( 437 ) CHAPTER XVIII. PALMERSTON'S LAST ADMINISTRATION (1859-1865). THE dissolution of Parliament was a desperate venture the Prime Minister's only chance, as it appeared, of saving his position, his party, and his principles. If the old Parliament were kept in existence two things would happen, both disastrous to the Conservatives. A Liberal Ministry would be called to power, and an effective Reform Bill must be passed. The former danger might be only temporary, to be overcome as it had been before, if the second one could be avoided. But a constitutional change which would alter the character of many of the constituencies, and give to the people a real share in the representation, might prove a more lasting evil, and mean not only the relinquishment of office for a time, but the loss of political and social power for the govern- ing class. Clearly, then, the risk attending a general election was worth running. The experiment was not entirely unsuccessful, although it did not secure its primary purpose of saving the Ministry. The Liberal majority was seriously diminished, but it was not destroyed. When the elections were over, the newspapers of the time calculated that the returns showed Liberals, 353 ; Conservatives, 302, giving a Liberal majority of fifty-one, including a double return for Aylesbury, which did not materially affect the issue.* This showed a Liberal loss of twenty-three as compared with the numbers in the previous
- Times, May 20, 1859. McCalmont's "Poll Book," published in 1879, gives
the numbers as Liberals, 348 ; Conservatives, 305 : Liberal majority, 43,
