"WILLIAM FAWCETT," THE FIRST P. & O. STEAMSHIP, IN THE GUT OF GIBRALTAR, 1837.
This was the first steamer employed in carrying mails to the Peninsular ports in 1837. Tonnage, 206; horse-power, 60.]
Drifting thus helplessly in the doldrums of unpopularity the Government suddenly foundered on April 9, the immediate cause being a Bill for the suspension of the Constitution of Jamaica. The second reading was carried, indeed, by a majority of five; but the resignation of the Ministry was immediately placed in Her Majesty's hands and accepted. It put an end to an intolerable situation. Three days before the division Greville wrote in his diary: "The Government is at its last gasp: the result of the debate next week may possibly prolong its existence, as a cordial does that of a dying man, but it cannot go on. They are disunited, dissatisfied, and disgusted in the Cabinet."
The Royal Mail Steamer "Caledonia," belonging to the P. & O. Company, is given as a contrast to the "William Fawcett." Tonnage, 7,758, horse-power, 11,000.]
The Queen sent first for the Duke of Wellington, but he, having probably little relish for leading a Government without a majority in the House of Commons, excused himself on the grounds of his age and deafness, and advised Her Majesty to lay the task on Sir Robert Peel. That statesman replied, that having been party to a vote of the House which brought about the situation, nothing should make him recoil from the obvious difficulty of it, and he formed a Cabinet without delay. Then arose a peculiar and unforeseen difficulty, known as "The Bedchamber Question." Peel found no difficulty in filling up the important posts in the Government, until it was explained to him that the Court Offices were vacated with the Administrative ones, and that they also must be supplied. He took up a Red Book, as he afterwards explained in Parliament, learnt from it for the first time what were the different appointments, and submitted to the Queen a list of names to replace all except those below the rank of Lady of the Bedchamber. But Her Majesty had other views, and the reader will more readily understand her reluctance to part with those personal attendants, of whom she had grown fond, by remembering the singular isolation of her youth, and the very few acquaintances she possessed at the beginning of her reign.