of his magnificent stud for, it is said, 10,000l,, at the very time when his chances of success on the turf both appeared to be, and, as it turned out, really were, brighter than they had ever been before. In February 1847 Lord George Bentinck, disapproving of the policy pursued by government with respect to the Irish famine, proposed a scheme for lending 16.000,000l. for the construction of Irish railways at 3½ per cent., every 100l. satisfactorily expended being met by 200l. from government, the whole loan with interest being repaid at the end of thirty-seven years after the opening of each new line. Calculating that this scheme would lead to the construction of 1,500 miles of railways, he held forth the prospect of employing 110,000 labourers on really productive works, and thus supplying 550,000 persons with bread. The ministry threatened to resign if the house accepted this scheme, and Lord George, speaking for his party, declared that 'his frieds were not appalled at the prospect.' Although his proposal was received with some favour, various circumstances, and especially a heavy fall in the price of consols, led to its rejection by 332 to 118. Considering the nature of the country, it is probable that Lord George overestimated the number of labourers required for the work. Even if his estimate was correct, his scheme would have been inadequate to meet the prevailing distress, while, at the same time, the works proposed were thought to be larger than the country needed, and the employment of public money on so vast a scale would have checked private enterprise and have lowered the public credit. Shortly afterwards, however, the government adopted the principle advocated by Lord George Bentinck, of lending money; on interest to be employed in reproductive works in Ireland. The condition of public credit, which had much to do with the rejection of Lord George's bill, led him in the course of this session to attack the Bank Act of 1844, and the monetary panic of October having caused the suspension of the Act, he renewed his criticisms of it in the short autumn session held to approve the suspension. He was, however, prevented by illness from pursuing the subject. In spite of the zeal and ability with which Lora George upheld the cause of protection, his unswerving adherence to the principles of religious liberty prevented the existence of perfect accord between him and the party he led. He occasioned some offence by expressing in an address to his constituents his opinion that the catholic priesthood of Ireland should be endowed out of the land; and the divergency between him and his party culminated when he spoke and voted in favour of the resolution carried by Lord J. Russell on 17 Dec. for the admission of Jews into parliament. Owing to these differences he announced, by a letter written to Mr. Banks, 23 Dec. 1847, his resignation of the protectionist leadership. It was not without reason that he said to Mr. Disraeli that he had 'shaken his constitution in the cause.' The violent change in his mode of life and his intense application to business injured his health. He also tried his constitution by long periods of abstinence from food, taking little breakfast and for some time not eating again until the house broke up, often at an hour past midnight.
Although Lord George Bentinck resigned the leadership of the protectionist party, he nevertheless remained the foremost upholder of the cause of protection, and on 3 Feb. moved for and obtained a committee to inquire into the interests of the sugar and coffee planters. As chairman of this famous committee he advocated the maintenance of a protective duty on foreign sugar, and was deeply mortified at the rejection of his resolutions. On 24 May, a few days after his defeat in committee, Lord Clifden's Surplice, bred out of Lord Georg'e's favourite mare Crucifix, and sold by him with the rest of his stud, won the Derby. 'All my life,' he said next day to Mr. Disraeli, 'have I been trying for this, and for what have I sacrificed it?' His friend in vain tried to comfort him. 'You do not know what the Derby is,' he answered. The final resolutions of the committee, however, were satisfactory to him; and Lord J. Russell, though he did not follow the recommendations of the report, brought in a scheme for reducing the duty on colonial sugar, and for protecting British-grown sugar by a differential duty for a certain number of years. During the debate on this proposition Lord George charged the colonial office with suppressing a despatch from the governor of Jamaica with reference to the real state of that colony. Lord J. Russell, replying to this charge on 23 June, said that these mean frauds, these extremely dishonourable tricks, which the noble lord imputes to them, are not the faults and characteristics of men high in public office in this country. They are the characteristics of men who are engacred in pursuits which the noble lord long followed. This remark having called fortn loud expressions of disapprobation, he went on to speak of 'the quickness of apprehension' exhibited by Lord George in detecting the Running Rein fraud. Mr. Disraeli expressed the feeling of the house in his reply to these remarks, stating that Lord George had brought 'the same high
