A World on Fire_ Britain's Crucial Role in the American Civil War - Amanda Foreman [368]
The parliamentary debates on the censure continued for four days. Gladstone’s speech in the Commons sealed his position as the undisputed leader-in-waiting of the Liberal Party, although it was not strong enough to silence the government’s critics. “I wish either that one could put one’s nerves into one’s pocket … or that one could run away from the future,” Henry wrote to his brother on July 8. “The division takes place tonight, and the excitement in society is tremendous.” Their father had heard that the government was down to a majority of two or four votes in the Commons. He was surprised to find himself hoping the Liberals would prevail.
The Confederate commissioner James Mason was still waiting for the interview with Palmerston that William Schaw Lindsay had promised in June. The prime minister had played his part with finesse, making no commitments to the pro-Southern faction in Parliament while ensuring that the Tories could not offer them anything that was not already under discussion. Rose Greenhow, who had become close to the opposition through a fortuitous friendship with the Tory hostess Lady Chesterfield, was convinced that the Confederates were wasting their time with the Liberals.3 Despite telling Mason everything she heard in Lady Chesterfield’s drawing room, she could not shake his faith in Palmerston. “Saw Mr. Mason who was very busy,” Rose wrote on July 8. “He does not think we have anything to gain by a change in ministry. [For] Queens sake!”
Adams finished his work early that night so he could go to the House of Commons and watch the government fight for its life. He squeezed into the Strangers’ Gallery at 5:00 P.M. and sat through seven speakers while waiting for Palmerston to make his stand. It was past midnight when the prime minister finally rose to address the House. “He is not a good speaker, his manner is hesitating,” Adams wrote in his diary, which was true of Palmerston at the best of times. “And yet I cannot doubt,” he added reluctantly, “that he makes the only real leader now to be found in English politics.”4 The division took place at half past two in the morning, with the Tories confident that they had the votes. Mrs. Greenhow waited impatiently at her lodgings: “I am anxious for news from Parliament,” she wrote in her diary. “I am afraid the Government will have a majority.”5 Both Houses divided at the same moment. The peers went against the government by a majority of 9 votes; but in the Commons, the Tories discovered that a handful of MPs had switched sides during the debate, uneasy that the price of government would mean effectively declaring that Britain was no longer a Great Power but a feeble, blustering bully. The Liberals survived by a majority of 18 votes.
“Had the scale turned the other way, the scene would have been worth staying to see,” wrote Adams, who left before the result was called. His early departure meant that he missed a first in the history of the Commons.6 As soon as the numbers were called, Palmerston clambered up the stairs on his gouty foot to the Ladies’ Gallery to embrace his wife in plain view of the House. She cared as much as Palmerston himself that when he did go out of politics, it would be on his own terms.
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With the parliamentary crisis safely behind them, the Confederate lobby at Westminster stepped forward to claim its reward from Palmerston. Lindsay’s resolution for mediation was to be the climax of a week of carefully orchestrated events. The Confederate lobby had reasoned—justifiably—that the previous failures in the Commons had been exacerbated by the problem of individuals acting on their own. In order to succeed, they had to appear united, representative of the entire country, and popular among MPs of all persuasions.
For several