Page:History of the Radical Party in Parliament.djvu/400

 386 History of the Radical Party in Parliament. [1850- had rarely ever been witnessed in the English Parliament. The Houses had only been in session a little over a fortnight, and already three important divisions had taken place, parties had displayed themselves in new combinations, and a Govern- ment had retired. The various causes which led to the resignation did not prepare the way for a strong Ministry to succeed. The Peelites seemed to hold the fate of Government in their hands, but they were so peculiarly placed that they could not definitely ally themselves with either party, although, as was explained by Lord John Russell and Lord Stanley, they were applied to by both.* They could not agree with the Tory party on account of its continued adherence to pro- tection, and there were other political and personal grounds which made such a coalition impossible. The personal reasons may be understood from the violent attack which, when he was, a few months later, Chancellor of the Exchequer, Disraeli levelled at Graham and his friends. The cause which kept Whigs and Peelites apart was a more isolated and less per- manent one the course which the former had taken with respect to the papal aggression. Russell had already begun to find out the mistake he had made in this business, and he offered to modify his bill in almost any way to suit the views of the Peelites. No modification, however, would meet the case, and complete withdrawal was impossible. So all negotiations went off, and there was nothing left but for the old Ministiy to return to office with a knowledge, however, that the way had been opened for an ultimate union with the party which held the balance of power in its hands. The position and the immediate duty of the Radicals were alike affected by these transactions. They were Liberals and free-traders, and were of necessity anxious to prevent the accession to power of that Tory section of the Conservative party who were avowedly reactionary with respect to com- mercial policy, and opposed to any advance in the direction of constitutional liberty ; who regarded the agitation for reform Lord Stanley, in the Commons by Lord John Russell.
 * The full statements were made on the 28th of February, in the Lords by