ult would have been different.
Both Mr. Cobden and Mr. Bright felt that Lord Palmerston blocked the way
to any adequate readjustment in home politics of the balance of power,
and they were inspired by a settled distrust of his foreign policy. Lord
John, on the other hand, though he might not move as swiftly as such
popular leaders thought desirable, had still a name to conjure with, and
was the consistent advocate, though on more cautious lines, of an
extension of the franchise. Moreover, Lord John's attack on Palmerston's
Government in regard to the conduct of the Chinese war, his vigorous
protest against the Conspiracy Bill, and his frank sympathy with
Mazzini's dream of a United Italy, helped to bring the old leader, in
the long fight for civil and religious liberty, into vital touch with
younger men of the stamp of Cobden, Bright, and Gladstone, of whom the
people justly expected great things in the not distant future. Lord John
knew, however, that the Liberal camp was full of politicians who were
neither hot nor cold--men who had slipped into Parliament on easy terms,
only to reveal the fact that their prejudices were many and their
convictions few. They sheltered themselves under the great prestige of
Lord Palmerston, and represented his policy of masterly inactivity,
rather than the true sentiments of the nation. Lord Palmerston was as
jaunty as ever; but all things are not possible even to the ablest man,
at seventy-five.

Although Lord John was not willing to serve under Lord Granville, who
was his junior by more than a score of years, he saw his chance at the
Foreign Office, and therefore consented to join the Administration of
Lord Palmerston. In accepting office on such terms in the middle of
June, he made it plain to Lord Palmerston that the importance of
European affairs at the moment had induced him to throw in his lot with
the new Ministry. The deadlock was brought to an end by Lord John's
patriotic decision. Mr. Gladstone became Chancellor of the Exchequer,
Lord Granville President of the Council; and amongst others in the
Cabinet were Sir G. C. Lewis, Mr. Milner Gibson, Sir George Grey, and
the Duke of Argyll. Though Cobden would not accept a place in the
Government, he rendered it important service by negotiating the
commercial treaty with France, which came into force at the beginning of
1860. Next to the abolition of the Corn Laws, which he more than any
other man brought about, it was the great ach