iculty was overcome for the moment,
but recurred in a more serious form when parliament reassembled on May
7. Lyndhurst at once proposed in committee to postpone the consideration
of schedule A; in other words, to shelve the most vital provisions of
the bill until the rest should have been dissected in a hostile spirit.
This proposal is supposed to have been concerted with Harrowby and
Wharncliffe, if not to have received the sanction of the Duke of
Wellington. It was adopted by 151 votes to 116, and the cabinet, on May
8, courageously determined to make a decisive stand. They firmly advised
the king to confer peerages on "such a number of persons as might ensure
the success of the bill". The principle thus expressed had, as has been
seen, been reluctantly approved by the king himself, but he recoiled
from the application of it when he learned that it would involve at
least fifty new creations. After a day's thought, he closed with the
only alternative, and accepted the resignation of his ministry. He then
sent for Lyndhurst, who of course at once communicated with the duke.

The king, as we have seen, had never been able to understand the real
force of the reform movement, and his leading idea was that the demand
for reform might be satisfied by a moderate reform bill, which the house
of lords would not reject or reduce to nullity. Wellington shared this
impression, and, though an implacable opponent of reform, was willing to
undertake office for the purpose of carrying, not merely a mild
substitute for the whig reform bill, but the whig reform bill itself
with little modification. Such an act might appear immoral in a
statesman whose integrity was more open to question, but the duke's
political _moral_ appears to have been of a less delicate type than that
which is commonly expected in party politicians. As a general, he
considered, first of all and above all, what manoeuvres would best
advance his plan of campaign. As a political leader, he regarded
himself not as the chief of a party, still less as the exponent of a
creed, but rather as a public servant to whom his followers owed
allegiance, whether in office or in opposition. As a public servant he
felt bound to obey the king's summons, and conduct the administration,
honestly and efficiently, but without much concern for personal
convictions. He was also anxious to preserve the house of lords from
being swamped and so rendered ridiculous by an extensive creation of