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 in the House of Commons, but it was no easy task to bring into line the majority behind him, consisting as it did of ‘old’ whigs, radicals, and Irish members. At a meeting held at Lord Lichfield's house in February 1835 an agreement, called the ‘Lichfield House compact,’ was arrived at between O'Connell and the whigs without Russell's knowledge (, i. 219–23); and in the same month Russell gained the first victory over the government by carrying the election of James Abercromby [q. v.] to the speakership over Manners-Sutton, the ministerial candidate. Peel's government thenceforward suffered frequent defeats, and, in the contest with Peel, Russell developed qualities of which he had before given no evidence. ‘He possesses,’ wrote Charles Gore, ‘all the temper and tact of Lord Althorp, with ten thousand times his eloquence and power.’ On 30 March he proposed a motion that the house should resolve itself into a committee to consider the revenues of the Irish church; on 3 April it was carried by a majority of thirty-three, and on the 8th Peel resigned.

Melbourne now took office, with Russell as home secretary and leader of the House of Commons. On offering himself for re-election for South Devon he was defeated by 627 votes, but a seat was at once found for him at Stroud. The position of the government was difficult; the king abhorred all his ministers, but hated Lord John worst of all, and was delighted at his defeat in South Devon (, iii. 265). A majority in the House of Lords led by Lord Lyndhurst was no less hostile; in the commons Sir Robert Peel headed a powerful opposition; and the support of the radicals and O'Connell, whom Russell desired to see in office, was not to be depended on. The first measure of the government was the Municipal Corporations Bill, the conduct of which devolved almost entirely on Russell. It was carried without material alteration by large majorities in the commons, but underwent radical changes in the House of Lords. In the conflict which ensued between the two houses, the lords, on the advice of Peel and Wellington, yielded the more important matters in dispute, and the bill became law on 7 Sept. Its effect was to place municipal government once more on a popular basis in all the large towns, London excepted (, iii. 278–86). Other reforms of which Russell was the principal author in the session of 1836 were the commutation of tithes into a rent charge upon land, the establishment of a civil registration of births, marriages, and deaths, and the legalisation of the marriage of dissenters in their own chapels. In the same session Russell introduced three measures dealing with the church: one equalising the bishops' incomes, combining some old sees and constituting some new ones; another applying the surplus income of capitular establishments to the general purposes of the church; and a third discouraging pluralities. The first of these measures passed in 1836; the two others became law in 1838 and 1839. In 1837 Lord John diminished the number of offences to which capital punishment was applicable, and he introduced a bill for the reform of the poor law, and an Irish municipal bill; but the progress of this legislation was stopped by the death of William IV and the consequent dissolution of parliament.

The general election resulted in further conservative gains. Russell's supporters numbered 340, the opposition numbered 313, and five were doubtful. Russell tried to persuade Melbourne to admit some of the more advanced members of the party into the cabinet, and to make the ballot an open question, instead of requiring all ministers to vote against it. Melbourne refused and Russell acquiesced in his decision. In his speech on the address (November 1837) he declared that it was impossible for him to take part in further measures of electoral reform. This declaration earned for him the hostility of the radicals and the nickname of ‘Finality Jack.’ Later on he denied having used the word ‘finality’ in the sense attributed to him. The outbreak of the Canadian rebellion compelled Russell to propose the suspension of the constitution of Lower Canada in 1838; and he subsequently carried a bill of indemnity to cover the acts of Lord Durham's government [see ]. In spite of this interruption to domestic legislation, Russell introduced a bill establishing reformatories for juvenile offenders, an Irish poor-law bill, and tithes bill without the appropriation clause, on which he had previously insisted; these bills became law during 1838.

Meanwhile Glenelg's administration of the colonial office [see ] was giving serious dissatisfaction, and on 2 Feb. 1839 Russell threatened to resign unless some change were made. Normanby became colonial secretary, but in April the government had a majority of only five on the question of suspending the constitution of Jamaica, and the cabinet resigned. Peel was summoned, but declined to form an administration on hearing that the queen wished to retain the services of her whig ladies-in-waiting. The Melbourne ministry