On the 13th of February Parliament met, and on the 16th the town was startled to hear alarming accounts of the Prime Minister’s health. Repeated attacks of gout had broken up his constitution, and on the 24th of February he resigned, Mr. Disraeli being chosen by the Queen as his successor. Here again the Queen showed her good sense. A foolish intrigue had been directed against Mr. Disraeli by some members of his Party, who having trusted him with carrying out a revolution, refused to trust him with the work of Government. Neither Lord Stanley nor the Duke of Richmond--whose names it is understood were mentioned as his rivals--had Mr. Disraeli’s ability, experience, fame, and dexterity in managing men. They had in truth no qualification whatever, save their rank, which could put them in competition with Mr. Disraeli, and the Queen had naturally grave doubts whether, on the eve of an appeal to the new Democracy, it would be seemly to go to it with an open declaration that, when Capacity and Rank competed for the Premiership of England, Rank must carry the day. Mr. Disraeli’s elevation had been, however, foreseen by many shrewd observers. During the vacation Bishop Wilberforce met a brilliant company of statesmen and men of letters at the late Lord Stanhope’s place at Chevening. The events of the Session were frequently discussed, and their conversations are summed up by Wilberforce in his Diary as follows:--“No one even guesses at the political future: whether a fresh election will strengthen the Conservatives or not seems altogether doubtful. The most wonderful thing is the rise of Disraeli. It is not the mere assertion of talent, as you hear so many say. It seems to me quite beside that. He has been able to teach the House of Commons almost to ignore Gladstone; and at present lords it over him, and I am told, says that he will hold him down for twenty years.”[278]