'Nay, it appears to me to lie in a nutshell,' said Lucian Gay; 'one party
wishes to keep their old boroughs, and the other to get their new peers.'




CHAPTER VII.


The future historian of the country will be perplexed to ascertain what
was the distinct object which the Duke of Wellington proposed to himself
in the political manoeuvres of May, 1832. It was known that the passing of
the Reform Bill was a condition absolute with the King; it was
unquestionable, that the first general election under the new law must
ignominiously expel the Anti-Reform Ministry from power; who would then
resume their seats on the Opposition benches in both Houses with the loss
not only of their boroughs, but of that reputation for political
consistency, which might have been some compensation for the parliamentary
influence of which they had been deprived. It is difficult to recognise in
this premature effort of the Anti-Reform leader to thrust himself again
into the conduct of public affairs, any indications of the prescient
judgment which might have been expected from such a quarter. It savoured
rather of restlessness than of energy; and, while it proved in its
progress not only an ignorance on his part of the public mind, but of the
feelings of his own party, it terminated under circumstances which were
humiliating to the Crown, and painfully significant of the future position
of the House of Lords in the new constitutional scheme.

The Duke of Wellington has ever been the votary of circumstances. He cares