Memoirs of the Life and Correspondence of Henry Reeve, C.B., D.C.L.: In Two Volumes. Volume II.Reeve, Henry
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Memoirs of the Life and Correspondence of Henry Reeve, C.B., D.C.L.: In Two Volumes. Volume II.
Reeve, Henry
Journalists -- Great Britain -- 19th century -- Biography; Reeve, Henry, 1813-1895; Reeve, Henry, 1813-1895 -- Correspondence
In the next two pages lie comments with severity on the selfishness and
shortsightedness of the Peelites in reference to this matter. Now, the
reflection thus cast on the foresight and disinterestedness of the Peelite
leaders is in no wise warranted by the facts. What really occurred at the
formation of the Cabinet of December 1852 was, in truth, the exact reverse
of what is stated in Mr. Greville's pages. It was not the Peelites, but
Lord John Russell and the Whigs, who, after the list of the Cabinet and of
the chief officers of the State had been agreed on between Lord Aberdeen
and Lord John Russell, and had been submitted to and approved by the Queen,
objected to the composition of the Cabinet as 'too Peelite,' and strove to
change the arrangements made originally with Lord John Russell's entire
acquiescence. I will not, however, occupy your space with remarks of my
own; I will at once produce incontestable proof of what I have asserted. I
have now before me a manuscript journal kept by Sir James Graham, and from
it I quote the following extracts. In reading them it should be borne in
mind that the proposed distribution of offices agreed on between Lord
Aberdeen and Lord John Russell had been formally approved by the Queen on
December 23rd.
_December 24th_.--'Lord John Russell most unexpectedly raised fresh
difficulties this morning, on the ground that the Whigs are not represented
in the new Cabinet sufficiently. He wished that Sir F. Baring should be
placed at the Board of Trade to the exclusion of Cardwell; that Lord
Clarendon should have the Duchy, with a seat in the Cabinet; and that Lord
Granville should be President of the Council. He thus proposed at one
_coup_ an infusion of three additional Whigs, and talked of Lord Carlisle
as the fittest person for the Lieutenancy of Ireland. It became necessary
to make a stand and to bring the Whigs to their ultimatum. Lord Aberdeen
consented to Lord Granville as President, and proposed that Lord Lansdowne
should sit in the Cabinet, without an office. This proposition, which
reduced the Whig addition, from three to two, saved the Board of Trade for
Cardwell, but excluded both him and Canning from the Cabinet. Lord John
did not regard it as satisfactory, and fought the point so long and so
pertinaciously, that the new writs could not be moved to-day, and the
House was adjourned till Monday. Towards evening, at the instance of Lord
Lansdowne, Lord John Russell yielded an unwilling assent to Lord Aberdeen's
last proposals...'
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