Power almost as great as the old Roman empire. She can become mistress of all Asia, except British India, whenever she chooses to take it; and when enlightened arrangements have made her revenue proportioned to her territory, and railways have abridged distances, her command of men will become enormous, her pecuniary means gigantic, and her power of transporting armies over great distances most formidable. Germany ought to be strong in order to resist Russian aggression, and a strong Prussia is essential to German strength.

This letter has not inaptly been called Lord Palmerston's legacy to the nation.

The failure of the ministerial policy as a whole had been undeniable. It abounded in miscalculations and misapprehensions. Herr von Bismarck had been undervalued, the possibility of foreign co-operation had been too confidently anticipated, and the interests at stake had been misunderstood. Lord Palmerston did not discover that it would, on the whole, have been to the advantage of Denmark to be quit of a population which had long been discontented and difficult to govern, until after the failure of the Conference. The Opposition naturally seized the opportunity to challenge the proceedings of the Government. As at the time of the Don Pacifico affair, they were successful in the House of Lords, but suffered defeat in the House of Commons, through the skill and resource of Lord Palmerston. The victory was won by sheer generalship. Mr. Disraeli's attack was extremely telling, and ministers found it advisable to escape his condemnatory resolution by accepting a colourless amendment moved by Mr. Kinglake. The manoeuvre was transparent, but is was entirely successful. In support of the amendment the old Prime Minister made a remarkable speech, winding up the debate in the early morning of the 9th of

July. As usual, he spoke without the aid of a single note, and with the evident aim to be clear and convincing rather than brilliant and antithetical. It is not altogether correct to say that he dropped the questions immediately connected with the vote of censure almost immediately, that would have been an affront to the intelligence of the House, which so accomplished a master of Parliaments would be the last man to commit. As a matter of fact, more than half his speech dealt with the Danish question, and he made out a case which, if not altogether convincing, was distinctly reasonable. And then he proceeded to the main point of his speech. Why had not the Opposition proposed a direct vote of want of confidence? In that case he would have been able to show that during the five years during which his Government had been honoured with the confidence of the House and had carried on the Government, the country had continued in an unexampled state of prosperity. In a telling summary he proceeded to take the Radicals captive by showing that on general, and especially on financial grounds, he and his colleagues had deserved well of their country. The Opposition cried "Question," but, as Mr. Ashley points out, the arguments had a good deal of bearing on the main question-the division. It is pathetic to notice that Lord Palmerston in conclusion made use once more of the argument which he had introduced with such telling effect in the Don Pacifico speech:

I quite admit that hon. gentlemen opposite are perfectly entitled to make a great struggle for power. It is an honourable struggle, and I make it no matter of reproach. They are a great party, comprising a great number of men of ability and influence in the country, and they are perfectly entitled when they think the prize is within their

reach, to make an attack on those who hold it. But, on the other hand, I say that we have not done anything to deserve that the prize shall be taken from us.

The Government escaped defeat by a majority of eighteen, and Lord Palmerston was secure for the brief remainder of his life. After the following session, which was for the most part uneventful, Parliament, having peacefully lived out its time, was dissolved on July 6th, 1865. At the General Election which followed, Lord Palmerston, whose popularity with the nation had become almost an article of faith, was once more returned for Tiverton, and secured a further lease of power for the Liberal party, though with a considerable increase of the Radical wing. But the veteran statesman was not destined to lead the party in another Parliament. He had nearly completed his eighty-first year, and had been a member of every administration, except those of Sir Robert Peel and Lord Derby, since 1807. Already his iron frame had begun to show signs of giving way. He had been very ill at the time of the death of the Prince Consort, and his illness was certainly increased by his overpowering anxiety and grief. But he spent the whole of his eightieth birthday on horseback; and earlier in the year he rode from Cambridge House to Harrow, trotting the distance, nearly twelve miles, within the hour. During the Session of 1865, however, he showed signs of feebleness, keeping to his post with great difficulty, and, after the General Election, he retired to Brocket, in Hertfordshire, a place which Lady Palmerston had inherited from Lord Melbourne. There the gout became very serious, and he made it worse by going out for a ride before he had fairly recovered from an attack. Finally, a chill brought on inflammation; and, though

on October the 17th he rallied wonderfully, in the night his case became hopeless, and shortly before eleven in the morning of the 18th he died. An interesting

account of his last moments is to be found in the life of Lord Shaftesbury, and the description of the great philanthropist praying over the great statesman is one that, once read, is not easily forgotten.

Lord Palmerston was buried in Westminster Abbey, and four years later Lady Palmerston was laid by his side. His funeral took place on October 27th, amidst a manifestation of popular sympathy, which showed how strong were the ties which bound the nation to its aged counsellor. As the coffin sank into the grave, a dark storm broke over the Abbey, until, as the service drew to its close, the sun appeared once more. His tomb is in the North Transept, that quarter which pious custom has reserved for England's statesmen, near the last resting-places of the great men who before him upheld the honour of England in days of doubt and despairthe noble Chatham, and his nobler son, and Canning, and the much-misunderstood Castlereagh. Near it stands his fine statue by Jackson, confronted by that of Canning; like a pair of sentinels, ever at their post, and ever on the watch.

INDEX.