These things did not move them. But as
soon as the Honorable Member for Sheffield raised his hand to point the
thunderbolt, they became conscience-stricken with a sense of guilt, and,
hoping to escape punishment, they ran away from duty."
This eloquent passage was received with tumultuous cheers. Mr.
Gladstone claimed that there had been many exaggerations as to the state
of the army and there were then more than 30,000 British troops under
arms before Sebastopol. The administration of the War Department at home
was no doubt defective, but he declined to admit that it had not
improved, or that it was as bad as to deserve formal censure, and the
Duke of Newcastle did not merit the condemnation sought to be cast on
him as the head of the War Department.
Mr. Disraeli was eagerly heard when he rose to speak. He said that the
government admitted that they needed reconstruction, and that now the
House was called upon to vote confidence in the administration. It was
not the Duke of Newcastle nor the military system, but the policy of the
whole Cabinet which he characterized as a "deplorable administration."
The result of the vote was a strange surprise to all parties, and one of
the greatest ever experienced in Parliamentary history.
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