Mr. Gladstone felt keenly the separation, for he wrote to the Bishop of
Oxford: "There have been two great deaths, or transmigrations of spirit,
in my political existence--one, very slow, the breaking of ties with my
original party, the other, very short and sharp, the breaking of the tie
with Oxford. There will probably be a third, and no more." And in a
speech at Liverpool, there was something of pathos in his reference to
Oxford, when he said that if he had clung to the representation of the
University with desperate fondness, it was because he would not desert a
post to which he seemed to have been called. But he had now been
dismissed from it, not by academical, but by political agencies.

Mr. Gladstone was elected to represent his native district in
Parliament, and he was at the head of the poll in Manchester, Liverpool,
and all the large towns. The result of the general elections was a
considerable gain to the Liberal party, but that party sustained a
severe loss by the death of Lord Palmerston, October 18, 1865.

A new cabinet was constructed, with Earl Russell as Premier, and Mr.
Gladstone as the Chancellor of the Exchequer. Mr. Gladstone became for
the first time the recognized leader in the House of Commons, which
then meant virtually Prime Minister, for with the aged Premier in the
House of Lords, and the youthful Chancellor in the Commons, it meant
nothing else. But Earl Russell and his younger colleague were calculated
to work in harmonious action, for they were both Reformers. The ardent
temperament and the severe conscientiousness of the leader was the cause
of much speculation and anxiety as to his management. His first
appearance as leader of the House was therefore waited for with much
curiosity. The new Parliament was opened February 6, 1866, by the Queen
in person, for the first time since the death of Prince Albert. In the
speech from the throne it was announced that Parliament would be