Page:History of the Radical Party in Parliament.djvu/299

 1841.] Accession of the Queen to Fall of Melbourne. 285 possessed, and made most unsparing use of, the confidence and favour of their young sovereign. The King's death put a stop to all business except the voting of the necessary supplies and formal routine measures, and on the i/th of July Parliament was dissolved. In the election contest which followed, the name of the Queen was used by the Whigs in a manner which would now be considered un- justifiable and improper, and which gave rise to remarks and insinuations from Conservative speakers and writers to which it was unfair that the sovereign should be subjected. The result was a slight increase in the Liberal majority, not greater, perhaps, than might have been accounted for by the use of Government influence, but sufficient to secure the continuance of the Ministry in office. The comfort and convenience of the Cabinet, if not their actual strength in Parliament, were increased by a change which gradually took place in the policy of the Radical party. That party had lost little, if anything, in numbers by the elections. Some of the leaders met with disaster in the course of the campaign Roebuck, Colonel Thompson, Hutt, and Ewart being defeated by Tories, and left without seats. Hume also was thrown out for Middlesex, but he found refuge in the borough of Kilkenny an arrangement having been made there which illustrates the connection which then existed between O'Connell and some of the English Radicals, and the loyalty with which the Irish electors followed the instructions of the great agitator. O'Connell was nominated with Hume and Ewart the plan being to elect O'Connell if he were defeated in Dublin ; if he succeeded there, then to return Hume, if he were beaten in Middlesex ; if both O'Connell and Hume were elected, then to take Ewart. The five polling days allowed time for working this scheme, and O'Connell getting in for Dublin and Hume losing Middlesex the latter was returned for Kilkenny. As a set-off for the defeat of Roebuck and the others, Leader won Westminster, from which Burdett retired, and for which Sir George Murray stood in the Tory interest. The Radical