ABSTRACT
The Coalition was fractious with talented. Russell was smarting at the loss of the premiership and cherished hopes of regaining it. His relations with Palmerston remained frosty, and his attempts to bully Aberdeen into retirement infuriated the Peelites. Russell worked alone on the reform bill over the autumn of 1853, proposing franchises of 20 for the counties and 6 for the boroughs. William Hayter, the Coalition whip, told Aberdeen bluntly that everybody is afraid of John Russell's Reform Bill and would gladly see it dropped. Russell needed Palmerston's support for a hawkish Eastern policy and had no wish to let Palmerston become a rallying point for the war party. Conscious of Russell's anxiety, Graham made a skilful appeal to Foxite history. Elections in the nineteenth century were violent, expensive and frequently corrupt; and there was nothing like actually contesting a constituency to cool enthusiasm for reform. The connection between reform and trade unionism was too tempting not to be exploited.
