He
had, indeed, six months before, given a practical proof of his distrust
of the ability of Lord Melbourne and the colleagues who remained to him
to carry on the government of the kingdom satisfactorily, by desiring
the new Prime-minister to enter into communication with the leaders of
the Opposition, "to endeavor at this crisis to prevail upon them to
afford their aid and co-operation toward the formation of an
administration upon an enlarged basis, combining the services of the
most able and efficient members of each" party.[234] Nor had he
relinquished the idea of bringing about such a coalition, till he
learned that both Lord Melbourne and Sir Robert Peel considered the
differences which divided them to be too deeply founded on principle to
render their union in one administration either beneficial to the state
or creditable to themselves. And it may be said that the letter in which
Lord Melbourne had in November announced to his Majesty the death of
Lord Spencer, and the necessity for new arrangements which that event
had created, by the expression that "in these new and altered
circumstances it was for his Majesty to consider whether it were his
pleasure to authorize Viscount Melbourne to attempt to make such fresh
arrangements as might enable his present servants to continue to conduct
the affairs of the country, or whether his Majesty deemed it advisable
to adopt any other course," and that "Lord Melbourne earnestly entreated
that no personal consideration for him might prevent his Majesty from
taking any measures or seeking any other advice which he might think
more likely to conduce to his service and to the advantage of the
country," did not only contemplate, but to a certain degree even
suggested, the possibility of his Majesty's preferring to have recourse
to fresh advisers.
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