Not a tear, not a drop of blood, has sullied the pacific and blameless triumph of a great people." The Tories of Leeds, as a last resource, fell to denouncing Macaulay as a placeman; a stroke of superlative audacity in a party which, during eight-and-forty years, had been out of office for only fourteen months.
It may well be imagined that he found plenty to say in his own defence.
"The only charge which malice can prefer against me is that I am a placeman.

Gentlemen, is it your wish that those persons who are thought worthy of the public confidence should never possess the confidence of the King?
Is it your wish that no men should be Ministers but those whom no populous places will take as their representatives?
By whom, I ask, has the Reform Bill been carried?
By Ministers.

Who have raised Leeds into the situation to return members to Parliament?
It is by the strenuous efforts of a patriotic Ministry that that great result has been produced.

I should think that the Reform Bill had done little for the people, if under it the service of the people was not consistent with the service of the Crown." Just before the general election Hyde Villiers died, and the Secretaryship to the Board of Control became vacant.

Macaulay succeeded his old college friend in an office that gave him weighty responsibility, defined duties, and, as it chanced, exceptional opportunities for distinction.