However, it quickly became apparent that Lyne would not be able to form the first government. Alfred Deakin and other prominent politicians, particularly Victorian politicians, told Hopetoun they would not serve under Lyne. Lyne returned his commission on 24 December and Hopetoun sent for Edmund Barton, the leader of the federal movement and the man everybody believed was entitled to the post. Barton successfully assembled a cabinet, one that included Lyne, and it was sworn in by Hopetoun on the inauguration of the Commonwealth on New Year's Day, 1901. That afternoon, Hopetoun and the new government assembled at Government House, Sydney for the first meeting of the Federal Executive Council.