CHAPTER XIII
THE THIRD MARQUESS OF SALISBURY (continued)
THE abandonment of Gordon and the fall of Khartoum, in February, 1885, aroused, in Lord Salisbury's words, " not only sympathy and regret, but bitter and burning indignation." Gordon, he declared, had been " sacrificed to the squabbles of a Cabinet, and the necessities of Parliamentary tactics," and this shameful betrayal, combined with the universal feeling that the honour and reputation of England were not safe in the hands of the Government, finally decided their fate. They hung on till June, when they were defeated on a Budget vote of no importance, and at once resigned. The Queen sent for Lord Salisbury, who consented to take office, although the Conservatives were in a minority of nearly 100 in the House of Commons, and owing to the new Redistribution Bill, a general election was not possible until November.
Difficulties arose, first owing to Gladstone's unwillingness to pledge himself to give the necessary support to the Government in the conduct of public business, and secondly, because Lord Randolph Churchill refused to serve if Sir Stafford Northcote still led the House of Commons. The first difficulty was settled by
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