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"War and the Colonies . " Between these secretaries a quarrel arose . Canning wished to get Castlereagh removed , and had spoken to the Duke of Portland about it ; and Castlereagh , accusing Canning of treachery , challenged him . They met , and Canning was wounded . Upon this the Duke of Portland resigned , dying shortly afterwards ; and the two secretaries also resigned . A reconstruction of the Ministry followed . The Chancellor of the Exchequer , Spencer Perceval , was placed at the head of the Ministry ; the Marquis of Wellesley and the Earl of Liverpool replaced the duellists ; and Lord Palmerston entered official life as Secretary at War .
On the meeting of Parliament in January , 1810 , Mr . Peel , not quite twenty-two , made his bow to the public in the nattering capacity , to a young man , of seconding the address in answer to the royal speech . He spoke with liveliness and some point ; and one passage of his speech is so characteristic of the future statesman that it deserves to be quoted : — ' England , " said he , " desires neither peace nor war , but she will suffer no indignity , and will make no
unbecoming concessions . With every engine of power and perfidy against us , the situation of this country has proved to Bonaparte that it is invulnerable in the very point to which all his efforts are directed . The accounts of the exports of British manufactures will be found to exceed by several millions those of any former period . "With regard to our internal condition , while France has been stripped of the flower of her youth , England has continued flourishing , and the only alteration has been the substitution of machinery for manual labour . "
It was in the same year that he was appointed TJnder-Secretary of State for the Colonies . The official career thus commenced , and destined to lead to the highest offices of the state , did not linger on its early stages . From an Under-Secretaryship in Downing-street Mr . Peel was promoted , in 1812 , to the onerous post of Chief Secretary for Ireland during the " Viceroyship of the Duke of Richmond . In this position he soon displayed a singular amount of what Bentham calls *• official aptitude . " Having detected a great deficiency in the social arrangements of the sister country he brought in a bill ,
subsequently carried , for establishing the Irish constabulary iorce—a corps which has since been of the greatest service . The success of this experiment in Ireland subsequently suggested the embodiment of a similar force in this country ; and had he done nothing else he would long be remembered , both in England and Ireland , as the originator of our present system of police . Having changed his constituency from Cashel to Chippenham , he sat for a few years for the latter borough , when a vacancy occurring , in 1817 , in the representation of the University of Oxford , upon the elevation of Abbot to the peerage , his Alma Mater paid him the great compliment of electing
him to fill the vacancy . Having resigned the Irish secretaryship , he had more leisure for taking a prominent part in the discussions of the English Parliament ; and on the 17 th of January , 1822 , his diligent and talented support of his party was rewarded . Lord Sidmouth having retired on that day , Peel was appointed Secretary of State for the Home Department , a post which he held till the advent of Canning , in 1827 . When Canning became Premier , Peel and some of his colleagues resigned , but the death of that Minister occurring in August of the same year , caused another change in the position of parties .
On Canning ' s death , the shortlived administration of Lord Goderich having fallen to pieces . Peel resumed his former office at the Home Department , under the Duke of Wellington , in January 1828 . In this year ho yielded the repeal of the Test and Corporation Acts ( so long opposed by Canning ) , on being outvoted in the House of Commons , and in the year following prepared to concede the claims of the Catholics , which he lind resisted during the entire of his previous public life . It was towards the end of January , 1825 ) , that a whisper began to bo heard that Ministers intended to recommend Parliament to take
into its consideration the subject of the Roman Catholic disabilities ; and on the o ' th of Febuary it was confirmed liy the royal speech on the opening of the session . On the day before the meeting of Parliament , Mr . Peel addressed a letter to the Vice-Charfeellor of the University of Oxford , in which he admitted that lie enjoyed the confidence of the major portion of his constituents on account of his resistance to the Catholic claims ; intimating that he intended to resign hisseat , and , as he said , "by that painful sacrifice—by the forfeiture of that high distinction winch
hayo prized much more than any other object of ambition , to give at least a decisive proof that I have not taken my present course without tho most mature tli'liboration , and that I have not suffered myself to b (> mfluciu'ttil by any other motive than that of an overpowering souse of public duty . " The surprised ami Hilary university refusal to reflect him . His opponent was Sir Hubert Harry ln » lis , who carried the election by a majority ot 1 1 ( 5 out of 1 « G 1 voters polled ; and shortly afterward * Mr . Peel was elected for the borough ot Westbury . Describinj ? this memorublo contt-bt , air . C ' ooke says in his " History of x iirty « ¦¦""¦
" The enthusiasm of the country clergy was , upon this occasion , extraordinary—knots of old men might be seen in the Convocation-house , many of whom had not visited Oxford for nearly half a century , and who , at immense personal sacrifice , had left their curacies and their livings in remote parts of the kingdom , spending no small portion of their slender stipend to come and vote against the man whom they called the arch-apostate . " On the 5 th of March Mr . Peel brought forward the Catholic Emancipation Bill , the interest of which absorbed for the time every other consideration . Strangers assembled in the avenues of the House of Commons as early as ten o ' clock in the morning , though the gallery was not opened till six in the
evening . In two minutes not a seat was unoccupied , while the lobby was crowded with people anxious to avail themselves of any resignations of places which heat , pressure , or fatigue might occasion . In one of the speeches he made at that time , with the same sense of honour that characterized his conduct many years after , when speaking of his share in repealing the Corn-laws , Mr . Peel refused to accept the merit of having conceded Catholic Emancipation : he said , " The credit belongs to others , and not to me . It belongs to Fox , to Grattan , to Plunket , to the gentlemen opposite ( the Whigs ) , and to an illustrious friend ( Mr . Canning ) , who is now no more . By their efforts , in spite of my opposition , it has proved victorious . "
The carrying of Catholic Emancipation utterly alienated the great body of the party with which the Duke and Mr . Peel had hitherto been in such strict alliance , and whose confidence they had hitherto so completely enjoyed . The strongest opponents of the Catholic claims now looked on with indifference at the rising feeling in favour of parliamentary reform ; and , though resolutions directed against the existence of " rotten boroughs" were rejected by 401 to 118 , at the close of the session of 1829 , reform soon became the question of the day . It is needless here to go into the history of the reform movement , the postponement of the King ' s visit to the City , and . the defeat of the Government on Sir Henry Parnell ' s
motion . It is sufficient to say that , on the 16 th of November , 1830 , the Wellington Administration resigned , and Sir Robert Peel ( for he had succeeded to the baronetcy by the death of his father ) ceased to be Secretary of State for the Home Department . Then commenced that firm , consistent , but unavailing opposition to the reform , movement , which resulted in the carrying of the Reform Bill . Of the speeches made by Sir Robert Peel during the period of this resistance , it may be observed thnt , although in point of historical interest they yield to those made on Catholic Emancipation , and subsequently on the great question of Free Trade , in point of ability and oratorical power they were not surpassed by any he ever delivered .
And now began a campaign of a new character , in which Sir Robert acted as the universally-recognised leader of the Conservative opposition to the Whigs . A sudden pause took place in this , but it did not last very long . In 1834 Earl Spencer died , Lord Althorp resigned , the Melbourne Ministry was broken up , and the Duke of Wellington was again sent for . Sir Robert Peel was at the time in Italy with his family seeking amusement and the improvement of his health . The duke , by this time , seems to have fully appreciated the value of the absent statesman to the Conservative party , for he despatched at once a messenger to offer Sir Robert the Premiership . The crowning point of his official ambition was gained . He returned to England , formed a Ministry , and dissolved the Parliament . Peel was now to show his
quality as a statesman . He had his choice of colleagues , and many favourable circumstances for his great experiment . But " the pear was not ripe , " a very brief trial of the new Ministry proved . The new Parliament assembled on the 9 th of February , 183 / 5 , and before many weeks it hud been beaten on several occasions . On the 8 th of April , Sir Robert Peel and his colleagues resigned , and the Whigs returned to power , which they retained until 1839 .
In a little more than a month after his resignation , Sir Robert Peel , having been invited to a grand banquet in the Merchant Tailors' Hull , delivered one of his most remarkable public speeches , in which he vindicated the course of his government , and expounded the future policy of his party . In tho year 1830 he was elected Lord Rector of Glasgow University in opposition to Sir John , now Lord , Campbell .
Passing over the whole of the period from 183 G to 183 J ) , during which the Whig Government was daily becoming more and more contemptible , while Sir Robert was building up a powerful Conservative party , we have next to record that , in May , 1839 , tho Whigs having been beaten on the Jamaica Bill , Sir Robert was again sent for , and received the Queen ' s command to form a Ministry ; but on his making it a sine qua n < m that her Majesty should dismiss certain clever stuteswomen of her household , relatives of his Whig predecessors , the Queen returned the following answer : —
of her Bedchamber , cannot consent to adopt a course which she conceives to be contrary to usage , and which is repugnant to her feelings . " In three hours afterwards Sir Robert tendered his resignation , and Lord Melbourne was again reinstated in office , but not in power . From that period Sir Robert's influence in the country went on progressively , as did also his strength in the House of
Commons , as was tested by various important divisions . At last , on the 27 th of May , 1841 , he moved the question , " Whether the House of Commons still puts its confidence in Lord Melbourne's Government , " which , after eight nights' exciting debate , was carried in the negative by a majority of one , viz ., against Ministers , 312 ; in favour , Sll ; a vote which led to the dissolution of the first Parliament of Queen Victoria , June 22 nd , 1841 .
The new Parliament assembled on the 19 th of August , and on the 24 th an amendment to the address to the Throne was moved by Mr . Stuart Wortley , expressive of a total want of confidence in the Administration , which , after four nights' debate , was carried by a majority of 91—viz ., Ayes , 360 ; Noes , 269 ; and , on the following day , Lord Melbourne went to the Queen at Windsor , and tendered the resignation of himself and his colleagues , which were
officially announceed to both Houses of Parliament , August 30 , on which day her Majesty sent for Sir Robert Peel , and gave him full authority to form an Administration . In the course of the short session Sir Robert Peel resolutely refused to state his measures ; he demanded time for their concoction ; his powerful party supported him ; and , after passing a few necessary and expedient matters , Parliament was prorogued on the 7 th of October .
The harvest proved deficient , thus adding another to the series of calamities with which the country had been inflicted since 1836 . The distress of the people increased ; a general gloom hung over trade and commerce ; and the League agitation became every day more widely extended and more threatening . The session of 1842 opened on the 3 rd of Ffebruarj , the public eagerly expecting the revelation of Sir Robert Peel ' s carefully concealed intentions . On
the 9 th he brought forward his long-expected and much-dreaded measure for the modification of the corn-law , which was carried by a large majority . His career from this period till he retired was a brilliant one . Entering on office with a revenue declining , and with the pecuniary concerns of the country seemingly in inextricable confusion , Sir Robert Peel obtained an almost unanimous support for his income-tax measure , accompanied as it was by alterations in the tariff indicative of the liberal
commercial policy adopted by the party . Not to weary the reader with details of matters so fresh in the memory of all , we may generally recal the proud position held by Sir Robert Peel during his second administration . Ic was in this * period of his public life that his character developed itself in its full proportions . He was now able to develop his plans , and to prove to the country the advantage it derived from having at the head of" affairs one who felt the responsibility due to public opinion . The measure for the total repeal of the Corn-laws was the culminating point of this series of ameliorative measures . The resistance
commenced by Lord George Bentinck , and sustained by Mr . Disraeli , led to the dissolution of the Ministry . It was sufficiently obvious that Sir Robert Peel himself felt that the time was come when he should once more resign his power . The Irish Coercion Bill affording the opportunity—as he was then met by an adverse majority , composed of the regular Opposition , and the advocates of protection—he resigned , but not until he had left on record a speech of remarkable power , even for him , in which he vindicated himself
to his contemporaries , and provided for posterity and for the future historian an explanation and justification of his measures . After that time Sir Robert Peel occupied the position of moderator in the House of Commons , lending to the Ministers a conscientious support , that they might carry out the new commercial policy . It is a very remarkable fact that the only occasion on which he felt compelled to oppose the Ministry—the late debate on Lord Palmerston ' s policy—occurred the very night before the accident which caused his untimely end .
Sir Robert Peel was married on the 8 th of June , 1820 , to Julia , the youngest daughter of General Sir John Floyd , and had five sons and two daughters One son has enjoyed diplomatic employment , a second is in the navy , a third in the Scots Fusilier Guards , a fourth occupies a seat in Parliament . One of his daughters was married in July , 1841 , to Viscount Villiers , eldest son of the Earl of Jersey .
Buckingham Palace , May 10 , 1830 . " The Queen hayine : considered the proposal mode to her yesterday by Sir . Robert Peel , to remove the Ladies
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TRIBUTES BY THE PRESS . His Influence as a Statesman . — Few men hav . - > had so immense a personal influence upon events , an-l no one has had an influence so salutary . For , if any statesman can boast so to have anticipated the popular demands and the popular wants of a disturbed and annichic era as to render revolution impossible , by conferring its benofits and avoiding its evils , that statesman is Sir Robert Peel . —Daily News . Tun Great Public Loss . —Abilities of a very high order , administrative talents seldom equalled , great po-
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Leader (1850-1860), July 6, 1850, page 340, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1845/page/4/
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