The vote for Mr.
Roebuck's committee was 205; and against it, 148; a majority against the
ministry of 157. "The scene was a peculiar and probably an unparalleled
one. The cheers which are usually heard from one side or the other of
the House on the numbers of a division being announced, were not
forthcoming. The members were for a moment spellbound with
astonishment, then there came a murmur of amazement and finally a burst
of general laughter." The resignation of the Aberdeen ministry was
announced February 1st, the Duke of Newcastle stating that it had been
his intention to give up the office of Secretary of War whether Mr.
Roebuck's resolution had passed or not.
Thus was overthrown the famous coalition Cabinet of Lord Aberdeen--one
of the most brilliant ever seen--a Cabinet distinguished for its
oratorical strength, and for the conspicuous abilities of its chief
members. Mr. Gladstone, who was the most distinguished Peelite in the
Cabinet, certainly could not, up to this period, be suspected of
lukewarmness in the prosecution of the war. Lord Palmerston formed a
reconstructed rather than a new Cabinet. Mr. Gladstone and his friends
at first declined to serve in the new Cabinet, out of regard for the
Duke of Newcastle and Lord Aberdeen, the real victims of the adverse
vote.
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