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    author into drjr FE^ ^ aaga ] THE DEADER...

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    History Of The Whigs. History Of The Whi...

    Arant &^ eh iji \ th ^}^ t & t \ Qn * ' . not the and brief ¦ oirt ^ es ^ ; o f ^ I ]^ p ^^ H ^ PW 4 ©^; . l > U ! t : will enable him , to treat them with Bomething , of l | 6 fulness necessary to a thorough enjoyment of his-^ r ie Writing . By givinff him space anclTbreathing-rooni , the reader travels through the annals of his Country without fatigue , and with profit . Nothing ijears abridgment so ill as history ^ . But to our purpose : we open with this ¦¦¦¦• ¦/ . '

    ' tOBTEAI * Of SIB EOBEET PEEI ,. * ' Sir Robert Peel , in his political career , committed great mistakes ; lie was , vertheless , from the" very character of his mind , peculiarly fitted to be a potent leader 6 f the \ T £ ng lish ' people . He was not a rapid learner , but he Was continually ' nibrovihgi' He was ever ready to' listen to the * exposition of new ideas , and though Now to adopt them , alow to understand and appreciate their , truth and importance , if true they 'Were ; , % & was always , prepared to entertain and discuss . them . His strongest pynipathies , tpo ^ ^ rere with the nation ,, and not . with a small dominant section or par ^ and in this he was pre-eminently , distinguished from the Whig statesmen . Wlipm'tie ^ rpu ^ 'Hfe opposed . They may rule ^ or the nation , but they / WfainW rule & V & clique . 'Ifthey are h'beral sometimes in opinion , it is because to

    be so suits theirparty purposes . Ifthey adopt a new-idea , it is for the same immediate end . They refuse to be associated with any but their own peculiar set , and deem no one capable of conducting wisely the affairs of the nation , unless he be alliedto theirown party , and thus born to . dominion * Sir Robert Peel hadnone of this exclusive feeling . life was great enough to perceive and appreciate worth in others , had the wisdom to receive instruction « yen from opponents , and candour to acklnowiedg ^^ he obligation . TtaK he went on to the end , improving with the nationto whichneibelpnged ^ never outrunning , arid seldom , certainly no £ of late years , lagging muchbehind the national mintf . - Had his intellect been of a bolder he would have been less successful minister

    and more original cast , probably a , as in that case he might often have proposed reforms before the nation was prepared to receive thpjn , and thus have diniinislied his power as a minister , while earning the renown of ^ philosopher . His chieif danger , however , was from an Opposite quarter . On tWo momentous occasions . he lingered too long in the ancient ways , and Was tod tardy in following public opinion . He ran no risk of being ever before it . But the pioneer who prepares the way is not he who reaps either the iinmediatedbenefit or honour resulting from hislabour . The philosopher who discovers great truths ^ and collects the < evidence by which they are eventually established , must be content to have ( ids reWard ;^^ must be satisfied with the consciousness of the real value ancl importance of his

    discoveries . Bui the statesman , to be useful , must be powerful ; and in a government like burs , and among'a practical people" like the English , the safest course for a reforming minister , is never to be before his age . -Let him not be obstinately wedded toany views or opinions—let him be ever ready to hear , and carefully and respectfully-listen , to all sides of every question—but let him religiously abstain from appropriating , or assenting to any novel conception , until the public thoroughly understands , and earnestly adopts it . Sir Robert Peel , twice in his life , erred in . being too much of a laggard / fatid upon the Catholic question so committed himself , in oppogition . "to emancipation , that no road of decorous retreat was open to Jmni He indeed broke through the trammels which , his party connexions had createdand-which his . own ingenuity had materially strengthened . The lesson

    , , was severe , and , to a mind so sensitive as his , must have been exquisitely painful . The effect , however , was , in the end , greatly conducive to the superiority to which , in a few years afterwards , he attained . He was made a new man by the trial and suffering to which he was thus subjected , and although ugpn the question of Parliamentary Reform ho again committed the same mistake—that false step was not without its advantages , as he was thereby enabled to rally around him the fragments of the old Tory party , and by their aid to win his way again to office and to power . His conduct during his last administration , though it gave offence , never to be forgiven , to some of his immediate partisans , made him the most popular minister and the most powerful statesman known in England since the days of the first William Pitt . The nation had confidence in his prudence ; they believed him

    sincerely anxious to promote the welfare of his country , and to have real sympathies with the industrious millions of our people . There was a feeling , every day growing stronger , that ho . was ,-destiritd to bo the people's minister , ; , . that ho would be able , by means of popular support , to which at length ho could alone look for aid , to depart from the rule by which the whole government of the country had hitherto been placed exclusivel y in the hands of the aristocracy , and to unite upon the Treasury bench . a really national administration—one in which the practical sagacity and the multitudinous interests of the mercantile , manufacturing , and labouring cliissos should have representatives , who would not appear in the degraded character of ministerial lackeys , but as independent and equal colleagues ; not receiving office as a favour , and holding it upon sufferance , but taking it as a right , and retaining it , not in accordance with the will of an exclusive clique , but in obedience

    to the wishes ami command of the nation . Entertaining the hope that such was to bo the ultimate mission of Sir Robert Pool , the nation looked with eager expectation to his future career . He rose in their affections in proportion as ho lost the favour of his party , and ho never was so powerful as when by that party ho was at lost Hcoutcd , and deemed to bo for ever dismissed . Hut , unfortunately , this hopo was not to bo fulfilled , and tho intensity of the national sorrow upon tho death of Sir Robert Peol , gave a practical proof Of tho extent of those expectations which hud thus bcon unhappily frustrated . Every succeeding year increases our rcgrot ; n bitter and humiliating experience of tho inefficiency of those by whom ho has been succeeded , making us more acutoly feel tho loss wo sustained , when , by an untoward fate , ho won prematurely snatched away . " Sido by side with this may bo placed tho

    rOKTBAIT OV o ' oONNEIiXi . <¦ "In tho history of , mankind thoro have been few instances of a powor so oxtraordhmry as that whteh Mr . Q'Corinoll now exercised over \ m countrymon . Ho was himself thoroughly an Irishman—endowed with many great powora—wanting many qualities , without which no man can , bo deemed really groat . Of a commanding ' presence , gifted with a beautiful and flexible voice ; also with groat quickness , versatility , ' wit , and tho powor of compressing ft long argument into a snort and epigrammatic sentence—ho seemed formed by nature for tho very part which tho peculiar condition of hie country wiled upon him to onoct . Hit ) early education lmd given hiti manners something of an ecclesiastical smoothness when in the socloty of gontUanen—moro particularly English , gontlomtm ; but whon udilrceaing his own . countrymen , ho coulcl iwlauine ( porhapef retime might bo the more

    correct word ) a rolliclang air , which completely Won the hearts of the exciteable peasantry Whom he sought'to move , and over Whbin he indeed ruled with an absolute despotism . With the catholic priesthood he had also great influence , and by their aid obtained and continued his extraordinary power over his uneducated countrymen . When speaking of the priesthood , or to a priest , the demeanour ' Mr . O'Connell , indeed , was so , deferential as to appear a perfect prostration of mind and body to ghostly dominion . His strict observance , of the forms of his religion , the fervour of his outward piety , won the confidence and esteem of the Irish ' catholic clergy . They believed him a true and obedient son of the church—they trusted him , and finding him . endowed with great ability , they , in their turn , followed and supported his political agitation . This mutual confidence was greatly promoted by the character of Mr . O'Coimell ' s piety , in which terror played no common part . Subject to the influence of strong passions—of undoubting faith , but also liable to fits of despondency and fear , he was iust the manto be an active and useful

    instrument in the hands of an asttite and grasping priesthood . In most cases in which an alliance takes plac ^ between a layman and a priestv there is a lurking mutual distrust , which , spite Of every art and disguise , betrays itself from time to time . But in the instance of Mr . O'Connell no such distrust seems ever to have arisen on either side . The priests of his church were too sagacious to fail in accurately appreciating the extent and character of their power over his mind . They knew his weakness and their own strength ; they had no fear , consequently , when aiding him to acquire power over the peasantry;—because they were sure that this power Would never be employed to diminish or even to check their own spiritual influence , and temporal authority and wealth . A perfect mutual cordiality and confidence appeared to exist , and we believe did in reality exist , between them and Mr . O'Connell ; and great advantage resulted to both parties from this alliance . The benefit which Mr . O'Connell received from the priests he amply repaid by the many political services which he rendered to the whole of his catholic countrymen .

    "He Was a skilful lawyer;—thoroughly acquainted with the character of Ins countrymen , and ready at all times to aid them when subject to accusation by the government , or quarrelling among themselves . They who have Witnessed his conduct on criminal trials and at Nisi Prius , describe him as unrivalled in the dextierity with which he managed a jury ; while those who have heard his legal arguments before the judges in Dublin , speak of J > hem as models of forensic skill . The contrast between his manner on these different occasions proved his marvellous versatility , and ought to have prepared the House of Commons for his admirably appropriate demeanour , when he first appeared before them , as the one great representative of Roman-catholic , Ireland . He _ was at all times a finished actor , and could assume , or throw off at Once and completely , any part he chose . The familiar buffoonery , the sly fun , the coarse , nay almost vulgar but really artful pathos and sarcasm of the counsel ; on the circuit , whether defending a prisoner in the Crown Court * or engagedjn a cause at Nisi PHus , were all entirely laid aside , and

    succeeded by a simple , grave , and even polished demeanour , when in Banco he had- to argue before the judges of the superior courts . And this subdued but still natural manner , how different was it from that of the fierce demagogue , the impassioned accuser of his country ' s oppressors , who led the vast assemblies which attended the meetings of the Catholic Association ! On this arena he seemed to revel in his freedom—to tlirow away restraint—to give up all command over his feelings—to make himself , indeed , his passions' slave . But amid what appeared his wildest ravings , he was ever truly master of hhnself j—assuming the licence of an unbridled tongue , under the guise of an overbearing indignation;—making his passion an excuse , when it was , in fact , the pretence—he forced others really to feel tho indignation , of which he exhibited only a finished imitation . In the House of Commons every trace of the ranting , rampant demagogue entirely disappeared . In the whole range of rhetoric difficulties , nothing approaches that of appealing successfully in the House of Commons to any romantic sentimentality . All who have been accustomed to address various assemblies of men , must have discovered ,

    that appeals to passion , generous sentiment , romantic honour , are generally grateful only to simple and unlettered audiences . That as the audience becomes composed of men of a more finished education , of a larger experience in the ways of men , just in the same degree all such passionate appeals become distasteful , and therefore difficult , not to say impossible . Tho taste becomes more fastidious—the feelings , by worldly contact , more blunted—and suspicion more ready and more quick-sighted . What would make an assembly of peasants weep , would probably send the House of Commons to sleep , or would keep them awako simply by exciting their contempt and disgust . Mr . O'Connoll knew this well , and further , ho was awaro that tho assembly into which he entered , when he entered tho House of Commons , was as courageous as fastidious . That it was as difficult to excito their fear as it was easy to offend thoir taste . To bully thorn ho know was dangerous—to frighten thorn impossible—to persuade them out of their former convictions , almost hopeless ; but to amuso and interest thorn—to command their attention and respeot by wit ,

    knowledge , clear and forcible statement and accurate reasoning , and sometimes by rare and felicitous and finished touches of possionato argument , to excito and almost convince them , —all this , ho was awaro , was within tho power of a great orator . Proudly conscious that ho could aspiro to this high calling , with a calm self-possession he applied himself to his last most difficult task of conquering tho attention tho respectful attontion- ^ -of an adverse House of Commons , and—succeeded . " That Mr . O'Connoll ' s powers were of tho highest ordor cannot bo deniodthat few men have had opportunities of rondoring great services to thoir country , so numerous and happy as ho had , is also cortain . It must however bo confoseed that his great ability and glorious opportunities wore of comparatively little uso either to himself or others—and that few have ho long and to such an extent engaged tho attention of tho world , and havo passed away , loaving so little bohind them by Which thoy can bo worthily romombored . tho that would loaso

    " To iwsumo tho mannor , and omploy language p a particular assembly , and contribute to tho attainment , of a given end , was no difficult task for so finished an actor as Mr . 'O ^ Connoll . But to . bo observant of tho truth—to sacrifice selfish purposes—to withstand tho popular prejudice that created his power required a mind trained from infancy to obey tho dictatesof tho exalted morality fitted for a free pcoplo , and which among them alone can Du found Unfortunately for Iris famo «• "

    Author Into Drjr Fe^ ^ Aaga ] The Deader...

    author into drjr FE ^ ^ aaga ] THE DEADER , 1 ST

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Feb. 14, 1852, page 17, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_14021852/page/17/