at the time not acquainted with the
circumstances, by any feeling of pique or brooding sullenness. No
high-spirited man under vexatious and distressing circumstances ever
behaved with more magnanimity. In this he was actuated in a great degree
by a sense of duty, but still more by that peculiar want of selfishness
which was one of the most beautiful traits of his character. The moment
he had at all recovered from the severe attack by which, to use his own
language, he had been 'struck down in the first week of the session,'
and from the effects of which it may be doubted whether he ever entirely
recovered, he laboured zealously to induce some competent person to
undertake the office which he had thought it expedient to resign,
offering in several instances to serve in the ranks, and to assist with
his utmost energies, both in and out of the House, the individual who
would undertake the responsible direction in the Commons.

These efforts, though indefatigable, were not successful, for those who
were competent to the office cared not to serve under any one except
himself. About this time, a personage of great station, and who very
much admired Lord George Bentinck, wrote to him, and recommended him
not to trouble himself about the general discipline of the party, but
to follow his own course, and lead that body of friends who under all
circumstances would adhere to him, instancing the case of Mr. Canning,
under circumstances not altogether dissimilar. Lord George replied: 'As
for my rallying a personal party round myself, as Mr. Canning did, I
have no pretension to anything of the kind; when Mr. Canning did that,
the House of Commons, and England too, acknowledged him to be the
greatest orator who had survived Pitt and Fox; he had been Secretary of
State for foreign affairs, and had taken a conspicuous part in rousing
the country to carry on the war against France.'

The nature of the subject, dealing as it necessarily does with so
many personal details, renders it impossible to make public the
correspondence in which Lord George Bentinck was engaged at this time in
his attempts to place the Protectionist party under the guidance of one
who would unite all sympathies; but were that publication possible, it
would place Lord George Bentinck in a very noble and amiable light, and
prove a gentleness and softness in his nature for which those who were
not very intimate with him did not give him credit. Not that it must be
f