The _Times_ Reveals a Secret of State--Mr. Sidney Herbert and Mrs. Norton and the _Times_--A Court Scandal--Peel’s Resignation--Lord John Russell’s Failure to Form a Ministry--Peel Resumes Office--The Ministry and the Queen--The Duke of Wellington and Peel--Disintegration of the Tory Party--Croker’s Correspondence with Wellington--Peel’s Instructions to the _Quarterly Review_--A Betrayed Editor--Peel and the Princess Lieven--Guizot’s Defence of Peel--The Queen’s Conduct in the Great Crisis--How she Strengthened the Position of the Crown--Her Popular Sympathies--Why Peel Changed his Policy--The Potato Rot--Impending Famine--Distress in England--The Campaign of the Free Traders--Scenes at their Meetings--The Protectionist Agitation and the Agricultural Labourers--Sufferings of the Poor--The Duke of Norfolk’s Curry Powder--Meeting at Wootton Bassett--The Queen and the Sufferers 205 CHAPTER XIII. THE FREE TRADE PARLIAMENT. Opening of Parliament in 1846--The Queen’s Speech--The Debate on the Address--Sir Robert Peel’s Statement--Mr. Disraeli’s Philippics--Bishop Wilberforce on Peel’s Reception by the House of Commons--Peel’s Mistake--Lord George Bentinck’s Attack on Prince Albert--The Queen’s Explanations--The Court and the Peelites--The Corn Bill in the House of Lords--Lord Stanley’s Political Dinner-Party--The Duke of Wellington and the Peers--Triumph in the Lords and Defeat in the Commons--Peel’s Coercion Bill for Ireland--A Factious Opposition--Fall of the Government--Their Policy in India--War in the Punjab--Victories over the Sikhs--The Oregon Controversy and its Settlement--Lord Aberdeen’s Adroit Diplomacy--Resignation of the Ministry--The Queen’s Farewell to Peel--Her Suggestion of a Coalition--Wellington and Cobden Advise Peel to Dissolve--Reasons for his Refusal--The Queen and the Duke of Wellington--The Duke’s Letter to Lord John Russell--Lyndhurst and Reconstruction--Disintegration of the Tory Party--The Peelites in Opposition--A Hint from Aristophanes--Tory Persecution of Peel 220 CHAPTER XIV. THE FIRST RUSSELL ADMINISTRATION.