The Prime Minister received this note one afternoon, a day or two before that appointed for the second reading, and meeting his friend within an hour in the House of Lords, confirmed the appointment.'Shall I not rather come to you?' he said.But the old Duke, who lived in St James's Square, declared that Carlton Terrace would be on his way to Downing Street, and so the matter was settled.Exactly at eleven the two Ministers met.'I don't like troubling you,' said the old man, 'when I know that you have so much to think of.'
'On the contrary, I have but little to think of,--and my thoughts must be very much engaged, indeed, when they shall be too full to admit of seeing you.'
'Of course we are all anxious about this bill.' The Prime Minister smiled.Anxious! Yes, indeed.His anxiety was of such a nature that it kept him awake all night, and never for a moment left his mind free by day.'And of course we must be prepared as to what shall be done either in the event of success or failure.'
'You might as well read that,' said the other.'It only reached me this morning, or I should have told you of it.' The letter was a communication from the Solicitor-General containing his resignation.He had now studied the County Suffrage Bill closely, and regretted to say that he could not give it conscientious support.It was a matter of sincerest sorrow to him that his relations so pleasant should be broken, but he must resign his place, unless, indeed, the clauses as to redistribution could be withdrawn.Of course he did not say this as expecting any such concession would be made to his opinion, but merely as indicating the matter on which his objection was so strong as to over-rule all other considerations.All this he explained at great length.
'The pleasantness of the relations must have all been on one side,' said the veteran.'He ought to have gone a long time since.'
'And Lord Drummond has already as good as said that unless we will abandon the same clauses, he must oppose the bill in the Lords.'
'And resign, of course.'
'He meant that, I presume.Lord Ramsden has not spoken to me.'
'The clauses will not stick in his throat.Nor ought they.If the lawyers have their own way about the law they should be contented.'
'The question is, whether in these circumstances we should postpone the second reading?' asked the Prime Minister.
'Certainly not,' said the other Duke.'As to the Solicitor-General you will have no difficulty.Sir Timothy was only placed there as a concession to his party.Drummond will no doubt continue to hold his office till we see what is done in the Lower House.If the second reading be lost there,--why, then his lordship can go with the rest of us.'
'Rattler says we shall have a majority.He and Roby are quite agreed about it.Between them they must know,' said the Prime Minister, unintentionally pleading for himself.
'They ought to know, if any men do;--but the crisis is exceptional.I suppose you think that if the second reading is lost we should resign?'
'Oh;--certainly.'
'Or, after that, if the bill is much mutilated in Committee? Idon't know that I shall personally break my own heart about the bill.The existing difference in the suffrages is rather in accordance with my prejudices.But the country desires the measure, and I suppose we cannot consent to any material alteration as these men suggest.' As he spoke he laid his hand on Sir Timothy's letter.
'Mr Monk would not hear of it,' said the Prime Minister.
'Of course not.And you and I in this measure must stick to Mr Monk.My great, indeed my only strong desire in the matter, is to act in unison with you.'
'You are always good and true, Duke.'
'For my own part, I shall not in the least regret to find in all this an opportunity for resigning.We have done our work, and if, as I believe, a majority of the House would again support either Gresham or Monk as the head of the entire Liberal party, Ithink that that arrangement would be for the welfare of the country.'
'Why should it make any difference to you? Why should you not return to the Council?'
'I should not do so;--certainly not at once, probably never.
But you,--who are in the very prime of your life--'
The Prime Minister did not smile now.He knit his brows and a dark shadow came across his face.'I don't think I could do that,' he said.'Caesar would hardly have led a legion under Pompey.'
'It has been done, greatly to the service of the country, and without the slightest loss of honour or character in him who did it.'
'We need hardly talk of that, Duke.You think then that we shall fail;--fail, I mean in the House of Commons.I do not know that failure in our House should be regarded as fatal.'
'In three cases we should fail.The loss of any material clause in Committee would be as bad as the loss of the bill.'
'Oh yes.'
'And then, in spite of Messrs Rattler and Roby,--who have been wrong before and may be wrong now,--we may lose the second reading.'
'And the third chance against us?'
'You would not probably try to carry on the bill with a very small majority.'
'Not with three or four.'
'Nor, I think, with six or seven.It would be useless.My own belief is that we shall never carry the bill into Committee.'
'I have always known you to be right, Duke.'
'I think that the general opinion has set in that direction, and general opinion is generally right.Having come to that conclusion I thought it best to tell you, in order that we might have our house in order.' The Duke of Omnium, with all his haughtiness and all his reserve, was the ******st man in the world and the least apt to pretend to be that which he was not, sighed deeply when he heard this.'For my own part,' continued the elder, 'I feel no regret that it should be so.'
'It is the first large measure that we have tried to carry.'