ctually
voted in favour of the measure, it would have been carried by one vote.

[118] Sir George Nicholls, _History of the English Poor Law_, vol. ii.,
see especially pp. 242, 243.

[119] Peel to Goulburn (May 25, 1834), Parker, _Sir Robert Peel_, ii.,
244.

[120] Hatherton, _Memoir_; Creevey, _Memoirs_, ii., 285-88.

[121] See Campbell's _Lives of the Chancellors_, viii., 446-57.

[122] Compare Walpole, _History of England_, iii., 478.

[123] _Lord Melbourne's Papers_, p. 220.

[124] _Ibid._, pp. 222, 223.

[125] Stockmar, _Memoirs_ (English translation), i., 330.

[126] Parker, _Sir Robert Peel_, ii., 235.

[127] Stanley to Peel (Dec. 11, 1834), Peel's _Memoirs_, ii., 39, 40.

[128] Croker to Mrs. Croker, _Croker Papers_, ii., 219.

[129] Peel, _Memoirs_, ii., 58-67.

CHAPTER XVII.

PEEL AND MELBOURNE.

The general election which took place in January, 1835, was hotly
contested, and in the second reformed parliament the conservatives
mustered far stronger than in the first. The party now consisted of some
270 members, chiefly returned by the counties. But they were still
outnumbered by the whigs, radicals, and Irish repealers combined, and it
was certain that an occasion for such a combination would soon arise. It
was found at once in the election of a speaker, when the house of
commons met on February 9, 1835. Sutton, now Sir Charles Manners Sutton,
was proposed for re-election by the government; the opposition candidate
was Abercromby. The number of members who took part in the division was
the largest ever assembled, being 622, and Abercromby was elected by a
majority of ten. It would have been larger, had not the government been
supported by some waverers, but its significance was appreciated by the
ministers, and still more by the king. He expressed his displeasure in a
very outspoken letter to Peel, declaring that, if the leaders "of the
present factious opposition" should be forced upon him by a refusal of
the supplies, he might, indeed, tolerate them, but could never give them
his confidence or friendship. Two days later, the 24th, the king's
speech was delivered, reflecting the spirit of the Tamworth
manifesto.[130]

[Pageheading: _PEEL'S POLICY._]

The government was again defeated by seven on an amendment to the
address, notwithstanding the loyal aid of Graham and Stanley, whose
attitude during the general election had ex