ABSTRACT
Cecil’s admirers were at first confined to the small group of high Tories who detested Disraeli. In an obscure backbench conspiracy, they had picked him out in 1863 to be their leader in the Commons under a duke substituted for Derby. Cecil may not have been aware of the plot, and if he was, appears to have ignored it. By the beginning of 1866, when moves were afoot to replace a Liberal ministry divided over reform with a coalition of the centre, he was being mentioned as a possible premier, with a cross-party appeal, though too young. Loyally, he rejected the idea of serving under anyone but Disraeli, if the ailing and, it was assumed, less flexible Derby made way for him. Disraeli repaid him by letting it be known that there might not be room for him in a cabinet selected on the principle of “fusion” between the moderates of both parties. In the event, the Liberals approached, after the Russell government fell on reform, refused office with the Tories, and Cranborne, as he was known from 1865, entered the cabinet as secretary of state for India. All that can be said in this chapter about his brief responsibility for India is that his marked ability as a minister was generally recognized.1
