1859.] Resignation of Aberdeen to Dissolution in 1859. 417 threatens to bring discredit upon the national character and to involve the country in grave disasters." To this resolution Sir Bulwer Lytton moved the following amendment : " That this House recommends to the earliest attention of her Majesty's ministers the necessity of a careful revision of our various official establishments, with a view to simplify and facilitate the transaction of public business, and, by instituting judicial tests of merit, as well as by removing obstructions to its fair promotion and legitimate rewards, to secure to the service of the State the largest available proportion of the energy and intelligence for which the people of this country are distinguished." Two nights' debate took place, and on the 1 8th of June Layard's resolution was lost by 359 to 46.* The consideration of Lytton's amendment was adjourned to the 2 ist of June, when it was carried. A milder resolution than that of Layard on the same subject of administrative reform was, on the loth of July, introduced by Vincent Scully, and was defeated only by 140 to 125, a proof that the matter was pressing itself on the consideration of Parliament. Before the session closed, there was to be another striking scene of ministerial disunion. The war had been carried on in the Crimea with enormous losses of life on all sides. The conference at Vienna had been attended by Lord John Russell as the English representative. That amiable but too self-
- The following formed the minority, which is almost entirely Radical :
Alexander, J. Langton, H. G. Reed, J. H. Bell, J. Laslett, W. Roebuck, J. A. Bower, G. Lee, W. Scholefield, W. Brockman, E. D. Lindsay, W. S. Scobell, Capt. Brown, H. Lowe, R. Scully, V. Cobden, R. Maguire, J. F. Smith, J. B. Dillwyn, L. L. Mangles, R. D. Thompson, G. Dundas, G. Miall, E. Tite, W. Dunlop, A. M. Michell, W. Vance, G. Fitzgerald, W. R S. Mowatt, F. Warner, E. Fox, W. J. Murrough, J. P. Williams, W. Goderich, Visct. Oliveira, R. Wise, A. Greaves, E. Otway, A. J Grogan, E. Parker, R. T. Layard, A. H. 1 Hadfield, G. Pechell, Sir G. B. Clifford, H. M. / Keating, H. S. Pellatt, A. King, Hon. P. J. L. Price, W. P. Tellers. 2 E
