Lord Derby's statement in the House of Lords, on Thursday
evening, supplied an omission in the accounts of the Ministerial negotiations. Substantially, it was a defence of himself against the objections of his party, that he should have attempted to form a Coalition, and should have sacrificed some offices in the Cabinet to obtain the assistance of members of the late Go- vernment; and Lord Derby took a strong standing-place when he rested on the broad ground of patriotism, and the necessity of enabling the Queen's Government to go on again as soon as possible. After undertaking the duty intrusted to him by the Queen, he sought the assistance of Lord Palmerston, and com- missioned him to invite the cooperation of Mr. Gladstone and Mr. Sidney Herbert. Late in the evening, Lord Palmerston sent a note simply declining; a courteous note from Mr. Gladstone con- tained a passage implying that Lord Palmerston himself had started the difficulty ; and Lord Derby was " surprised." By his endeavour, he practically confessed that, in the subdivided state of the House of Commons, his "strong" party was not strong enough to form a Government alone ; and he could do no more than attempt to reconstruct a "Coalition," against which he and his friends have levelled such constitutional philippics.
