Page:History of the Radical Party in Parliament.djvu/380

 366 History of the Radical Party in Parliament. [1846- which considerably affected the relation of parties to each other. On the 2ist of September Lord George Bentinck died at Welbeck. On the break-up of the Conservative party, when Peel left office after the repeal of the corn laws, the protectionists, who formed the majority of the party, were left without any acknowledged leader in the House of Commons. Lord Stanley was recognized as the chief of the party, but he had no second in command to represent him in the Lower House. Disraeli was undoubtedly the man who by ability and courage had manifested his superiority, but it went against the grain with the country squires to follow the lead of a Hebrew romancist, whose peculiar abilities they feared as much as they admired them. Under these circumstances, Lord George, who had never been disposed to take a re- sponsible part in affairs having refused office when it was offered to him by Sir Robert Peel consented to assume the position which no one else could fill. His leadership brought no disgrace to the party, for he was a man of more than ordinary ability, with the power of putting a case in clear and incisive language. He had the sagacity also to appreciate the services and the power of Disraeli, whom he treated rather as a colleague in the leadership than as a follower. On the death of Lord George there was no question as to his suc- cessor, and the squires fell into place under a commander who had to educate before he could use them. One effect of this acceptance of Disraeli's leadership was to cut off all chance of a reconciliation between the Tories and the Peelites, and the latter became more and more inclined to transfer their great administrative ability and the influence of their character in the country to the Liberal cause; and the Liberalism of the best of them was of a kind which could not rest in Whiggism, but had a tendency to broaden itself and rely increasingly upon direct sympathy with the masses of the people. Parliament met on the 1st of February, 1849, the session being opened by the Queen in person. The speech referred to the civil war in Sicily; the rebellion in the Punjaub; the con-