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34 On Lord John Russell's resignation in February, 1851, Lord Canning was invited by Lord Derby to fill a seat in his Cabinet as Foreign Secretary, an offer which, greatly as it was to his taste, he did not feel himself sufficiently in accordance with the Conservative Leader to accept. In Lord Aberdeen's Coalition Ministry of 1852, Lord John Russell became Foreign Secretary, and Lord Canning, not without some natural feelings of disappointment, accepted the unambitious post of Postmaster-General. Here he did good work, instituting numerous reforms and fighting a courageous battle against vested interests which stood in the way of departmental efficiency. Sir Rowland Hill described the years during which he served under Lord Canning at the Post Office as 'the most satisfactory period of his whole official career, that in which the course of improvement was steadiest, most rapid, and least chequered.'

In January, 1855, Lord Aberdeen was defeated on Mr. Roebuck's hostile motion for an inquiry into the conduct of the war, and resigned. Lord Canning was invited by Lord Palmerston to remain in office as Postmaster- General, with the addition of a seat in the Cabinet, an offer which he accepted.

By this time Lord Dalhousie's long and brilliant term of office as Governor-General of India was drawing to a close, and the question of his successor was occupying the thoughts of Ministers. The choice fell on Lord Canning. The son was free to accept the splendid offer from which his father