ABSTRACT
Palmerston's death marked an epoch in British politics, the close of a public career spanning nearly sixty years. Palmerston had first entered the Cabinet in 1809, two months before Gladstone was born and nearly four years before Russell was elected to Parliament. The elections had returned a Liberal majority of around seventy seats, including a new intake of progressive politicians. Palmerston shielded the Conservatives from organic reform, combined Gladstonian finance with strong defence and secured a liberal tone in foreign and colonial policy. Russell, however, insisted on immediate legislation. Immediate legislation deprived the government of a chance to bed in and increased hostility to an early dissolution. The prospect of a Tory secession vanished in March, when the government abandoned the rating franchise for rental. Lowes criteria of property and intelligence seemed, to Gladstone, too narrow. Grosvenor claimed that much of the bill met with his approval, but insisted that the enfranchisement could only be judged alongside the redistribution.
