unds" for removing the
Duke of Newcastle, and confined himself, after criticizing the general
conduct of the war, to announcing his intention of resigning in any case
after Christmas. When it was objected that such an announcement was
inconsistent with his remaining leader of the House of Commons till then,
he offered to resign at once. He would have gladly done so had they not
implored him to remain. On December 30th he drew up a memorandum of his
criticisms upon the conduct of the war; and on January 3rd he wrote to Lord
Aberdeen: "Nothing can be less satisfactory than the result of the recent
Cabinets. Unless you will direct measures for yourself, I see no hope for
the efficient prosecution of the war...."[44]

[44] For a full account of these incidents the reader must be referred to
Sir Spencer Walpole's "Life of Lord John Russell," chap. xxv.

When, therefore, on January 23rd, the Opposition demanded an inquiry, he
was in a very awkward position. He had either to bar the way to changes he
had been urging himself all along, or he was obliged to admit openly that
he agreed with the critics of the Government. Had he chosen the first
alternative he would have been untrue to his conviction that a change of
method in conducting the war was absolutely essential to his country's
success; yet in choosing the second he was turning his back on his
colleagues. No doubt the custom of the Constitution asks either complete
acceptance of common responsibility from individual Ministers or their
immediate resignation. Lord John had protested and protested, but he had
_not_ resigned; he was therefore responsible for what had been done
while he was in the Cabinet. He had not resigned because he thought it bad
for the country that the Government should be weakened while the war was at
its height, and he had hoped that by staying in the Cabinet he would be
able to induce the Ministry to alter its methods of conducting the war.
When he discovered that, in spite of reiterated protests, he could not
effect these all-important changes from within, and when the House of
Commons began to clamour for them from without, he decided that no
considerations of loyalty to colleagues ought to make him stand between the
country and changes so urgently desirable. It may be said that since he had
acted all along on the ground that in keeping the strength of the
Government intact lay the best chance of helping to bring the war to a
successful and speedy