Finance and Politics (Volume 2); An Historical Study. 1783-1885 (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos, missing text or index. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. 1888. Not illustrated. Excerpt: ... CHAPTER VI. "1853." The defeat of Lord Derby brought about a coalition between the Whigs or Liberals and the Peelites, under a Peelite Premiership. The Peelites, since 1846, and especially since the death of their chief, had, in the words of their most famous member, been somewhat of a "public nuisance." * They held the balance of voting power, and yet no man could depend on them. They disliked Lord John Russell and the Whigs much, they disliked Lord Derby and the Protectionists more, and they could never forgive Mr. Disraeli his persecution of their chief. Yet, up to 1853, there was always a chance, nay often a likelihood, that some or all of the Peelites would rejoin the Tory party.t But, from thenceforward, all real likelihood of their re-uniting with the Tories disappeared, + though they were again, after the formation of Lord Palmerston's Government, for yet another period an erratic, an unreliable body. In the period between 1846 and 1859, no Government and no Party possessed the stability of a clear and unquestioned majority. Lord John Russell depended on the Peelites to keep him in office. Lord Aberdeen depended, and in vain, on a coalition of parties. Lord Palmerston depended for his position on his personal popularity, and that did not always save him from defeat; while Lord Derby's second Government was like his first, professedly nnd hopelessly in a minority. Real stability was only attained when Lord Palmerston's second Government combined, without talk of "coalition,"--that combination which the English people love so little--all the different elements of the Liberal and Peelite parties. * Mr. Gladstone, in the English Historical Revicw for April, 1887, writes that he himself once said to Lord Derby, that "we (the Peelites) were a public nuisance" ...