Home Rule Bill. Lord Rosebery became his Foreign Secretary, and
Sir William Harcourt his Chancellor of the Exchequer. The Home
Rule Bill struggled through the House of Commons, but was thrown
out in the Lords, 41 voting for and 419 against it. Not a single
meeting was held to protest against this decisive action of the
Lords, and it was evident that the country was sick to death of
the Irish Question.

Gladstone knew that his public work was done, and in the spring of
1894 it began to be rumoured that he was going to resign. On the 1st
of March he delivered his last speech in the House of Commons, and
immediately afterwards it became known that he was really resigning.
The next day he went to dine and sleep at Windsor, taking his formal
letter of resignation with him. He had already arranged with the
Queen that a Council should be held on the 3rd of March. At this
moment he thought it possible that the Queen might consult him
about the choice of his successor, and, as we now know from Lord
Morley's "Life," he had determined to recommend Lord Spencer.

Lord Harcourt's evidence on this point is interesting. According
to him--and there could not be a better authority--Sir William
Harcourt knew of Gladstone's intention. But he may very well have
believed that the Queen would act (as in the event she did) on
her own unaided judgment, and that her choice would fall on him
as Leader of the House of Commons. The fact that he was summoned
to attend the Council on the 3rd of March would naturally confirm
the belief. But _Dis aliter visum_. After the Council the Queen
sent, through the Lord President (Lord Kimberley), a summons to
Lord Rosebery, who kissed hands as Prime Minister at Buckingham
Palace on the 9th of March.