It was at this exciting session that Mr. Disraeli rose into {369} [Illustration: 0375] {371}sudden prominence. He had been for many years in the House of Commons, and had made many speeches, but hitherto his political career had been a failure. His first speech was, perhaps, as clever as many later ones that won outbursts of applause, but he was ridiculed by the noisy members of the house to such an extent that most men with less courage would have been silenced forever. Not so Disraeli; he looked straight at the party that opposed him, and, raising his hands with theatrical effect, he exclaimed, in a tone of voice so powerful as to penetrate to every part of the house: "I have begun several times many things, and I have often succeeded at last; ay, sir, and though I sit down now the time will come when you will hear me." His prediction came true, and from the time--nine years after--when he rose to denounce Sir Robert Peel, until the day of his death, his career was one long brilliant success. That night he made for himself a name, and for the Tory party, of which he became the leader, a new career. The man whom the House of Commons had ridiculed nine years before, now proved himself a great parliamentary orator, and, as time went on, a politician perfectly capable of assuming the control of his party. Sir Robert Peel had gone over to the free-traders, and now the "Protectionists," headed by Lord George Bentinck and the opponents of the coercion bill, would combine to turn him out of office. This was accomplished after a great deal of passionate, bitter debate, and three days later the great minister announced his resignation. It was with a feeling of profound regret that the queen parted with her ministers, and the formal leave-taking was a severe trial on both sides. Her majesty wrote King Leopold: "Yesterday was a very hard day for me. I had to part with Sir Robert Peel and Lord Aberdeen, who are {372}irreparable losses to us and to the country. They were both so overcome that it quite upset me, and we have in them two devoted friends. Never, during the five years that they were with me, did they ever recommend a person or a thing that was not for my or the country's best, and never for the party's advantage only." Sir Robert Peel had done his duty to his country and his conscience, and the very measure which deprived him of power has proved a blessing, for which the British nation can never cease to be grateful. Lord John Russell succeeded Sir Robert Peel as First Lord of the Treasury; Lord Palmerston became Foreign Secretary; Lord Grey, Colonial Secretary; and Sir George Grey, Home Secretary. Mr. Macaulay became Paymaster-General, with a seat in the cabinet, and the Earl of Bess-borough went to Ireland as Lord-Lieutenant.