Page:History of the Radical Party in Parliament.djvu/365

CHAPTER XV. FROM THE RESIGNATION OF SIR ROBERT PEEL TO HIS DEATH (1846-1850). ON the resignation of Peel's Government, Lord John Russell was called upon to form an Administration. The composition of the Ministry showed that the old tradition of the Whig party still prevailed; that the objects of the Government might be Liberal, that its efforts might be conscientiously directed towards promoting the well-being of the people, but that it must be administered by the members of the privileged families. There was some foundation for the repeated asser- tions of Disraeli, that the Whig aristocracy resembled the Venetian oligarchy in their determination to reserve within very narrow limits the area from which the rulers of the country should be chosen. The Tories have always been freer than their old rivals in acknowledging the claims, or, at all events, in availing themselves of the abilities, of new men. On the present occasion the Whig custom was rigidly adhered to. The policy which had led to the defeat of the Conservative Ministry was Radical, its ablest and most successful advocates were Radicals, and it seemed impossible not to recognize these facts in the formation of the new Government. They were recognized in a way. A few Radicals were admitted to a position which enabled them, not to take part in deciding the policy of the Government, but to give it official support when adopted. Gibson and Ward and Sheil were in the Ministry, but not in the Cabinet ; and so they were debarred from the independent advocacy of their old principles without