i • i , I LOED GEOEGE BENTINCK. LOSDON : PRINTED BY SPOTTISWOODB AND CO., NEW-STEEET 6QCARB AND PARLIAMENT STREET LORD GEORGE BENTINCK: A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. BY THE EIGHT HONORABLE B. DISRAELL " He left us the legacy of heroes ; the memory of his great name and the inspiration of his great example." NINTH EDITION. LONDON : LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO. 1874. nTPETER MAYER I LIBRARY TO LORD HENRY BENTINCK IS INSCRIBED THIS POLITICAL BIOGEAPHT OF ONE FOB WHOM HE ENTEKTAINED A DEEP AFFECTION, AND WHOSE TALENTS AND VIRTUES HE SHARES. PEEFACE TO THE EIGHTH EDITION. to«0*- A New Edition of the 'Political Biography of Lord GrEOEGE Bentinck' has been for some time required, but I have been imwilHng to sanction its republica- tion without previously and critically perusing it, and I have never found time for so doing until this autumn. One views contemporary history with justifiable suspicion : the prejudice and passion which often deform its pages are scarcely compensated for by the authentic information which, when written by a chief actor in the scene, it certainly ought to supply. A severe scrutiny has convinced me that the statements of fact in this work are rigidly accurate. But what gratifies me most, on its re-perusal, is the impartial spirit in which the motives of individuals and parties Viii PREFACE TO THE EIGHTH EDITION. are considered and described. To every individual justice is done. After twenty years, the character of Sir Egbert Peel appears to me to be naore true than any which has appeared of that eminent man. In reading this work it should be remembered that time has changed the position of many persons who figure in its pages. The Lord Stanley often referred to, for example, was the father of the present Earl of Derby, and the Chancellor of the Exchequer frequently quoted is the present Lord Halifax. In summing up the perplexed circumstances of what was styled at the time ' The Canning Episode,' I gave, not without hesitation, the bias of my judgment in favour of the view sought to be established by Sir EoBERT Peel. I have not thought fit to make any alteration in that summary of evidence; yet it is right to observe that the recently published Papers of the Duke of Wellington when a Cabinet Minister,* perhaps the most important contribution to the poli- tical literature of this century, seems to show that the abolition of the civil disabilities of the Eoman Catholics * The Civil and Political Papers of the Duke of Wellington. 3 rols. 8to. PKEFACE TO THE EIGnTH EDITION. IX was contemplated by Loed Liveepool, the Duke him- self, and SiE EoBEET Peel, in the year 1825. Since the ' Political Biography ' was first published, an important event respecting the civil disabilities of another portion of Her Majesty's subjects has occurred : the emancipation of the Jews. I have thought it, however, better to retain the 24th chapter, which treats of that question, not only because the question detached Loed Gteoege Bentinck from the lead of a political party, but because the chapter treats of a not uninteresting portion of the history of human nature, and throws some light on the principle of race, which is the key of history, and the surest clue, in all ages, to the conduct of mankind. D. HUGHENDEN MaNOB l Nov. 1871. CONTENTS. CHAPTER I, FAGS STATE OF PAETIE3 IN THE HOUSE OP COMMONS AT THE CLOSE OP 1845 1 CHAPTER II. POtJR MEETINGS OP THE CABINET IN ONE WEEK 14 CHAPTER m. 1846 — OPENING OP PARLIAMENT 29 CHAPTER IV. PROPOSITION TO REPEAL THE CORN LAWS 40 CHAPTER V. POEMATION OP THE PROTECTIONIST PARTY 54 CHAPTER VI. SECOND READING OF THE BILL TO REPEAL THE CORN LAWS .... 78 CHAPTER VII. STATE OP IRELAND 88 xii CONTENTS. CHAPTEU VIII. PAGE THE COERCION BILL 98 CHAPTEE IX. BEMEDIAL MEASURES FOE lEELANS 113 CHAPTER X. eaStee 124 CHAPTER XI. CRITICAL POSITION OF THE GOVEKNIIENT 130 CHAPTER XII. THIRD READING OP THE CORN BILL 145 CHAPTER XIII. EECIPEOCITT 161 CHAPTER XIV. THE PROTECTIONIST PARTY RESOLVE TO OPPOSE THE COEECIOl'T BILL 165 CHAPTER XV. THE CANNING EPISODE _. 183 CHAPTER XVI. OVEETHEOW OP THE PEEL CABINET 207 CONTENTS. Xlll CHAPTEU XVII. * PAGE CHAEACTEK OF SIR ROBERT PEEL , 218 CHAPTER XVIII. THE SUGAR BILL — PROGRESS AND REACTION 232 CHAPTER XIX. IRISH RAILWAYS 240 CHAPTER XX. 1847 — THE IRISH FAMINE 252 CH^iPTER XXI. THE BANK CHARTER ACT 296 CHAPTER XXII. DISSOLUTION OF PARLIAMENT 308 CHAPTER XXIII. THE PANIC 318 CHAPTER XXIV. THE JEWISH QUESTION 346 CHAPTER XXV. 1848 — RELINQUISHMENT OP THE LEADERSHIP OP THE PROTECTION- IST PARTY BY LORD GEORGE BENTINCK 365 xiv CONTENTS. CHAPTER XXVI,. PAGE THE SUGAE AND COFFEE PLANTING COMMITTEE 380 CHAPTER XXVII. FOREIGN POLITICS— CLOSE OF THE SESSION 1848 396 CHAPTER XXVm. THE LAST CHAPTEB 419 A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. CHAPTER I. The political career of Lord George Bentinck was peculiar. He had, to use his own expression, " sate in eight Parliaments without having taken part in any- great debate," when remarkable events suddenly im- pelled him to advance and occupy not only a consider- able but a leading position in our public affairs. During three years, under circumstances of great difficulty, he displayed some of the highest qualities of political life : courage and a lofty spirit ; a mastery of details which experience usually alone confers ; a quick apprehension and a clear intelligence ; indomitable firmness ; prompt- ness, punctuality, and perseverance which never failed ; an energy seldom surpassed ; and a capacity for labour v/hich was perhaps never equalled. At the very moment when he had overcome many contrarieties and preju- dices ; when he had been most successful in the House of Commons, and sustained only by his own resources had considerably modified the legislation of the govern- ment which he opposed on a measure of paramount importance ; when the nation, which had long watched him with interest, began to congratulate itself on the devotion of such a man to the business of the country, he was in an instant taken from us. Then it was that the memory of the past and the hope of the future blending together, all men seemed to mourn over this untimely end, and there was that pang in the publip B 1%^ 2 A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. heart wliicli accompanies the unexpected disappearance of a strong character. What manner of man this was, who thus on a sudden in the middle term of life relinquished all the ease and pleasure of a patrician existence to work often eighteen hours a-day, not for a vain and brilliant notoriety, which was foreign alike both to his tastes and his turn of mind, but for the advancement of prin- ciples, the advocacy of which in the chief scene of his efforts was sure to obtain for him only contention and unkindly feelings ; what were his motives, purposes and opinions ; how and why he laboured ; and the whole scope and tendency of this original, vigorous, and self-schooled intelligence; these would appear to be subjects not unworthy of contemplation, and espe- cially not uninteresting to a free and political com- munity. The difficulty of treating coteraporary characters and events has been ever acknowledged ; but it may be doubted whether the difficulty is diminished when we would commemorate the men and things that have preceded us. The cloud of passion in the first instance, or in the other the mist of time, may render it equally hard and perplexing to discriminate. It should not be forgotten that the most authentic and interesting his- tories are those which have been composed by actors in the transactions which they record. The cotemporary writer who is personally familiar with his theme has unquestionably a great advantage; but it is assumed that his pen can scarcely escape the bias of private friendship or political connection. Yet truth, after all, is the sovereign passion of mankind ; nor is the writer of these pages prepared to relinquish his conviction, that it is possible to combine the accuracy of the present with the impartiality of the future. The frequent meetings of the cabinet that took place towards the end of the year 18i5 excited a lively A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. 3 interest in the country, and attracted even the atten- tion of Europe. No doubt could exist as to the cause of these assembKngs. The powerful organization for the repeal of the corn laws, which hitherto had been more remarkable for its efficient discipline and the ability of its leaders than for the degree of popular sympathy which it commanded, had received a great and unexpected assistance, and that too when its energy and its resources were both waning, by the menaced failure of one of the crops most important for the sustenance of the people of the United Kingdom. Nor, it was rumoured, was this visitation limited to her Majesty's dominions. It was prevalent in many other European countries, and extended even to the native region of the potato. The difficulty which, under such circumstances, must have been experienced by any ministry, was aggravated in the existing instance by the fact that the govern- meut had been formed on principles adverse to a. less restricted importation of foreign food than the law then sanctioned. What would be their course ? Would they recognize in the present state of affairs a proof of the error of their system, or would they esteem it a contingency which might derange, but which would not invalidate, that system ? And if so, what remedial measure would they adopt to counteract that temporary disturbance? Would they suspend the import duties on foreign corn ? And if so, would they obtain their object by an order in council, or by the immediate sanction of Parliament, to be assembled for that pur- pose ? These were the questions which were in every- body's mouth and mind, while four cabinet councils, of unusual duration, were held in one week. Nor was the excitement throughout the continent of Europe, though of course less general, less eager or less anxious. The existing policy of the great cabinets had been founded on the assumption that the administra- 4 A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. tion of Sir Robert Peel would be limited only by the term of his political life, and that he might probably bequeath the government to a competent successor. They esteemed the retarded but at length signal triumph of the Conservative principle in England in 1841, as the complete and natural conclusion of those events and ideas which had agitated and perplexed the various communities since the fall of the elder Bour- bons in 1830. They associated their interests, there- fore, with the existence of a Conservative government in England. They could not bring themselves to believe, in November, 1845, that such a government was in danger, though it was evidently in some diffi- culty. So strong was their faith in the power of the triumphant Tory party, and so great their confidence in the sagacity and experience and high reputation of its eminent leader, that they were on the whole perhaps rather curious than alarmed. In the meantime the cabinet, which had met so frequently and so hurriedly, again dispersed, apparently with no decision but one of inaction. Instead of an order in council for opening the ports, the London Gazette contained a further prorogation of Parliament, and it was evident that her Majesty^s ministers had no intention to solve the difficulty, either by the exercise of the prerogative of the sovereign, or by a' premature appeal to the two Houses. The determination to do nothing was accepted by the foreign cabinets as evidence that the British minister had examined his position, and had found it impregnable. That, however, was not the opinion of those who, from their parliamentary experience, the political habits of their lives, and their personal ac- quaintance with the characters of the principal actors in the impending transactions, would appear to be more competent to arrive at a sound conclusion. It is difficult for foreign cabinets, however faithfully and A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. 5 intelligently served, to calculate the result of a political crisis in England, when the elements of our party government are violently disturbed. So long as the public contest is the ordinary struggle between recog- nized political connections, — and much depends upon individual opinion, caprice, or conduct, — the social in- formation of the diplomatist, aiding his unimpassioned scrutiny, will often lead him to a more accurate judg- ment of the event, than that of the partisan. But it is otherwise when the great English parties are agitated without the walls of parliament by any acknowledged or assumed repudiation of the principles of their union by those in whom they have confided as ther cherished organs ; and it is only a parliamentary leader of great natural sagacity, matured by a considerable experience of the assembly on which this external opinion is to act, who can successfully calculate what may be its consequences on the conduct of the members. The minister had closed the session of 1845 with an overwhelming majority in both houses. True it is, that in the four years during which he had conducted affairs, he had frequently strained the patience of his supporters ; but their passive murmurs only proved how necessary he was to their interests, and how accurately he had calculated their faculty of sufferance. True it is, that towards the end of the session of ^45, a solitary voice from the Tory benches had presumed to prophesy that Protection then was in about the same condition as Protestantism was in 1828, and amid tumultuous sympathy a Conservative government had been denounced as '^an organized hypocrisy;'-' but the cheers of mutual sensibility were in a great degree furnished by the voices opposite, and the Tory gentle- men beneath the gangway who swelled the chorus did so with downcast eyes, as if they yet hesitated to give utterance to feelings too long and too painfully sup- pressed. Practically speaking, the Conservative govern- 6 A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. ment, at tlie end of the session of M5, was far stronger than even at the corameucement of the session of ^43. If they had forfeited the hearts of their adherents, they had not lost their votes ; while both in Parliament and the country, they had succeeded in appropriating a mass of loose, superficial opinion, not trammelled by party ties, and which complacently recognized in their measures the gradual and moderate fulfilment of a latitudinarian policy both in church and state. Their position was also aggrandized and confirmed by a conviction then prevalent, and which it is curious to observe is often current on the eve of great changes-, that the ministry of Sir Robert Peel were the only body of men then competent to carry on affairs. The opposite benches were thronged with gentlemen wlio oflered no opposition. Split into sections, they agreed only in affording the ministerial system a forced and grim approbation. The most noisy and bustling section was that of the English Radicals, who with provident perseverance were resolved to show that no future ministry should be formed without their claims being acknowledged. In this, when the crisis arrived, they partially succeeded, by the graceful if not ■\villin£r abnegation of some eminent members of the Whig party. But, generally speaking, the preferments arranged by a process so painful and so costly have not been very felicitous ; nor has the English Radical party ever obtained that influence in the House which, from their numbers, might have been expected. They still mainly depended on the multifarious information and the vast experience of Mr. Hume, who towered among them without a rival. Future Parliaments will do justice to the eminent services of this remarkable man, then the most hard-working member of the House, of which he was the father. His labours on public committees will be often referred to hereafter ; and then, perhaps, it will be remembered that, di\ring a career of forty A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. 7 years, and often under circumstances of great provoca- tion, he never once lost his temper. Inferior in numbers, but superior in influence from their powers of debate and their external organization, were the members of the confederation called the Anti-Corn-Law League ; but the close of the session of '45 found them nearly reduced to silence. Low prices, abundant harvests, and a thriving commerce, had rendered appeals, varied even by the persuasive ingenuity of Mr. Cobden, a wearisome iteration. The Manchester confederates seemed to be least in favour with Parliament and the country on the very eve of their triumph. They lost at the same time elections and the ear of the House ; and the cause of total and immediate repeal seemed in a not less hopeless position than when, under circumstances of infinite difficulty, it was first and solely upheld by the terse eloquence and vivid perception of Charles Villiers. The condition of the Whig party itself was absolutely forlorn ; it was spoken of as a corpse ; it was treated as a phantom. With numbers scarcely exceeding one- sixth of the House in a Parliament of their own summoning, the Whigs were sustained alone by the dignity of Lord John Russell. There are few positions less inspiriting than that of the leader of a discomfited party. The labours and anxieties of a minister, or of his rival on the contested threshold of office, may be alleviated by the exercise or sustained by the anticipa- tion of power ; both are surrounded by eager, anxious, excited, perhaps enthusiastic, adherents. There is sympathy, appreciation, prompt counsel, profuse assist- ance. But he who in the parliamentary field watches over the fortunes of routed troops, must be prepared to sit often alone. Few care to share the labour which is doomed to be fruitless, and none are eager to diminish the responsibility of him whose course, however adroit, must necessarily be ineffectual. Nor can a man of 8 A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. sensibility in sucli a post easily obviate these discourage- ments. It is ungracious to appeal to the grey-headed to toil for a harvest which they may probably never reap, and scarcely less painful to call upon glittering youth to sacrifice its rosy hours for a result as remote as the experience in which it does not believe. Adversity is necessarily not a sanguine season, and in this respect a political party is no exception to all other human combinations. In doors and out of doors a disheartened opposition will be querulous and captious. A dis- couraged multitude have no future ; too depressed to indulge in a large and often hopeful horizon of con- templation, they busy themselves in peevish detail, and by a natural train of sentiment associate their own conviction of ill-luck, incapacity, and failure, with the most responsible member of their confederation : while all this time inexorable dutv demands, or rather that honour which is the soul of public life, that he should be as vigilant, as laborious, should exercise as complete a control over his intelligence and temper, should be as prompt to represent their principles in debate, and as patient and as easy of access in private conference, should be as active and as thoughtful, as if he were sustained by all that encourages exertion, — the appro- bation of the good and the applause of the wise. The position of Lord John Russell during the last administration of Sir Robert Peel was a mortifying one. Every public man is prepared to endure defeat with the same equanimity with which he should bear more auspicious fortunes ; but no one likes to be vanquished unfairly. It was the opinion of Lord John Russell that he had not been fairly treated by the triumphant oppo- sition which had ousted him from the Treasury bench. He was indeed too reserved and too justly proud a man to give any vent to these feelings in the heyday of Conservative exultation. But the feelings were not less lively; he brooded over them with the pain which A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. 9 accompanies the sense of injustice. Session after session, while his pohcy was appropriated in detail by those who had often condemned or misrepresented it, the frigid manner often veiled an indignant spirit, and the cynic smile was sometimes the signal of a contempt which he was too haughty to express. But when the hour of judgment had arrived, and when he might speak of his feelings with becoming dignity, in giving the reason why at the beginning of 1846^ when suiTimoned by his sovereign, he had at first respectfully dechned the com- mission of her Majesty to form a government on account of his weakness in the House of Commons, he added : " I need not now explain why it was, that, in the House of Commons, those who in general agree with me in opinion, are inferior in number to those who generally follow the right honourable baronet (Sir Robert Peel) ; but I must say, on this occasion, that during the whole of our administration, our motives never received a fair construction, nor did our measures ever receive an impartial consideration from those who were our political opponents." This is a grave charge, applying as it does to a very eventful period of nearly seven years, for such was the considerable duration of the Melbourne government. Was the charge well founded ? In reluctantly admitting its authenticity, there are, however, in justice to the Conservative ministry, and especially in justice to the Conservative party, several important considerations to be indicated. The unfairness with which the last Melbourne ad- ministration was treated was the consequence of the irregular and somewhat scandalous conduct of the Whig party during the preceding administration, and espe- cially during the latter months of Lord Grey^s govern- ment. This conduct had created a great mass of public prejudice against them. Notwithstanding the reform of Parliament and the august renown of its apparent 10 A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. author, the Whigs had contrived in a very brief space to lose the opinion of a country which at the termina- tion of 1830, it was supposed by many, they might have ruled for half a century. A series of strange incidents, of startling changes, and almost inexplicable intrigues, had perplexed, alarmed, and disgusted the middle class. The champions of popular opinion seemed involved in cabals, and eventually, as it appeared, against their own venerable chief; while the ministers, upheld by national sympathies, were in dark but baffled confederation with an Irish section, not viewed without distrust even by the great body of the Liberal party. Unquestionably the main cause of this strange and unexpected state of aft'airs was the unfitness of the respectable Lord Spencer for the leading office which he occupied. Private integrity and public honour are qualities, it is to be hoped, which will never be under- rated in our free, parliamentary life ; but they are qualities which are not sufficient in the revolutionary hour to control cabinets and senates. His resignation, and immediate resumption of power, followed by the retirement of Lord Grey, have never been explained, though it is charitable to suppose they were the move- ments of a man distracted by good intentions and difficult circumstances. The impatience of the court, by hurry- ing the catastrophe, secured to the Whigs, after a brief but not inglorious interval for the Tories, a lengthened renewal of that power which they had so Avantonly abused, and Lord INIelbourne, with his new cabinet, had to encounter all that prejudice which was the conse- quence of the misconduct of his old one. The leader of the House of Commons in Lord Mel- bourne's new cabinet was Lord John Russell, who had hitherto, taking into consideration his parliamentary experience, his eminent services, and his name, filled, comparatively speaking, only a subordinate position in the government. When the cabinet of Lord Grey was A POLITICAL BIOGRAPnY. 21 formed he was not appointed a member of it, and he even, as paymaster of the forces, brought forward the great measure of parliamentary reform as the member of the government most competent to explain and to defend its provisions, without the responsibility of being an adviser of his Majesty. The Whigs could hardly have treated Mr. Burke worse, and probably, in some degree, from the same cause. Lord John Russell was a man of letters, and it is a common opinion that a man cannot at the same time be successful both in medita- tion and in action. But in life it is wisest to judge men individually, and not decide upon them by general rules. The common opinion in this instance may be very often correct; but where it fails to apply its influence may involve us in fatal mistakes. A literary man who is a man of action is a two-edged weapon; nor should it be forgotten that Caius Julius and Frederick the Great were both eminently literary characters, and yet were perhaps the two most distinguished men of action of ancient and modern times. The Whigs were so circumstanced after the dissolu- tion of ^34 that they could only regain power by a still more intimate alliance with that ultra-montane Irish party, their previous negotiation with which had been the principal cause of their overthrow. Lord John Russell therefore was obliged to commence his career as a principal minister by not only reviving but aggravating the prejudice which already attached to his party in this particular. He obtained power by the assertion of a principle which as a minister he was unable to enforce, and the resumption of office by the Whigs was thus secured by a process which, while it was condemned by public opinion, became an enduring evidence of the essential weakness of their administration. Thus the second government of Lord Melbourne was from the first both unpopular and feeble ; and this too in the face of a very powerful opposition in Parliament and the 12 A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. country, who could not resist the conclusion that the ministry had obtained their seats under a false pretence; means scarcely within the pale of parliamentary tactics. Laying aside for a moment this original sin, which, however, tainted all their course, the measures of the Melbourne government were generally moderate, well- matured, and statesmanlike schemes. The conduct of the government until '39 was highly reputable, and well would it have been for the honour of both parties, if the impending and inevitable change of administra- tion had not then been postponed. During all this period, however, it must be acknowledged that the Whigs encountered "an opposition which never gave a fair construction to, or an impartial consideration of, their measures;" the Whigs certainly during this period did not receive fair play ; but it was because both Parlia- ment and the country, from the scandalous transactions of '34 and the reckless manoeuvres of '35, thought that they did not deserve it. But the position of Lord John Russell under these circumstances was different from that of the other prin- cipal members of the Whig party. Although at this period leader of the House of Commons, he had not been even a member of the first Reform cabinet, and though tardily preferred to that eminence, can scarcely be held in any degree responsible for that management of the Lower House and that guidance of the minis- terial councils which, in the space of little more than three years, had succeeded in dissipating a great parlia- mentary force and in scattering a powerful cabinet. Forced, for the resuscitation of the Whig government, to the manoeuvre of the appropriation clause, he could scarcely have refrained from deploring the infirm policy which had rendered necessary for a proud and suc- cessful party such an abasement : he could scarcely have withstood contemplating what might perhaps have been his own position and that of the great Whig con- A POLITICAL BI0GRAP4IY. 13 nection, had he been deemed worthy to fill in ^31 the post which lie occupied in ^35, In or out of power, therefore, the position of Lord John Kussell since the Reform Act had been more splendid than satisfactory ; and when the Whig party^ as was inevitable from their antecedents, but apparently, to his mortification, in consequence of his guidance, was again overthrown, and had lost all credit and con- fidence with the country, it was to be expected that a man of his thoughtful ambition would seek, when the occasion offered, to rebuild his power and renew the lustre of his reputation with no superstitious deference to that party of which he was the victim as much as the idol, and with no very punctilious consideration for the feelings of that Conservative government which had certainly extended to him an opposition neither distinguished by its generosity nor its candour. Such was the man, such his fortunes, such perhaps his feelings, who was watching in a distant city in the autumn of M-5 " four cabinet councils held in a week." To one so experienced in political life, and especially to one so intimately acquainted with the personal cha- racter of the chief actors, it was not difficult to form some conclusion as to the nature of these momentous deliberations. When the cabinet dispersed and Parlia- ment was again prorogued, it was evident, to use the subsequent expression of Lord John Russell, that the policy decided on was a policy of inaction. It is in the season of perplexity, of hesitation, of timidity, of doubt, that leading minds advance to decide and to direct, iS^ow was the moment to strike. And without consulting his party, which for the first time he really led, and with no false delicacy for a Conservative cabinet in convulsions, he expressed his opinions on public affairs in that celebrated Edinburgh epistle, which was addressed, on the 18th of November, to his consti- tuents, the citizens of London. 14 A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. CHAPTER II. The proceedings of those four councils in a week, which in November, '45, agitated England, perplexed the sagacious Tuileries, and disturbed even the serene intelligence of the profound Metternich, are no longer a secret. The prime minister of England, in bringing before the consideration of his colleagues the temporary mea- sures which in his judgment a menaced exigency required, intimated to them at the same time his change of opinion as to the principles on which our commercial system ought to be established, entirely rejecting those conclusions, the maintenance of which only four years before had raised him, after an official ostracism of ten years, to the pinnacle of power by a national demon- stration scarcely inferior to the triumph of Mr. Pitt in 1783. This momentous conversion had for some time been known to more than one of his principal colleagues who sympathised with his mutability, and had perhaps been suspected by most, who, however, were not anxious to press for any definite disclosures, so long as his defec- tion was limited to the domain of speculation. Sir Edward Knatchbull, however, who seceded in silence both from the cabinet and Parliament in the previous year, when pressed for the cause of his retirement by an anxious friend, confidentially replied that he could not remain with satisfaction, and felt that he could not long remain with honour, and that at his time of life he shrank from again mixing in the bitter strife which attended the break-up of a great party from the defection of its leaders. It was the wish and perhaps the hope of Sir Robert Peel to have postponed the A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. 15 public announcement of his recantation until the opinion of the country might at a general election have been again constitutionally taken on the subject of Protection. The present Parliament was fast waning, and had low prices and abundant harvests continued to prevail, Sir Robert Peel was prepared until the dissolu- tion still to occupy the ostensible post of a Protectionist minister. Perhaps he was sanguine that during the interval the national judgment which had been so unequivocally expressed in '41 might be greatly modi- fied, and that it was not impossible he might ultimately be established as a triumphant minister, to revoke the very policy which he had previously been selected to defend and confirm. But he was " precluded from taking a course which would have been most agreeable to his personal feel- ings." The menaced occurrence of a great calamity rendered it necessary, in his opinion, that the govern- ment should take some steps to secure the provision of the people. " There appeared to be a great and press- ing danger." The cabinet was summoned on the 1st of November to consider what steps should be taken for the relief of the distress in Ireland. That was the avowed object of their assembling and the announced subject for their discussion. Papers were laid before the ministers representing the failure of the potato crop, and the general anxiety that consequently prevailed; and then the chief minister, after dilating much upon the perilous position of Ireland and the necessity of adopt- ing immediate steps for her succour, entered into a lengthened detail of the result of the harvest in foreign countries, which he represented to be generally defi- cient. It appeared that several European governments had already taken steps to prevent the export of sup- plies, and to permit and encourage import ; that Bel- gium had cleared the market of Liverpool of rice in one day, thereby occasioning a rise in the price of that 16 A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. article to tlie amount of 75 per cent. Under these circumstances, there were two courses which in the opinion of the first minister were open to the cabinet, neither of which was without precedent ; and these were either by an order in council, or by calHng ParHament together within a fortnight, to suspend all restrictions upon the importation of foreign corn. Sir Robert Peel stated that he preferred the first course. He was for issuing at once an order in council, because that would save time; but he did not insist upon this, although as the head of the government he was prepared to take the responsibility of such a measure : he should be content if the cabinet would agree to call Parliament together immediately, and recommend from the throne the instant suspension of the import duties on foreign corn, at the same time intimating his opinion that, after such a suspension, it might be neither possible nor expedient to re-enact the existing law. This statement of the first minister was coldly re- ceived by the great majority of the cabinet, and it was evident that neither of his suggestions was deemed satisfactory. Lord Stanley, then secretary of state, familiar with the condition of Ireland and the habits of the Irish, analyzed with searching criticism the statements as to that country, and the effect of the proposed remedy on the cultivation of its soil. In the first place, he denied the possibility of the govern- ment, or of any one else, forming any judgment at the end of October, as to the prospect of scarcity in Ireland. Not a third of the potatoes could have at that time been dug up. He impressed upon his col- leagues the wide distinction there was between famine and great local and individual distress. He admitted that a total or a partial failure of the potato crop would involve in absolute destitution the whole body of small cottiers, who were not like the English husbandmen in the receipt of wages, but who had invested their labour A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. 17 and all tlieir resources in tlie cultivation of some small plot of ground, for wliicli they paid a high rent. If the produce of that failed, tlieir stock of provisions was gone, and having no means of employment, they could not purchase food to replace the crop which was wanting. But the repeal of a corn law could not aid them now. What they required was, not reduction of price, but the absolute means of purchase. But while this was the condition of the Irish cottiers, what would be the effect of a suspension of import duties on a class not less important even in numbers, a class comprising with their families not less than between five and six millions of the population; namely, the small farmers of Ireland ? Fifteen acres in Ireland was called a large farm. These cultivators of the soil grew oats and potatoes. What was their compensation for the failure of the latter crop ? The success of their superior one, of which they had this year a super- abundance at a very fair price. This attbrded them means of sustaining themselves ; and by way of re- lieving this class when they have lost one crop, the present proposition was to inflict a further injury by reducing the price of tlieir other. Therefore, as faV as the instance of Ireland should sway them. Lord Stanley gave it as his opinion that they should not adopt either of the recommendations of the chief minister. But Sir Robert Peel had entered into other considerations. He had referred to the state of the harvest in England also, and had specially called their attention to the apprehended deficiency of the con- tinent ; foreign countries, it appeared, were even pro- hibiting the export of their produce. But it appeared to Lord Stanley that this was rather an additional reason against opening their ports, because the effect of such a step is always to stimulate consumption : yet to stimulate consumption while foreign nations pro- hibited export seemed hardly a prudent course. c 18 A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. These views were stronjily supported by the duke of Wellington, " who considered the proposition of the first minister was a measure which was not necessary to be adopted/' and the great majority of the cabinet were of the same opinion, the two secretaries of state and the secretary at war being the only ministers Avho countenanced the project of Sir Robert Peel. It was therefore apparently abandoned; the cabinet entering into the consideration of other measures calculated to meet the emergency. They unanimously agreed to appoint a commission, consisting of the heads of the departments in Ireland, to take precautionary steps against a sudden occurrence of distress; and they separated on the 6th of November. On the 22nd of that month appeared the Edinburgh letter, in which Lord Jolm Russell announced the danger of the country and condemned the inertness of the government. In the inability of the queen's ministers, it became the queen's subjects to consider how they might avert calamities of no ordinary magnitude. Two evils required their consideration : the disease in the potatoes, and the corn law of '42, " in which the duties were so contrived that the worse the qualities of the corn the higher was the duty. Thus the corn barometer points to fair, while the ship is bending under a storm." Lord John confessed that on the general subject his views had in the course of twenty years undergone a great alteration. He had for several years endea- voured to obtain a compromise on the subject. In 1839, he had voted for a committee of the whole House, with the view of supporting the substitution of a moderate fixed duty for the sliding scale. Two years after, as minister, he had proposed a fixed duty of eight shillings per quarter. Even in the past session he had made another eftbrt. These propositions were successively rejected, and thus he sketches the cause of those rejections : — A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. -19 Cf 1 The present First Lord of the Treasury met them in 1839, '40, and '41, by eloquent panegyrics on the existing system — the plenty it had caused, the rural happiness it had diffused. He met the propositions for diminished protection in the same way in which he had met the offer of securities for Protestant in- terests in 1817 and 1825 — in the same way in wliich he met the proposal to allow INIanchester, Leeds, and Birmingham to send members to Parliament in 1830. The result of resistance to qualified conces- sions must be the same in the present instance as in those I have mentioned. It is no longer worth while to contend for a fixed duty." This letter ended by an appeal to all classes to unite and to agitate in order to put an end to the system. " The government appear to be waiting for some excuse to give up the present corn law. Let the people afford them the excuse they seek." A cabinet council was the consequence of this letter. According to the view of the first minister, the letter of his rival had " materially affected his position.'* The policy which he proposed on the 1st of November, had it been adopted by his colleagues, would have appeared as the policy of a united cabinet acting under the sense of a great neeessitv. But an order for opening the ports on the 26th would seem but a servile adoption of the course recommended by the Whig leader. Yet, notwithstanding this disadvantage. Sir Robert Peel was not prepared to '' abandon the post of danger," provided a united cabinet would support the policy which he now" recommended ; and that w^as an early summoning of Parliament, for the purpose of proposing a virtual abrogation of the corn laws. Stransre to say, the same cabinet that on the 1st of the month had refused by a large majority to consent to an order in council for the suspension of a law. c 2 20 A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. because tliey deemed that suspension miglit be a bar to its re-enactment, were now almost unanimously pre- pared to take even a stronjjer step, and that with a view to the virtual abrogation of the same law. Nor could this change be accounted for by any aggravation in the interval of the economic circumstances of the case. It was, confessedly by the highest authority, respecting " the possibility of a great calamity,'^ and not the calamity itself, that they were deliberating ; " a calamity lighter than was at one time dreaded," as Lord John Kussell admitted on the meeting of Parliament in January, 1846; and ultimately the expected evil never arrived in the season when it was awaited. Yet such was the inexplicable influence of the manifesto of the Whig leader, that Lord Stanley, when he enforced the opinions which he had expressed at the beginning of the month, found himself with only one, and that one not a very vehement supporter. The minister who submitted to be overnded at the beginning of the month was now dictating his mea- sures with the menace of resignation. The situation was undoubtedly grave, and the disruption of the Government at such a moment was not calculated to diminish the difficulties of the country. A united cabinet demands great efforts and deserves great sacri- fices. Lord Stanley was prepared to make both. He felt deeply and painfully the prospect of separation from his colleagues ; he felt more deeply and more painfully the awful responsibility which he found now was about to devolve singly on himself. The illustrious example of the duke of Wellington was at hand. Ilis grace had not changed his opinions. Yet for the sake of maintaining a united cabinet he was prepared to change his policy. Pressed on all hands. Lord Stanley requested eight-and-forty hours for his decision. It v.as therefore neither an intemperate nor a precipitate one. I'or two more days an anxious and impenetrable A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. 21 mystery involved the councils of the queen. At the end of them the ministers again met and received the decision of their scrupulous colleague. So forcibly did lie feel the importance of unanimity in the cabinet, and so strongly was he convinced of the injury done by the breaking up of any government, that although enter- taining serious doubts whether a suspension of tlie corn laws and the opening of the ports w^ould be of avail^ or might not even be injurious, he yielded his opinion, and \vas prepared to consent to that suspension, provided suspension was alone intended. But when he was told that the temporary emergency of apprehended scarcity in Ireland was not to lead to a remedy commensurate 111 duration with the expected evil, but was to be made the ground-work of suspending, for the purpose of not re-enacting, the corn law, he felt that he coukl not take that course consistently with his own feelings as an honourable man ; and that with such ulterior views, to propose to Parliament to sanction the opening of the ports would be to lead those who were disposed to support the government into a snare. He said that he had tried to school himself into the belief that, under certain circumstances, the interests of the country might require even a sacrifice of personal and public charac- ter, but he had failed in bringing himself to so humi- liating a conclusion. Upon this the government was broken up. Here arises an interesting inquiry. In his subsequent statements in Parliament, Sir Kobert Peel more than once expressed his feeling that, whatever his conviction, he was not the person who ought to propose a repeal of the corn laws. When Sir Robert Inglis, in a tone of dignified reproach, regretted that the measure if carried at all w^as not carried by those who for years had been its advocates, and not bv those who till the last three months had been all along its opponents. Sir llobert Peel admitted the justice of the comment, but vindi- 23 A POLITICAL BIOGRAPnY. cated himself on the ground that he had himself so wished it, and had only failed from the inability of the Whigs to form a Government. In his explanatory statement on the reassembling of Parliament;, Sir Robert said that he had " to choose between organizing a decided and interminable opposition to all change with respect to the corn laws, and undertaking, if the noble lord felt himself unable to undertake it, the foundation of final legislation on the subject." A strictly consti- tutional^ and perfectly honourable proceeding. But if this be an accurate description of the feelings and prin- ciples of the first minister, how came he, a week before he gave the opportunity to Lord John Russell, to attempt to induce bis own cabinet to carry the repeal ? This inquiry wa& frequently urged by a supporter of Lord George Eentinck during the important and unex- pectedly protracted debates to which the government proposition gave rise, and always occasioned great em- barrassment to the minister. Indeed, it was the only point which he never contrived successfully to encoun- ter, though it was not from want of efforts. He him- self more than once recurred to it, for he was tenderly alive to the necessity of parliamentary explanations in the long run. He seldom left a weak point in his public conduct without a plausible vindication. In the present instance he once even gave formal notice to the House that he was about to explain this mysterious passage, though at the cost of reading a confidential minute of the cabinet. But the highly interesting state paper left the knot unsolved, and there appears to be only one solution left for the critical historian — namely, that when Sir Robert Peel was of opinion that the com laws must be repealed, be was resolved to be the repealer. Almost at the moment when he was about to be driven from office, in the middle of June, M<6, Sir Robert said : " If it is asserted, that I wished to interfere in the settlement of this question by the noble lord A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. 23 opposite, that is the foulest cahimny which the vindic- tive imagination of a political opponent ever dictated/' What was his wish to interfere in this manner which broke up his cabinet on the 6th of December, 1845 ? The Whig leader seemed somewhat astonished at the result of his manifesto when he was sent for by the queen on the 8th of December. The summons found him still at Edinburgh, and he was not in the royal pre- sence until the 11th. Eight days passed in somewhat hesitating attempts to form a cabinet by a chief who evidently had no confidence in the strength of his party cither in Parliament or in the country. A negotiation to obtain a pledge of support from Sir Robert Peel, though ingeniously managed, naturally failed. Lord John Russell felt that his position was premature. No doubt he sincerely regretted that the scruple of a solitary colleague should have deprived his rival of the glory and the odium of settling the question. Yet the country had been eight days without a government, and honour and public spirit seemed to require that the statesman should devote himself, however perilous the occasion. Lord John, therefore, with becoming and characteristic reso- lution, determined to undertake the government without a parliamentary majority and with no enthusiasm out of doors, when suddenly he was relieved from almost overwhelming embarrassments by the scandal of an intrigue among his own friends against one of his pro- jected secretaries of state. The intrigue was neither contrived with dexterity nor conducted with temper, but it extricated the Whig leader from a false position. Availing himself with happy readiness of the distressing incident, he endured the mortification of confessing to his sovereign his inability to serve her, and handed back with courtesy the poisoned chalice to Sir Robert. Thus was Sir Robert Peel appointed, for the third time, prime minister of England : and apparently con- firmed in power with no prospect of his authority being 24 A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. successfully impugned. His position was so strong, that raanj', not without justice, deemed it impregnable. He had forced those of his colleagues who were still in favour of a protective system publicly to acknowledge that they were unable to carry on the government of the country on such principles, and, with one distin- guished exception, even practically to embark in his new and contrary course, while at the same time he had committed the Whigs to an absolute and unqualified adoption of the scheme of the Manchester confederation, a project odious to the great body of the Parliament. All this, too, while he reserved to himself the power of adopting that middle course which was ever congenial to him, and of devising some plan which, while it appa- rently doomed the protective principle, postponed its entire extinction, leaving a fragment for the chapter of accidents to deal with, and which, if destined ultimately to perish, might still in the interval occupy the specu- lation and perhaps enlist the sympathies of his former followers. Those among them, and it was supposed that they were not inconsiderable in numbers, who were anxious to maintain their allegiance to him unbroken, were furnished with a valid excuse for their fidelity by the fact ostentatiously circulated that his protesting colleagues had, when the opportunity was offered, shrunk from the responsibility of officially vindicating their opinions, while even the most deeply offended, they who at the first burst were keen and eager to strike and be avenged, were so irritated by the manifesto of the Whig leader, that on reflection they Mere little disposed to reward Lord John Russell for his extreme movement by installing him in office on the ruins of his rival. And thus it happened that, after all this tumult, there was a fair prospect that the impending meeting of Par- liament would be a comparatively tranquil and unevent- ful one ; if not serene, at least only sullen ; the results anticipated, the conclusion foregone. This was the A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. 25 general conviction around all those hospitable liearths uhich at the season in question brighten tlnoughout the land, wliere the prospects of the ensuing parliamen- tary campaign are freely canvassed, and form in this political counti'y a source of diversion scarcely less interesting than tlie sports of the field and the festivities of the season. The resuscitated administration them- selves were in high spirits : the foreign ministers wrote to their courts in a similar strain : and a witty diplo- matist communicated to an illustrious personage the opinion of a member of the government, that " it would only be a fat cattle opposition, and that the Protec- tionists would be unable to keep up the debate for two nights." One man alone brooded in indignation over the unex- ampled scene, and he was one who, from the little interest he had previously taken in political life, could not have occurred to the government as a possible oppo- nent. Lord George Bentinck had sat for eighteen years in Parliament, and before he entered it had been for three years the private secretary of Mr. Canning, who had married the sister of the duchess of Portland. Such a post would seem a happy commencement of a public career; but whether it were the untimely death of his distinguished relative, or a natural indisposi- tion, Lord George — though he retained the seat for King's Lynn, in which he had succeeded his uncle, the late governor-general of India — directed his energies to other than parliamentary pursuits. For some time he had followed his profession, which was that of arms, but of late years he had become absorbed in the pastime and fortunes of the turf, in which his whole being seemed engrossed, and which he pursued on a scale that perhaps has never been equalled. Lord George had withdrawn his support from the government of the duke of Wellington, when the friends of jNIr. Canning quitted that administration ; and when 26 A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. in time they formed the not least considercable portion of the cabinet of Lord Grey^ he resumed his seat on the ministerial benches. On that occasion an administra- tive post was offered him and declined ; and on subse- quent occasions similar requests to him to take office were equally in vain. Lord George, therefore, was an original and hearty supporter of the Reform Bill, and he continued to uphold the Whigs in all their policy until the secession of Lord Stanley, between whom and him- self there subsisted wai'm personal as well as political sympathies. Although he was not only a friend to religious liberty, as we shall have occasion afterwards to remark, but always viewed with great sympathy the condition of the Roman Catholic portion of the Irish population, he shrank from the taint of the ultra-mon- tane intrigue. Accompanying Lord Stanley, he became in due time a member of the great Conservative oppo- sition, and as he never did anything by halves, became one of the most earnest, as he certainly was one of the mostenlightened, supporters of Sir Robert Peel. His trust in that minister was indeed absolute, and he has subse- quently stated in conversation, that when towards the end of the session of M-5, a member of the Tory party ventured to predict and denounce the impending defection of the minister, there was no member of the Conservative party who more violently condemned the unfounded attack, or more readily impugned the motives of the assailant. He was not a very frequent attendant of the House. He might be counted on for a party division, and when, towards the termination of the Melbourne ministry, the forces were very nearly balanced, and the struggle became very close, he might have been observed, on more than one occasion, entering the House at a late hour, clad in a white great-coat, which softened, but did not conceal, tlie scarlet hunting-coat. Although he took no part in debate, and attended the House rather as a club than a senate, he possessed A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. 27 a great and peculiar influence in it. He was viewed with interest, and often wdth extraordinary regard by every sporting man in the House. With almost all of these he was acquainted ; some of them, on either side, were his intimate companions and confederates. His eager and energetic disposition; his quick per- ception, clear judgment, and prompt decision ; the tenacity with Avhich he clung to his opinions ; his frank- ness and love of truth; his daring and speculative spirit; his lofty bearing, blended as it was with a sim- plicity of manner very remarkable ; the ardour of his friendships, even the fierceness of his hates and pre- judices; all combined to form one of those strong characters who, whatever may be their pursuit, must always direct and lead. Nature had clothed this vehement spirit with a mate- rial form which was in perfect harmony with its noble and commanding character. He Avas tall, and remark- able for his presence ; his countenance almost a model of manly beauty ; the face oval, the complexion clear and mantling ; the forehead lofty and white ; tlie nose aquiline and delicately moulded ; the upper lip short. But it was in the dark-brown eye, that flashed with piercing scrutiny, that all the character of the man came forth : a brilliant glance, not soft, but ardent, acute, imperious, incapable of deception or of being deceived. Although he had not much sustained his literary culture, and of late years, at any rate, had not given his mind to political study, he had in the course of his life seen and heard a great deal, and with profit. Nothing escaped his observation ; he forgot nothing and always thought. So it was that on all the great political questions of the day he had arrived at con- clusions which guided him. He always took large views and had no prejudices about things, whatever he might indulge in as to persons. He was always singu- S8 A POLITICAL BIOGKAPHY. larly anxious to acquire the truth, and would spare no l)ains for that purpose; but when once his mind was made up, it was impossible to influence him. In politics, he was a Whig of 1688, which became him, modified, however, by all the experience of the pre- sent age. He wished to see our society founded on a broad basis of civil and religious liberty. He retained much of the old jealousy of the court, but had none of popular franchises. He was for the Established Church, but for nothing more, and very repugnant to priestly domination. As for the industrial question, he was sincerely opposed to the Manchester scheme, because he thought that its full development would im- pair and might subvert our territorial constitution, which he held to be the real security of our freedom, and be- cause he believed that it would greatly injure Ireland, and certainly dissolve our colonial empire. He had a great respect for merchants, though he looked with some degree of jealousy on the develop- ment of our merely foreign trade. His knowledge of character qualified him in a great degree to govern men, and if some drawbacks from this influence might be experienced in his too rigid tenacity of opinion, and in some quickness of temper, which, however, always sprang from a too sensitive heart, great compensation might be found in the fact that there probal)ly never was a human being so entirely devoid of conceit and so com- pletely exempt from selfishness. Nothing delighted him more than to assist and advance others. All the fruits of his laborious investigations were always fit the service of his friends without reserve or self-consideration. He encouraged them by making occasions for their exer- tions, and would relinquish his own opportunity with- out a moment's hesitation, if he thought the abandon- ment might aid a better man. A POLITICAL BIOGRAniY. 29 CHAPTER III. Parliament met on the 22ik1 Januaryj 1846, The session was opened by her Majesty in person. The pivot of the royal speech -vvas Irehind ; its frequent assassinations, and the deficiency of its principal crop. Remedial measures in both respects were intimated, and in l)oth respects these suggestions exercised the greatest influence on the proceedings of the session. A general eulogy of recent commercial legislation was followed by a vague recommendation to consider whe- ther the advantageous principles on which it had been founded might not be more extensively applied. The debate on the address in the Upper House was extremely bald. Instead of receiving tlicse explana- tions which are usual on the change or the reconstruc- tion of a ministry, and which the frankness of our par- liamentary government not only justifies but requires, the duke of Richmond was met by a strange declara- tion from the duke of Wellington, administered, to the astonishment of both sides of the House, by the way of reproof, which, if it meant anything, meant that the government represented by the illustrious warrior had not received the accustomed permission of the sovereign to reveal circumstances which their oaths as privy councillors bound them without such sanction to keep secret. What made this more strange was, that the prime minister in the Lower House, followed by Lord John Russell, was at the very time entering into all the desired details ; while Lord Lansdowne on the part of the Whigs, and Lord Stanley on the part of his own "personal consistency and honour," felt bound to state, in the presence of the noble duke, that thcv had so A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. respectively solicited and received the permission of her Majesty to make the accustomed statements, though, in consequence of the siri 52 A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. able, but on the terras quoted, the favour to the borrower would seem scarcely less doubtful. It is hardly to be believed that, on such conditions, lenders would ever be wanting. So much for one of the great remedial measures. The alteration in the law of settlement was so ill-conceived, that it aggravated the sufferings which it aimed to alleviate, and was virtually repealed in the following session. The projected consolidation of the highways never took place. . No degree of rhetorical skill could invest with any semblance of substance these shadowy schemes of com- pensation. A feeling of blank disappointment or renewed indignation seemed to pervade the whole Conservative benches. Men whose habits made them familiar with the subjects of projected legislation felt that the limited relief from local taxation was only the fulfilment of an arrangement which had long ago commenced, the com- pletion of a principle already conceded, and at any rate the grant of a boon which, under any circumstances, could not have been long delayed ; while, when they reflected on the more ostentatious proposals, they per- ceived that they were not the well-digested schemes of one familiar with the details of rural life and legislation, and that they must prove either impracticable or insignificant. It was agreed that a fortnight should elapse Ijefore the introduction of the government measures, in order that the country might become acquainted with their whole scope and bearing. Although, therefore, several gentlemen indulged in desultory observations until a late hour, any formal discussion was avoided. The only remarkable circumstance was, the first rising of Lord George Bentinck. It was to make a brief but pregnant inquiry; and he was observed with great interest. He said that the minister was well aware that the average price of wheat, for the last seven years, was 58s. 8f/., and presuming that the measures A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. 53 of the government would reduce the price of wheat to 455. per quarter, it would require fully seven years for the averages on which tithe was to be paid to work it down to the 45s. ; therefore, for a period of seven years, the agricultural interests of the country would be paying tithes on the 585. Sd. He wished to know, therefore, whether the minister was prepared to pro- pose any measure which would effectuate an equitable payment of tithes, in the event of 455. being the price of the quarter of wheat, instead of 585. 8^?. Sir Robert Peel replied that he did not propose to make any alteration in the law as to tithes, as lie did not believe there would be any material alteration in the price of wheat. 54 A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. CHAPTER V. The rising desire to organize some opposition to the government measures which had been arrested by the speech of the duke of Wellington revived among the country pfirty with increased force after the mortifying miscarriage of their expectations. But an Opposition without leaders, without organization, without any party discipline, presented no very terrible appear- ance, and promised no very considerable consequences. Men who feel, hoAvcver, will act. The greater their disadvantages, the more lively was their sense of the injury which they had experienced in being thus suddenly deserted by those who had been the cherished companions of their cause, and the more resolute became their determination to struggle with their difficult fortunes. There was at that time a metropolitan society for the protection of agriculture, of which the duke of Hichmond was chairman, and which had been esta- blished to counteract the proceedings of the jNIanchester confederation. It was in communication with the local Protection societies throughout the country ; and although the adhesion to its service by the parlia- mentary members of the old Conservative party had been more limited than might have been expected, nevertheless many county members were enrolled in its ranks, and a few of the most eminent were actively engaged in its management. In this they were assisted by an equal number of the most considerable tenant- farmers. In the present state of affairs, the council of tlie Protection Society afiForded the earliest and readiest means to collect opinion and methodize action ; and it A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. 55 was tlierefore resolved among its managers to invite all members of Parliament who sympathized with their purpose^ though they might not be members of their society, to attend their meeting and aid them at the present crisis with their counsel. A compliance with this request occasioned the first public appearance of Lord George Bentinck, as one of the organizers of a political party, — for he aspired to no more. The question was, whether a third political party could be created and sustained, — a result at all times and under any circumstances difficult to achieve, and which had failed even under the auspices of accomplished and experienced statesmen. In the present emergency, was there that degree of outraged public feeling in the country, which would overcome all obstacles and submit to any inconveniences, in order to ensure its representation in the House of Commons? It was the opinion of Lord George Bentinck that such was the case ; that if for the moment that feeling was inert and latent, it was an apathy which arose from the sudden shock of public confidence, and the despair which under such circumstances takes possession of men ; that if it could be shown to the country, that the great bulk of the Conservative party were true to their faith, and were not afraid, even against the fearful odds which they would have to encounter, to proclaim it, the confidence and the courage of the country would rallv, and the party in the House of Commons would find external sympathy and support. With these views it became of paramount importance that the discussion on the government measure should be sustained on the part of the Protectionists with their utmost powers. They must prove to the country, that they could represent their cause in debate, and to this end all their energies must be directed. It would be liatal to them if the discussion were confined to one or 56 A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. two nightSj and they overborne by the leading and habitual speakers. They must bring forward new men ; they must encourage the efforts of those now un- I'ecognized and comparatively unknown; they must overcome all reserve and false shame^ and act as became men called upon to a critical and leading part, not by their arrogance or ambition, but by the deser- tion and treachery of those to whose abilities they had bowed without impatience and reluctance. There was a probabiUty of several vacancies immediately taking place in counties where the seats were filled by con- verts, but men of too scrupulous an honour to retain the charge which they had sought and accepted as the professors of opinions contrary to those which now received their mournful adhesion. The result of these elections would greatly depend upon the spirit and figure of the party in the House of Commons, in their first encounter with the enemy. These views, so just and so spirited, advanced with high-bred earnestness by one rarely met in political turmoils, and enforced with a freshness and an affable simplicity which were very winning, wonderfully en- couraged those to whom they were addressed. All seemed touched by the flame which burnt in the breast of that man, so lofty in his thoughts but so humble in his ambition, who counselled ever the highest deeds, and was himself ever prepared to undertake the humblest duties. The business of this day was notable. Calculations were made of those who might be fairly counted on to take a part in debate ; some discussion even ensued as to who should venture to reply late at night to the minister; a committee was appointed to communicate with all members on either siile sujoposed to be favour- able to the principle of protection to the labour of the country ; a parliamentary staff wa? organized, not only to secure the attendance of members, but to guard over A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. 57 the elections; finally, the form of the amendment to the government measure was discussed and settled, and it was agreed that, if possible, it should be moved by- Mr. Philip Miles, the member for the city of Bristol, and who had the ear of the House not merely from the importance of his constituency, and seconded by Sir William Heathcote, the member for the county of Hampshire, a country gentleman of great accomplish- ments, and so highly considered by both sides that he was very generally spoken of as a probable successor to the chair. All was furnished by this lately forlorn party except a leader, and even then many eyes were turned and some hopeful murmurs addressed towards Lord George Bentinck, who in the course of this morning had given such various proofs of his fitness and such evidence of his resource. But he shook his head with a sort of suppressed smile, a faint blush, and an air of proud humility that Avas natural to him : " I think," he said, " we have had enough of leaders ; it is not in my way ; I shall remain the last of the rank and file." During the interval between the statement of the minister and the commencement of the great engage- ment. Lord Ashley and his colleague, Mr. Sturt, vacated their seats for the county of Dorset ; Mr. Charteris, the member for Gloucestershire, in deference to the remon- strance of his constituents, accepted the Chiltern Hun- dreds; while the county of Nottingham, the native county of the Bentincks, was vacated by Lord Lincoln, a member of the cabinet, who had been promoted from the Woods and Forests to the chief secretaryship of the Lord Lieutenant, and who, while accepting this superior office, had expressed his determination again to solicit the confidence of his late constituents. The importance of carrying all these seats, and espe- cially at this juncture of defeating a cabinet minister, in whose instance however success was supposed to be 58 A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. most problematical, was deeply felt by Lord George, and there was no effort that he spared to achieve his end. It was calculated that if the debate could be kept up for a week, that is, in parliamentary time, four days, the new members for Dorsetshire, where a con- test was not anticipated, might take their seats in time to record their votes. The 9th of February at last arrived. The House was very full. The order of the day for the House going into committee on the " customs — corn laws " was read, and Mr. Philip jNIiles rose to move as an amend- ment, that the House should go into committee that day six montlis. He delivered a well-digested speech, in which he considered the whole question of the ncAV commercial policy proposed by the government, with the information and the authority which the represen- tative of a great commercial city would command. He stated, amid assenting cheers from both sides, that he " deemed the question to be of far greater magnitude than the Reform Bill." He was seconded, to the mani- fest surprise and disturbance of the government, by Sir William Heathcote, in a speech of admirable ability, alike remarkable for its just, temperate, and ingenious views, and its graceful rhetoric and flowing elocution. While one listened to him it M'as impossible not to feel, that so long as such men remained, a country party need not be without a natural leader ; and that of such stuff were made the Sir William Wyndhams, and the Sir John Hinde Cottons, and the other distinguished men of the earlier Parliaments of the eighteenth cen- tury. The amendment of the forlorn Protectionist party therefore was well launched. It sailed along, gracefully and ste;idily, amid general applause. The succeeding speeches were on the whole mterestmg and animated : the most remarkable, that of Lord Sandon_, who made an able and even strongly-expressed speech against the A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. 59- government measure, wTiieh he intended to support. It was indeed upon this pecuhar ground that he soHcited the attention of the House. " He rose to explain and vindicate. He was in a position different from that of any member who had yet spoken. He disapproved of the measure proposed, and yet he intended to support it by his vote. He could not honestly say that he was convinced by the arguments and facts which had con- vinced the prime minister and induced him to give up his former opinions. The basis of induction seemed to him too narrow for so broad a superstructure. The facts themselves were not very conclusive ; they were, many of them, to be explained by special causes pecu- liar to themselves, independent of general principles; and whatever they were, he could not think that if all the a-priori arguments of political economists and all the inductions from previous observations had for thirty years failed to make an impression on the mind of the prime minister, the narrow experience of the last three years, on a few small experiments, Avas a very intel- ligible or satisfactory ground for so sudden or so great a change of opinion. ^^ Lord John Russell, who followed in a speech which was not one of his happy efforts, agreed with Lord Sandon, " that the minister had not laid his grounds broadly and extensively enough in point of time." Lord John was not very felicitous in point of time himself. Embarrassed by his engagement to support the measure of his rival, little anticipating the im- portance and duration of the debate then taking place, and anxious to free himself as soon as possible from the fulfilment of an awkward duty, he wasted his ammuni- tion much too soon in the engagement, spoke inoppor- tunely and ineffectively, and the future first minister of the country was not heard of in the House of Commons for three weeks. The Secretary at War closed the debate for the 60 A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. government ; but the Protectionists went home well pleased, and the general opinion of the House was, tliat, this night at least, they had carried away the prize. The debate on the second night was opened by Mr. Stafford, who replied to the Secretary at War in a speech of uncommon spirit and success ; nor was this the only advantage which accrued to the Protectionists on this occasion. The marquis of Granby, who had resigned a high post in the household of the prince consort in consequence of his disapprobation of the ministerial scheme, proved to the House that he had carefully and deeply studied the question under discus- sion, and gave an earnest of that prominence in debate which he has subsequently achieved and sustained. But not the least fortunate effusion of the night Avas the maiden speech of Lord Brooke, delivered with energy and with a voice the tone of which at once gained the ear. He said, " that the only excuse he coukl himself find for the followers of the chief minister was, that the present Parliament was near its dissolution. They all knew, that when a man arrived at a great age he often lost his faculties, that his memory generally failed him. Here they had a sad example of this deficiency of that principal sense, and of the present Parliament forgetting the pledges of its youth and manhood amid the decre- pitude of old age. Individuals under such unhappy circumstances were generally taken advantage of, and thus members were called upon by the minister to make their wills, to assign away their property and pos- sessions, to give them to aliens and foreigners, and so to defraud their rightful heirs." This novel and happy illustration, pursued with so much ingenuity, called down the plaudits of a very full House. A vehement personal attack of Lord Worsley called up the Secretary of State, who closed the debate for the Government. A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. Gl It was now conceded even by the Government that the debate could not terminate until Friday, and it would then have lasted four nights. The principal ammunition of the Protectionists was by no means exhausted, and it was felt that the speech of the minister must naturally be of no ordinary length ; nor was it supposed that the " stubborn silence/' as it was desig- nated by Mr. Wakley, of the Manchester school, could be successfully maintained. What made this great dis- cussion peculiarly interesting Avas, that the breaking up of parties had swept away the routine of debate, which under ordinary circumstances necessarily and naturally confines discussion to a limited number of speakers, of whom the principal, for the convenience of public busi- ness, rise almost at conventional periods. But so keen was the feeling of the Protectionists, and so spurring the point of honour that a flock deserted by their shep- herds should not be led, as was intended, to the slaugh- ter-house without a struggle, that a stimulus to exertion was given which has perhaps been rarely equalled in the House of Commons; and members now advanced who had shown no disposition previously to partake in the principal affairs of the House. And in the present instance, while all parties were discussing the probable conduct of the third night, and speculating on the orators who might respectively solicit their critical observation, the occasion was seized by one not antici- pated, and who rarely, if ever, had challenged the atten- tion which he this night entirely captivated. The member for Huntingdon brought the great name of Baring, and all the authority of his pre-eminent posi- tion in the commercial world, to support the principle of regulated competition. Plis mastery of the subject would under any circumstances have commanded atten- tion. The House liked to receive the latest and most authentic information as to the state of the markets from the greatest merchant in the country. The first 62 A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. minister had frightened them a fortnight before by informing them that Belgium had cleared the Liverpool market of ricCj Avith a consequent rise of seventy-five per cent, in that article. Mr. Baring thought the House might perhaps be reassured by learning that that rise had already been diminished one half. But what made his speech doubly effective was its animated manner, which, while it never passed that line of restraint Avhich good taste requires, was remarkable for a freshness of hand- ling which is rare, and a sort of winning naturalness that often broke spontaneously into very telling points. Few things have been more happily observed, than when, after reviewing the various grounds of the alarm of scarcity which had been so rife before the meeting of Parliament, Mr. Baring said, that " for his part, on reviewing what had taken place, he must think the great "want of the country had been the want of a ministry, and that the most appalling scarcity had been the scarcity of statesmen." The effect of Mr. Baring's speech was a general feel- ing among the Pi-otectionists, that the debate could now be carried over Friday. It was evident that Lord George Bentinck, even at that time, anticipated a much more prolonged duration of the discussion. The pains which he took to encourage the interposition of mem- bers, devoting his whole mornings to stimulate and to assist them, and the keen interest vv'ith which he watched in the House every word and incident from his seat, which he never quitted, even for a meal, indicated the importance which he attached to the maintenance of the struggle. Three nights had passed, and it may be fairly stated that the deserted party had carried away the prize; the fourth niglit passed without bringing a con- clusion, and the parliamentary week closed. On Mon- day, the fifth night, two cabinet ministers having already spoken in the debate — the Secretary of Stale and the Secretary at War, the latter as representative of A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. G3 a great agricultural county — it Avas thought,, by the chief minister rising at the end of the evening, that the division must be called for. The speech of Sir Robert Peel was one of his best; indignant and vigorous, free from the affectation of fairness, and that too obvious plausibility in which of late years he had somewhat luxuriantly indulged : he threw off the apologetical tone, and was uncompromising, both in his principles and demeanour. The peroration was in the high league style, though, of course, adapted to the more refined taste of the House of Commons. It was a speech to divide on. Yet the intended division did not take place. And this great debate was sustained for another fort- night, extending altogether over three parliamentary weeks, with crowded and interested benches, until, ou the 27th of February, it was generally understood — though Lord George Bentinck would not even then pledge himself to the understanding — that the division should take place. He was himself to speak that night, and it was generally felt that he would enter into the subject completely. So little desirous, originally, was Lord George Ben- tinck to interfere actively in that great controversy in which ultimately he took so leading a part, that before the meeting of Parliament in 184G, he begged a gen- tleman Avhom he greatly esteemed, a member of the legal profession, and since raised to its highest honours, to call upon him at Harcourt House, when he said that he had taken great pains to master the case of the pro- tective system ; that he was convinced its abrogation would ultimately be very injurious to this country ; but although, both in point of argument and materials, he feared no opponent, he felt constitutionally so incapable of ever making a speech, that he wished to induce some eminent lawyer to enter the House of Commons, and avail himself of his views and materials, which he had, with that object, reduced to writing. He begged. 04 A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. therefore, that his friend, although a free-trader, would assist him, by suggesting a fitting person for this office. Accordingly, the name of a distinguished member of the bar, \vho had already published a work of merit, impugning the principles of the new commercial system, was mentioned, and this learned gentleman was applied to, and was not indisposed to accept the task. A mere accident prevented this arrangement being accomplished. Lord George then requested his friend to make some other selection; but his adviser very sensibly replied, that although the House of Commons would have listened with respect to a gentleman who had given evidence of the sincerity of his convictions by the pub- lication of a work which had no reference to Parlia- ment, they would not endure the instance of a lawyer brought into the House merely to speak from his brief; and that the attempt would be utterly fruitless. He earnestly counselled Lord George himself to make the effort ; but Lord George, with characteristic tenacity, clung for some time to his project, though his efforts to accomplish it were fortunately not successful. Some of the friends of Lord George Bentinck remem- bering his inexperience in debate, aware of the great length at which he must necessarily treat the theme, and mindful that he was not physically well-qualified for controlling popular assemblies, not having a strong voice, or, naturally, a very fluent manner, were anxious that he should not postpone his speech until an hour so late; that an audience, jaded by twelve nights' discus- sion, would be ill-attuned to statistical arguments and economical details. But still clinging to the hope, that some accident might yet again postpone the division, so that the Protectionists might gain the vote of Mr. Hild- yard, who had been returned that day for South Notts, having defeated a cabinet minister. Lord George remained motionless until long past midnight. Mr. Cobden having spoken, on the part of the confederation. A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. 65 tlie closing of the debate, was felt to be inevitable. Even then, by inducing a Protectionist to solicit the Speaker's eye, Lord George attempted to avert the division ; but no supporter of the government measure, of any colour, advancing to reply to this volunteer, Bentinck was obliged to rise. He came out like a lion forced from his lair. And so it happened, that after all his labours of body and mind, after all his research and unwearied application and singular vigilance, after having been at his post for a month, never leaving the House, even for refreshment, he had to undertake the most difficult enterprise in which a man can well embark, with a concurrence of every disadvantage which could ensure failure and defeat. It would seem that the audience, the subject, and the orator, must be equplly exhausted; for the assembly had listened for twelve nights to the controversy, and he who was about to address them had, according to his strange habit, taken no sustenance the whole day ; it being his custom to dine after the House was up, which was very often long after midnight, and this, with the exception of a slender breakfast, rigidly restricted to dry toast, was his only meal in the four-and-twenty hours. He had been forced to this regimen, from food exer- cising a lethargic influence over him; so that, in addition to some constitutional weakness in his organ, he usually laboured, when he addressed the House, under the dis- advantage of general exhaustion. And this was, no doubt, a principal cause of that over-excitement and apparently unnecessary energy in his manner of speak- ing, of which he was himself perfectly, and even pain- fully, conscious. He was wont to say, that before he could speak he had to make a voice, and, as it were, to pump it from the very core of his frame. One who took a great interest in his siiccess once impressed on him the expediency of trusting entirely to his natural voice and the interest and gravity of his matter, whichj p 66 A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. combined with his position as the recognized leader of a great party^ woukl be adequate to command the atten- tion of his audience ; and he subsequently endeavoured very often to comply with this suggestion. He endea- voured also very much to control his redundancy of action and gesture, when that peculiarity was pointed out to him with the delicacy, but the sincerity, of friendship. He entirely freed himself from a very awkward feature of his first style of speaking, namely, the frequent repetition of a sentence, which seemed at first a habit inveterate with him ; but such was his force of will, that when the necessity of ridding himself of this drawback was properly pointed out to him, he achieved the desired result. No one bore criticism more gently and kindly, so long as it was confined to his personal and intellectual characteristics, for he was a man abso- lutely without vanity or conceit, who thought very humbly of himself, in respect of abilities, and deemed no labour too great to achieve even a slight improve- ment. But though in these respects the very child of simplicity, he was a man of almost unexampled pride, and chafed under criticism, when his convictions or his conduct were questioned. He was very tenacious of his opinion, almost inexorable ; and it required a courage nearly equal to his own, combined with a serene temper, successfully to impugn his conclusions. Not, therefore, excited by vanity, but sustained by self-respect, by an overpowering feeling that he owed it to himself and the opinions he held, to show to the world that they had not been lightly adopted and should not be lightly laid aside, Bentinck rose, long past the noon of night, at the end of this memorable debate, to undertake an office from which the most successful and most experienced rhetoricians of Parliament would have shrunk with intuitive discretion. But duty scorns pru- dence, and criticism has few terrors for a man with a great purpose. Unshaken by the adverse hour and A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. 67 circumstances, he proceeded to accomplish the object wliich he had long meditated, and for which he was fully prepared. Reminding the House, while he appealed to their indulgence, that, though he had had the honour of a seat for eight parliaments, he had never once ventured to trespass on its time on any subject of great debate, he at once took a clear and comprehensive ground of objection to the government scheme. He opposed it not only because he objected to the great change con- templated with respect to the agricultural interest, but, on principle, to the entire measure, " a great com- mercial revolution, which we are of opinion that the circumstances of the country do not by any means require." Noticing the observation of the Secretary at War, that the agricultural interest, in submitting to this great change, might now accept it with honour, instead of its being eventually extorted by force, he happily retorted, that vicious as he thought the measure, he should feel it deprived of half its vice if it could be carried without loss of honour, damage to reputation, and forfeiture of public character to a vast number of gentlemen now present. And he proceeded to show among other testimonies, by an appeal to the distinct language of the speech from the throne on the dissolu- tion of 1841, that " every member who occupied a seat in this House was returned pledged either to oppose or maintain the principle of protection to national industry." Adverting to the new position, that the experience of the last three years justified the reversal of the system which the existing administration had been summoned to office to uphold, he wisely remarked, that " the country will not be satisfied with three years^ ex- perience of any system. Three years' experience is not sufficiently extensive to afibrcl a proper criterion r 2 68 A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. by which we may decide the failure or success of any description of policy whatsoever." Noticing that the minister had more especially founded " his present belief in doctrines contrary to those which he had heretofore uniformly maintained/' by the assumption that the price of corn would not be more reduced than the price of cattle and other com- modities affected by the tariff of 184)2^ and also by the results of previous experiments in the instances of silk and wool, Lord George " accepted his challenge " on these grounds, and proceeded in great detail to investi- gate these examples. The House listened with great attention for full two hours, during which he treated these subjects. This attention no doubt was generally accorded because it was felt due to the occasion, and, imder the circum- stances, to the speaker; but those who, however con- trary might be the results at which they had arrived, had themselves deeply entered into these investigations, recognized very soon that Bentinck was master of his subject. Sir Robert Peel looked round very often with that expression of appreciation which it was impossible for his nature to refuse to parliamentary success, even when the ability displayed was hostile to his projects. The minister, with reference to the wool trade, had dwelt on the year 1842, when prices were much de- pressed, while they had greatly rallied in 1844, when the importation of foreign wool had risen from forty- five to sixty-five millions of pounds ; and he had drawn a triumphant inference that the increase of importation and the increase of price were in consequence of the reduction of the duty. This instance had produced a great effect ; but Lord George sliowed the House, by a reference to the tables of 1836, that the im- portation of foreign wool had then risen to sixty- five millions of pounds, and that large foreign importation was consistent with high prices to the A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. 69 domestic grower. Nor was he less successful about the foreign cattle. He reminded his friends on the Treasury bench how strenuously, previously to the in- troduction of the tariff of 1842, they had urged upon their agricultural friends that no foreign cattle could enter under their regulations, and that the whole object of the change was to strengthen the hands of the agri- cultural interest, as regarded more essential protection, by removing the odium of a nominal protection : " Con- vinced by my right honourable friends, in 1842, that their tariff would be as inoperative as it has proved, I gave my cordial support to the measure." Perceiving that the House began to be wearied with the details of the silk trade, which he had investigated with extraordinary zeal, he postponed until the specific vote in committee his objections to the reduction of the timber duties. The fact is, he had so thoroughly mas- tered all these topics, that his observations on each of them would have themselves formed a speech of suffi- cient length and interest. But he successfully checked any interruption by what may be fairly styled his dignified diffidence. " I trust the House will recollect that I am fighting the battle of a party whose leaders have deserted them ; and though I cannot wield my weapons with the skill of the right honourable gentleman on the Treasury bench, I trust the House will remember the emergency which has dragged me out to intrude upon their indulgence." And again, when he announced that he was now about to investigate the pretext of " famine in the land," and some impatience was exhibited, he drew up and said, " I think, having sat eighteen years in this house, and never once having trespassed on its time before in any one single great debate, I may appeal to the past as a proof that I duly weigh the measure of my abilities, and that I am painfully conscious of my proper place in this house." 70 A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. It was impossible to resist such appeals from such a person, even at three o'clock in the morning ; and diffident, but determined, he then entered into what ^yas, perhaps, the most remarkable portion of his speech — an investigation of what was the real position of the country with respect to the supply of food in the past autumn and at the present moment. Having shown from the trade circulars that, far from there being at present " a wheat famine,^' the stocks in the granaries in bond were more than double in amount to what they were in the year 1845, "a year admitted by all to be a year of extraordinary abundance/' he pro- ceeded to the Irish part of the question : " I beg leave to say, that though this debate has now continu.ed for three weeks, I am the first gentleman who has at all entered into the real state of the case as regards the allegation of a potato famine in Ireland, upon which, be it, remembered, is founded the sole case of her Majesty's ministers for a repeal of the corn laws." And this was very true. The fact is, though the Protectionist party had made a most unexpected and gallant defence, no one was really prepared for the contest except Bentinck. Between the end of Novem- ber and the meeting of Parliament, he had thrown all the energies of his passionate mind into this question. He had sought information on all points and always at the fountain-head. He had placed himself in imme- diate communication with the ablest representatives of every considerable interest attacked, and being ardent and indefatigable, gifted with a tenacious memory and a very clear and searching spirit, there was scarcely a detail or an argument connected with his subject which was not immediately at his command. No speeches in frivour of the protective system have ever been made in the House of Commons compared with his in depth and range of knowledge ; and had there been any member, A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. 71 not connected with the government, who had been able to vindicate the merits of British agriculture as he did when the final struggle occurred, the impression which was made by the too-often unanswered speeches of the Manchester confederation would never have been effected. But the great Conservative party, exhausted by the labours of ten years of opposition, thought that after the triumph of ^41 it might claim a furlough. The defence of their cause was left entirely to the ministers of their choice ; and ministers, distracted with detail and wearied with official labour, are not always the most willing or the most efficient champions of the organic principles of a party. Sir Robert Peel, with respect to the disease in the Irish potato, had largely referred to the statements of the inspectors of police. Lord George wanted to know why the reports of the lieutenants of the Irish counties ■were not given. Being well-informed upon this head, he asked the government to produce the report of Lord Duncannon, the lord lieutenant of Carlow ; especially that of his noble father, the earl of Besborough, lord lieutenant of Kilkenny. " Is there any man in Eng- land or in Ireland whose opinion, from his business-like habits, his great practical knowledge, and the warm and affectionate interest which for a long period of years he has taken in everything which concerns the interests of Ireland, especially of the Irish peasantry — is there any man whose opinion would have greater weight ? The opinion of Lord Besborough on an Irish subject, the lieutenant of an Irish county, and himself long a cabinet minister ? Well, sir, I am assured that, having taken the utmost pains to investigate this matter. Lord Besborough has made an elaborate report to the Irish government. Well, then, I desire to know why Lord Besborough's report to the Irish government is suppressed ? Is it because that report would not assist the present pohcy of her Majesty's government.'''' n A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. He alleged the names of many other individuals of high station who had officially reported on the subject to the government : of Lord Castlereagh, the lieute- nant of Down, a member of the House; of Lord de Vesci, whose son was sitting for the Queen^s County, over which his father presided in the name of the queen. A murmur ran round the House, that it would have been as well if these reports had beea produced. The last portion of this argumentative harangue referred to the most important division of the subject. Bentinck met it boldly, without evasion ; nor was there any portion of his address more interesting, more satis- factory, and more successful. " I now come," he said, " to the great challenge, which is ever and anon put forth by the Anti-Corn Law League, and now by their disci- ples, her Majesty^s ministers. How are we, they ask, with our limited extent of territory, to feed a population annually and rapidly increasing at the rate of three hundred thousand a-year, as generally stated by the member for Stockport — a rate increased by my noble friend, the member for the West Riding, to a thousand a day, or three hundred and sixty-five thousand a year?" He first proved in a complete manner that, from the year 1821 to the year 1844, the population of the country had increased at the rate of less than thirty- two per cent., while the growth of wheat during the same period had increased no less than sixty-four per cent. He then proceeded to inquire why, with such an increased produce, we were still, as regards bread corn, to a certain extent, an importing nation ? This he accounted for by the universally improved condition of the people, and the enlarged command of food by the working classes. He drew an animated picture, founded entirely on the representations of writers and public men adverse to the protective system, of the superior A POLITICAL BIOGRAPUY. 73 condition of tlie people of " England, happy England," to that of other countries: how they cousumed much more of the best food, and lived much longer. This was under protection, which Lord John Russell had stigmatized, in his letter, " the bane of agriculture." " In the history of ray noble friend's illustrious family," he continued, " I should have thought that he would have found a remarkable refutation of such a notion." And then he drew a lively sketch of the colossal and patriotic works of the earls and dukes of Bedford, " whereby they had drained and reclaimed three hundred thousand acres of land drowned in water, and brought them into cultivation, and thus converted into fertile fields a vast morass extending over seven counties in England." Could the system which had inspired such enterprise be justly denounced as baneful? To show the means of the country to sustain even a much-increasing population, and tliat those means were in operation, he entered into one of the most original and interesting calculations that was perhaps ever offered to the House of Commons. Reminding the House that in the preceding year (1845) the farmers of England, at a cost of two millions sterling, had imported two hundred and eighty thousand tons of guano, he proceeded to estimate what would be the effect on the productive powers of the land of that novel application. Two hundred thousand tons, or, in other words, four million cwt., were expended on the land in 1845. Half of these, he assumed, would be applied to the growth of wheat, and the other half to the growth of turnips preparatory to the wheat crop of the ensuing year. According to the experiments tried and recorded in the Royal Agricultural Journal, it would seem that by the application of two cwt. of guano to an acre of wheat land, the produce would be increased by one quarter per acre. At this rate, one hundi'cd thousand tons, or two million cwt. of guano would add one 74 A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. million quarters of wheat to the crop, or bread for one year for one million of people. But as he was very careful never to over-state a case^, Lord George assumed, that it would require three hundred cwt. of guano to an acre to produce an extra quarter of wheat. Accord- ing to this estimate, one hundred thousand tons of guano, applied to the land in 1845, must have added six hundred and sixty-six thousand six hundred and sixty- six quarters of grain to the wheat crop, or, in other words, bread for six hundred and sixty-six thousand six hundred and sixtv-six additional mouths. " And now for turnips," he continued. The Norfolk authorities whom he quoted have in like manner proved that two cwt. of guano will add ten tons per acre to the turnip crop. But again, for fear of exaggeration, he supposed that three cwt. would be requisite to create such increased fertility. In this case, two million cwt, of guano would add six million six hundred and sixty-six thousand six hundred and sixty tons to the natural un- manured produce of the crop. Now it is generally con- sidered that one ton of Swedes would last twenty sheep three weeks, and that each sheep should gain half a pound of meat per week, or one pound and a half in three weeks ; thus twenty sheep feeding on one ton of turnips in three weeks should in the aggregate make, as the graziers say, thirty pounds of mutton. But to be safe in his estimate, he would assume that one ton of turnips makes only half this quantity. " Multiply, then," exclaimed Bentinck with the earnest air of a crusader, " six million six hundred and sixty-six thousand six hundred and sixty by fifteen, and you have no less than ninety-nine million nine hundred and ninety-nine thousand and nine hundred pounds of mutton as the fruits of one hundred thousand tons of guano; which, at ninety-two pounds per man — the average Englishman's allowance — aftbrds meat for one million eight hundred and sixty thousand nine hundred A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. 7o and fifty-five — nearly two million of her Majesty's subjects." This is a specimen of those original and startling calculations to which the House was soon to become accustomed from his lips. They were received at first with astonishment and incredulity; but they were never impugned. The fact is, he was extremely cautious in his data, and no man was more accustomed ever to impress upon his friends the extreme ex- pediency of not over-stating a case. It should also be remarked of Lord George Bentinck^ that in his most complicated calculations he never sought aid from notes. We have necessarily only noticed a few of the traits of this remarkable performance. Its termination was impressive. " We have heard in the course of these discussions a good deal about an ancient monarchy, a reformed House of Commons, and a proud aristocracy. Sir, with regard to our ancient monarchy, I have no ob- servation to make; but, if so humble an individual as myself might be permitted to whisper a word in the ear of that illustrious and royal personage who, as he stands nearest, so is he justly dearest, to her who sits upon the throne, I would take leave to say, that I cannot but think he listened to ill advice, when, on the first night of this great discussion, he allowed himself to be seduced by the first minister of the crown to come down to this House to usher in, to give eclat, and as it were by reflection from the queen, to give the semblance of the personal sanction of her Majesty, to a measure which, be it for good or for evil, a great majority at least of the landed aristocracy of England, of Scotland, and of Ireland, imagine fraught with deep injury, if not ruin, to them — a measure which, not confined in its operation to this great class, is calculated to grind down countless 7Q A POLITICAL BIOGKAPHY. smaller interests engaged in the domestic trades and interests of the empire, transferring the profits of all these interests — English, Scotch, Irish, and Colonial — great and small alike, from Englishmen, from Scotchmen, and from Irishmen, to Americans, to Frenchmen, to Russians, to Poles, to Prussians, and to Germans. Sir, I come now to the reformed House of Commons ; and as one who was a party to that great measure, I cannot but feel a deep interest in its success, and more especially in that portion of it which extended the franchise to the largest and the most respectable body in the kingdom — I mean the landed tenantry of England ; and deeply should I regret should any large proportion of those members who have been sent to Parliament to represent them in this house, prove to be the men to bring lasting dishonour upon themselves, their constituencies, and this House, by an act of tergiversation so gross as to be altogether unprecedented in the annals of any reformed or unreformed House of Commons. Sir, lastly, I come to the ' proud aristocracy.^ We are a proud aristocracy, but if we are proud, it is that we are proud in the chastity of our honour. If we assisted in '41 in turning the Whigs out of office, because we did not consider a fixed duty of eight shillings a quarter on foreign corn a sufficient protection, it was with honesty of purpose and in single-mindcdness we did so ; and as we were not before the fact, we will not be accomplices after the fact in the fraud by which the Whig ministers were expelled from power. If we are a proud aristocracy, we are proud of our honour, inasmuch as we never have been guilty, and never can be guilty, of double-dealing with the farmers of England — of swindling our opponents, deceiving our friends, or betraying our constituents." The division was called. The W^est-India interest, notwithstanding the amendment was moved by the A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. 77 member for Bristol, deserted the Protectionists. Deaf to the appeals, aud the remonstrances, and the warnings of Lord George, one of their leading members replied, with a smile of triumphant content, that " they had made a satisfactory arrangement for themselves.^^ How satisfactory did the "West-Indians find it four months subsequently ? All the shipping interest deserted the land. They were for everything free, except navi- gation ; there was no danger of that being interfered with; "it rested on quite distinct grounds — national grounds.^^ They were warned, but they smiled in derisive self-complacency. Lord George Bentinck lived to have the West-India interest and the shipping interest on their knees to him, to defend their perilled or to restore their ruined fortunes; and with characteristic gene- rosity and proud consistency, he undertook the tasfi, and sacrificed his life in the attempt. Notwithstanding these terrible defalcations, when the numbers were announced, at nearly four o^ clock in the morning, the majority had not reached those three magical figures supposed necessary, under the circum- stances, to success. In a house of five hundred and eighty-one members present, the amendment of the Protectionists was defeated only by ninety-seven ; and two hundred and forty-two gentlemen, in spite of desertion, difficulty, and defeat, still maintained the " chastity of their honour." 78 A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY, CHAPTER VI. The great object wliich Lord George now proposed to himself was, to delay the progress of the government measures, so that they should not reach the House of Lords before Easter. He believed that time might still ensure their discomfiture. The majority of the 27th of February was only in favour of going into com- mittee of the whole House to consider the existing customs' and corn acts, when the minister was to propose resolutions which, if carried, were to be the foundations of bills which he would then proceed to introduce. Before, therefore, any bill for the repeal of the existing corn laws could be brought forward, the principle of every projected alteration in the tariff must individually be sanctioned by a particular vote. The opportunities for resistance, therefore, were con- siderable and encouraging. Nor was the majority itself, considering the coalition of parties and the vagueness of the course to which it committed the House, looked upon as excessive, but the reverse. All the elections, too, went against the minister; a member of the cabinet was rejected by two important constituencies, and a near relative of Lord George returned in his stead. But what most influenced Bentinck to adopt the tactics of delay, was the conviction, which turned out to be just, that the failure of the potato crop had been greatly exaggerated. "With these views he availed himself of the motion of Mr. Villiers, brought forward on the 2nd of JMarch, for the total and im- mediate repeal of the corn laws, to secure an adjourned debate. He himself made a brief and animated speech on the second and last nighty though it A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. 79 had not been his intention to address the House. An influential member of the Protectionist party, Mr. Miles, of Somerset, had stated, on an early night of the session, the preference by the landed interest of the immediate repeal to the government measure; and Sir Robert Peel, on the motion of Mr. Villiers, had adroitly availed himself of this admission of an opponent, and announced that though the minority were of opinion that their own course was the more prudent, still if the landed party chose to unite with Mr. Villiers on the present occasion, it might carry his proposition, and the government could accept it. Upon this Lord George Bentinck rejoined : — " It has been alleged that an honourable friend of mine, who is absent to-night, stated, on behalf of the agricul- tural interest, that the farmers of England would prefer to have immediate repeal to a repeal hanging over them for three years, and in that I believe my honourable friend was correct. But the reason of my preference of the government proposition to immediate repeal is, that we do not consider it quite certain that, at the end of three years, the corn laws Avill be re- pealed :" and again, " We prefer to postpone the day, because we know that in the interval Ave must be returned to the people, and then we hope to be able to restore things to what they vt^ere before." A fortnight elapsed ere the resolutions in committee of the whole House, on which the government bills were to be introduced, were passed. The efforts of Lord George Bentinck during this period, from the 6th to the 20th of March, were unceasing. He fought the battle of the Irish graziers and butter-merchants ; " butter rightly described by the vice-president of the Board of Trade as one of the principal staple manu- factures of Ireland, that suffering country to which we are going to subscribe by a vote of this House the sum of J^230,000, and on which, by a vote of this House, we 80 A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. are at the same time entailing a loss, by the reduction of the duties on butter, of half a million sterling. If the object of reducing duties is to relieve the consumer, I beg ministers to tell us, whether they do not think a reduction of the duty on tea would not be as advan- tageous to the consumer as a reduction of the duty upon butter? And why have they not made such a proposition? For no reason that I can see, except that tea does not come into competition with the produce of Great Britain." He fought the battle of " the Leicestershire stock- ingers," one hundred thousand persons engaged in the stocking business. If Protection were that bane to the stockingers, how came it that the Saxon, under Protec- tion the most stringent, was able to enter into compe- tition with the stockingers of England, so as to be able almost to drive them out of the market ? Stockings were made in Saxony, as appeared by reports on the table of the House, at 3d. per pair ; but the member for Nottingham had just told the House that here the charge was 8s. per dozen. He wanted to know how the stockinger of Nottingham and Leicester could compete with the Saxon, who sold his stockings at 3*. per dozen ? He fought in great detail the battle of the silk manufacturers ; he had very minutely investigated the circumstances of the trade, and when a member inter- rupted him by saying that the silk manufacturers themselves were in favour of the change, he retorted : " Sir, the honourable gentleman seems to express an opinion, that it is no business of this House to inter- fere in matters where the parties immediately con- cerned do not ask for such an interference. I thought the Constitution of this country required that we should consider what is best for the general good of the country ; and that it was not for us to be taught by the constituencies what is best for the interest of the A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. 81 country. We have well considered tliis question. It is one which has been before Parliament for five-aiul- twenty years^ and we think ourselves as well qualified to judge of this matter as any manufacturers that may live at Goole or elsewhere. But if any honourable gentleman thinks that the silk manufacturers of this country are in favour of this measure, I can tell him a different story. The honourable member knows the character of the three gentlemen who called on me yesterday morning. What did these gentlemen tell me? Why, that since there was a free trade in silk, only two mills had been erected in Coventry ; that Coventry stood still while St. Etienne, its rival, flourished ; that St. Etienne flourished at the expense of Coventry." He fought the battle of the hop-grower. " It had been stated by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, that hop-growing had been a losing concern for some years past ; but the Chancellor of the Exchequer proposed a different remedy from what he should propose. He should propose that the excise duty be taken off. He was glad to hear, in the earlier part of the evening, strong proofs of the advantage of the abolition of excise duties. Their abolition upon glass had brought a considerable reduction of expenditure, by the em- ployment of less officers. One hundred excise officers might come off, and £10,000 per annum be saved by abolishing the present excise on hops. That would be a means of assisting the hop-growers. A gentleman who had waited on him that morning had shown him how in 1836 he had paid ISs. 8d. per cwt. excise, upon fifteen tons and a half of hops, grown in 183G, which was a good year. He was obliged to hold his hops till 1840, when, wearied with delay, he had to sell them for 16s. per cwt., on which 18s. Sd. per cwt. had been paid, as an excise duty. Would they admit foreign hops to remedy such disasters as these ? And if they 82 A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. threw hop-grounds out of cultivation, what did the government mean to do with the tithe commutation ? While wheat paid 7s. per acre towards the tithes, hop land paid 295.'' Finally, on the 20th of March, in a speech of great research and vigour, he fought the battle of the colonial timber interest. On all these questions there were con- siderable divisions, and whatever difference of opinion there might be as to the wisdom of the policy he recommended, there was none, and could be none, in the House as to the complete mastery which he exhibited of his subject. The reader will indeed have observed, in the slight passages which have been just given from his speeches, more than one characteristic trait of the newly-adopted habits of his life, by which he acquired, and so rapidly, such sound and extensive information on such various and varying subjects. The first merchants and manufacturers of the country were the companions of his mornings; and from an early hour to the time when it was necessary to appear in his place, he was occupied in investigating, with their assist-. ance, the questions affecting the commerce and industry of the country then submitted to the legislature. " The gentleman who had waited on him that morning " was sure to be about the best authority on the suljject in debate. Nor must it be supposed from this, that Lord George, in his eagerness to acquire information, was proportionably easy in accepting the details and con- clusions which were offered to him. Quite the reverse ; he was eminently scrutinous. No one cross-examined with more acuteness, or pursued a sceptical research with more tenacity. It was impossible to evade, and difficult to baflSe, him. Although he had strong prejudices — which with him were an affair of honour, not of bigotry and false reasoning — his mind was peculiarly judicative. He collected and weighed evi- dence with great ability ; and though apparently A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. 83 immersed in details, his scheme of thought was never petty. All fell into its right place, and in lucid order, and he ever had a clear conception of the case, and struck the balance with a full control over the con- tending evidence and arguments. The second reading of the bill for the repeal of the corn laws was fixed for the 23rd March. This bill was introduced in pursuance of one of the resolutions passed in the committee of the whole House, Avhich had just closed its labours. The first reading of a bill under such circumstances is a matter of course, and almost of form. The standing orders of the House of Commons require that every bill affecting the trade or religion of the country should be founded on a preliminary resolu- tion of the whole House in committee,- -a wise precau- tion of our predecessors against sudden legislation on matters of such grave import. The question, that the bill be read a second time, was met by an amendment, that it be read that day six months, moved with graceful rhetoric by Mr. Eliot Yorke, the member for Cambridgeshire, and seconded with all the weight and authority of Sir John Yarde Buller. The debate lasted four nights; sustained on the part of the Protectionists, on the second night, by Sir John Trollope, in a very effective speech. As one of the members for the great agricultural county of Lincoln, he successfully repelled the statements of the advocates of free imports, that " the cultivators of the soil had been unable to provide food for the people." He could not call to mind a single acre of land lying waste in the division of the county which he represented : not an unenclosed parish. From 1828 to 1841, there had been an increase in the produce of the county of Lincoln to the extent of 70 per cent, in the article of wheat alone; and he was satisfied, from the improve- ments that had since taken place, from the great amount of drainage, the breaking up of pasture land, G 2 84 A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. the ai'tificial manures, and other processes applied to the land, that a much greater inerease had since taken place in the county, and that the increase in the last sixteen years could not amount to less than 100 per cent. During the same period, the population of the county had not increased above 20 per cent., so that there was a large available surplus for the food of the population in the manufacturing districts. Lord George Bentinck closed the debate on the third night, which rather languished till he rose. He spoke with unusual animation, and concluded with these words : — " I recollect that the Secretary of State (Sir James Graham), in 1811, complained that the noble lord (Lord John Russell) and his late colleagues on the benches opposite, had excited the people, and compared them to pirates, who, rather than surrender the ship and their command, had applied the torch to the magazine. I would ask my right honourable friends on the Treasury bench what do they think of them- selves now ? Are they not pirates too ? Have they not pirated the doctrines, the arguments, and the speeches of the Anti-Corn Law League ? But I cannot pay you the compliment of saying that you possess the dare-devil courage of pirates, — that, rather than yield, you would sink the ship. I cannot say that you have stood by your craft as long as you could keep her afloat. No ; you have left your ship in the dark of the night, when you had chartered to carry her home in safety. You have brought her on a lee shore, and left her among the breakers. You have placed her under the guns of the enemy's battery while your faithful crew were asleep in their hammocks. You have scuttled your ship — you, the captain and lieutenant, master and mate — you scuttled the ship, stole the compass, sneaked away in the long boat, and deserted to the enemy, hoping that the gallant crew would become an easy A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. 85 prey to those who would board her. But you judged of the mettle of the crew by your own craven hearts ; and though for a moment we may have been thrown into confusion, we never have been discouraged, — we have rallied from the temporary shock, and we will yet bring the good ship off the lee shore, and carry her safe home to port." This peroration, vivid, true, passionate, and pictur- esque, and delivered with energy, was loudly cheered, and the Government made a great effort the next night to restore the spirit of their supporters. The debate was opened by the Secretary of State in a vei'v elaborate speech, marked by a virulent retort to the Recorder of Dublin, who, on the preceding night, had ventured " to cast the horoscope of a falling government." Later in the evening, the chief minister himself ex- erted his utmost powers in vindication of his policy and personal conduct. Sir Robert had seldom spoken better. The difficult duty of following him devolved this night to Mr. Stafford. Not the least remarkable speech of the evening, though one at the time little compre- hended, was that with which Lord Palmerston unex- pectedly followed Mr. Stafford, and closed the debate. Amid an abstract eulogium of free trade apparently so uncompromising that it filled the free traders with rap- ture while they listened to the reproduction of their own arguments in sentences so lucid and in forms so neat, his lordship, with adroit audacity, suddenly un- furled the standard of a moderate fixed duty, and with blended hardihood and discretion, acknowledged that he had not relinquished his faith in such a policy, though he feared, and almost felt, that the opportunity had been lost for its adoption. " I hold that there is no reason why freedom of trade in corn should not be as advantageous to the country as freedom of trade in every other commodity. 86 A POLITICAL BIOGBAPHY. But by free trade I do not mean, necessarily and in all cases, trade free from customs' duties. We are obliged, as I have already said, to raise a large yearly revenue, and we must for that purpose have heavy taxes. The least inconvenient and least objectionable method of raising a large portion of that revenue is by indirect taxation, and that involves the necessity of customs' duties. Therefore, when I speak of free trade, I do not mean trade free from duties laid on for the purpose of revenue, and which, in order to accomplish their purpose, must be so moderate as not to cripple or im- pede commercial transactions. Now, my opinion has been, and, I own, still continues to be, that there is no reason why the trade in corn should, in this respect, be an exception to the general rule. I am for a moderate fixed duty. My noble and honourable friends near me have also been of the same opinion ; and allow me to say, that this opinion was not taken up by us, as stated last night by the noble lord, the member for King's Lynn, when the late Government was, as he said, in ariiculo moriis ; but as far back as in 1839, when there was no reason to expect an early termination of our official career. I say, then, that my wish would have been to have had a low fixed duty on the import- ation of corn. I think that a duty of four or five shillings would not sensibly raise the price of corn in this country ; would be felt by nobody ; would produce a revenue not undeserving of consideration ; and, what is of more importance, would enable us to accomplish a great transition with less violence to the feelings and prejudices of a large class of men." The countenances of the free traders changed very much while this portentous confession was taking place. The cheers suddenly stopped ; and a member for a metropolitan district, who had been applauding voci- ferouslv, whispered to a neighbour, " He has spoilt a capital speech ; what could have induced him to bring A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. 87 in a fixed duty ? " Penetrating member for a metro- politan district ! As if the " capital speech " had been made for any other purpose than to introduce the very declaration which you looked upon as so damaging! There is diplomacy even in debate : Lord Palmerston threw a practised and prescient eye over the disturbed elements of the House of Commons, and two months afterwards, when a Protectionist ministry on moderate principles (principles moderate and not fixed) was not impossible, the speech of the noble lord was quoted by many as a rallying-point. The division was called: the majority of the Govern- ment was not increased by two months^ discussion, since the 27th February ; on the contrary, it was now only 88. 88 A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. CHAPTER VII. In the meantime, besides the prolonged and unfore- seen resistance of the Protectionists, there were other and unexpected causes at work which equally, or per- haps even more powerfully tended to the fulfilment of the scheme of delay, which Lord George Bentinck had recommended his friends to adopt and encourage. In the latter months of the year 1845, there broke out in some of the counties of Ireland one of those series of outrages which have hitherto periodically occurred in districts of that country. Assassination and crimes of violence were rife : men on the queen's highway were shot from behind hedges, or suddenly torn from their horses and beaten to death with clubs ; houses were visited in the night by bodies of men, masked and armed — their owners dragged from their beds, and, in the presence of their wives and children, maimed and mutilated; the administration of unlawful oaths, with circumstances of terror, indicated the existence of secret confederations, whose fell intents, profusely and osten- tatiously announced by threatening letters, were fre- quently and savagely perpetrated. These barbarous distempers had their origin in the tenure of land in Ireland, and in the modes of its occu- pation. A combination of causes, political, social, and economical, had for more than a century unduly stimulated the population of a country which had no considerable resources except in the soil. That soil had become divided into minute allotments, held by a pauper tenantry, at exorbitant rents, of a class of mid- dlemen, themselves necessitous, and who were mere traders in land. A fierce competition raged amid the A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. 89 squalid multitude, for these strips of earth, wliicli were their sole means of existence. To regulate this fatal rivalry, and restrain this emulation of despair, the peasantry, enrolled in secret societies, found refuge in an inexorable code. He who supplanted another in the occupation of the soil, was doomed by an occult tribunal, from which there was no appeal, to a terrible retribu- tion. His house was visited in the night by whitefeet and ribbonmen — his doom was communicated to him, by the post, in letters, signed by Terry Alt, or Molly M'Guire, or he was suddenly shot, like a dog, by the orders of Captain Kock. Yet even these violent inflic- tions rather punished than prevented the conduct against which they were directed. The Irish peasant had to choose between starving and assassination. If, in deference to an anonymous mandate, he relinquished his holding, he and those who depended on him were outcasts and wanderers; if he retained or accepted it, his life might be the forfeit, but subsistence was secured ; and in poor and lawless countries, the means of living are more valued than life. Those who have treated of the agrarian crime of Ireland have remarked, that the facilitv with which these outrages have been committed has only been equalled by the difficulty of punishing them. A murder, perpetrated at noonday, in the sight of many persons, cannot be proved in a court of justice. The spectators are never witnesses ; and it has been inferred from this, that the outrage is national, and that the heart of the populace is with the criminal. But though a chief landlord, or a stipendiary magistrate, may occasionally be sacrificed, the great majority of victims are furnished by the humblest class. Not sym- pathy, but terror, seals the lip and clouds the eye of the bystander. And this is proved by the fact, that while those who have suff'ered have almost always publicly declared that they were unable to recognize their assail- ants, and believed them to be strangers, they have fre- 90 A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. quently, in confidence, furnished the police with the names of the guilty. Thus, there is this remarkable characteristic of the aj^rarian anarchy of Ireland which marks it out from all similar conditions of other countries : it is a war of the poor against the poor. Before the rapid increase of population had forced governments to study political economy and to inves- tigate the means of subsisting a people, statesmen had contented themselves by attributing to political causes these predial disturbances, and by recommending for them political remedies. The course of time, that had aggravated the condition of the Irish peasantry, had increased the numbers, the wealth, and the general importance of those of the middle classes of Ireland who professed the Roman Catholic faith. Shut out from the political privileges of the constitution, these formed a party of discontent that was a valuable ally to the modern Whigs, too long excluded from that period- ical share of power which is the life-blood of a parlia- mentary government and the safeguard of a constitu- tional monarchy. The misgovernment of Ireland became therefore a stock topic of the earlier Opposition of the present century ; and advocating the cause of their clients, who wished to become mayors, and magistrates, and members of the legislature, they argued that in the concession of those powers and dignities, and per- haps in the discreet confiscation of the property of the Church, the only cures could be found for threatening notices, robbery of arms, administering of unlawful oaths, burglary, murder, and arson. Yet if these acts of violence were attributable to defective political institutions, why, as was usually the case, were they partial in their occurrence? Why were they limited to particular districts ? If political grievances were the cause, the injustice would be as sharp in tranquil Wexford as in turbulent Tipperary. A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. 91 Yet out of the thirty-two counties of Ireland, the out- rages prevailed usually in less than a third. These out- rages were never insurrectionary : they were not directed against existing authorities ; they were stimulated by no public cause or clamour; it was the private individual who was attacked, and for a private reason. This was their characteristic. But as time elapsed, two considerable events oc- curred : the Roman Catholic restrictions were repealed, and the Whigs became ministers. Notwithstanding these great changes, the condition of the Irish pea- santry remained the same ; the tenure of land was unchanged, the modes of its occupation were unal- tered, its possession was equally necessary and equally perilous. The same circumstances produced the same consequences. Notwithstanding even that the Irish Church had been remodelled, and its revenues not only commuted but curtailed ; notwithstanding that Homan Catholics had not only become members of Parliament but even Parliament had been reformed ; Irish outrage became more flagrant and more extensive than at any previous epoch — and the Whigs were ministers. Placed in this responsible position, forced to repress the evil, the causes of which they had so often explained, and which with their co-operation had apparently been so effectually removed, the Whig government were obliged to have recourse to the very means which they had so frequently denounced when recommended by their rivals, and that, too, on a scale of unusual magni- tude and severity. They proposed for the adoption of Parliament one of those measures which would suspend the constitution of Ireland^ and which are generally known by the name of Coercion Acts. The main and customary provisions of these Coercion Acts were of severe restraint, and scarcely less violent than the conduct they were constructed to repress. They invested the lord lieutenant with power to pro- 9.2 A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. claim a district as disturbed, and then to place its inhabitants vvitliout the pale of the established law ; persons out of their dwellings between sunset and sun- lise, were liable to transportation ; and to secure the due execution of the law, prisoners were tried before military tribunals, and not by their peers, whose ver- dicts, from sympathy or terror, were usually found to baffle justice. These Coercion Acts were effectual ; they invariably obtained their end, and the proclaimed districts became tranquil. But they were an affair of police, not of government; essentially temporary, their effect was almost as ti^ansient as their sway, and as they were never accompanied with any deep and sincere attempt to cope with the social circumstances which produced disorder, the recurrence of the chronic anarchy was merely an affair of time. Whether it were that they did not sufficiently apprehend the causes, or that they shrank from a solution which must bring them in con- tact with the millions of a surplus population, there seems always to have been an understanding between the public men of both parties, that the Irish difficulty should be deemed a purely political, or at the utmost a religious one. And even so late as 1846, no less a per- sonage than the present chief secretary, put forward by his party to oppose an Irish Coercion Bill which them- selves had loudly called for, declared that he could not sanction its penal enactments unless they were accom- panied by the remedial measures that were necessary, to wit, an Irish Franchise Bill, and a Bill for the amend- ment of municipal corporations ! When Sir Robert Peel, in 1841, after a memorable opposition of ten years, acceded to office, sustained by all the sympatliies of the country, his Irish policy, not sufficiently noticed amid the vast and urgent questions with which he had immediately to deal, was, however, to the political observer significant and interesting. As a A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. 93 mere matter of party tactics, it was not for liim too mucli to impute Irish disturbances to political and reli- gious causes, even if the accumulated experience of the last ten years were not developing a conviction in his mind, that the methods hitherto adopted to ensure the tranquillity of that country were superficial and falla- cious. His cabinet immediately recognized a distinction between political and predial sources of disorder. The first, they resolved into a mere system of agitation, no longer justifiable by the circumstances, and this they determined to put down. The second, they sought ni the conditions under which land was occupied, and these they determined to investigate. Hence, on the one hand, the O'Connell prosecution : on the other, the Devon commission. This was the bold and prudent policy of a minister who felt he had the confidence of the country and was sustained by great parliamentary majorities; and when the summoner of monster meetings was convicted, and the efficient though impartial manner in which the labours of the land commission were simultaneously conducted came to be bruited about, there seemed at last some prospect of the system of political quackery of which Ireland had been so long the victim being at last subverted. But there is nothing in which the power of circumstances is more evident than in politics. They baffle the forethought of statesmen, and control even the apparently inflexible laws of national development and decay. Had the government of 1841 succeeded in its justi- fiable expectation of terminating the trade of political agitation in Ireland, armed with all the authority and all the information with whicli the labours of the land commission would have furnished them, they would in all probability have successfully grappled with the real causes of Irish misery and misrule. They might have thoroughly reformed the modes by which land is holdeu 94 A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. and occupied; have anticipated the spontaneous emi- gration that now rages by an administrative enterprise scarcely more costly than the barren loan of '47, and ■which would have wafted native energies to imperial shores; have limited under these circumstances the evil of the potato famine, even if the improved culture of the interval might not have altogether prevented that visitation ; while the laws which regulated the competi- tion between home and foreign industry in agricultural produce might have been modified with so much pru- dence, or, if necessary, ultimately repealed with so much precaution, that those rapid and startling vicissitudes that have so shattered the social fabric of Ireland might altogether have been avoided. But it was decreed that it should be otherwise. Having achieved the incredible conviction of O'Connell by an Irish jury, the great culprit baffled the vengeance or the law by a quirk which a lawyer only could have devised. As regards his Irish policj^. Sir Robert Peel never recovered this blow, the severity of which was proportionably increased by its occurrence at a moment of unprecedented success. Resolute not to recur to his ancient Orangeism, yet desperate after his discomfiture of rallying a moderate party around his ministry, his practical mind, more clear-sighted than foreseeing, was alarmed at the absence of all influences for the govern- ment of Ireland. The tranquillity which might result from a reformed tenure of the soil must, if attainable, be a distant blessing, and at present he saw only the obstacles to its fulfilment — prejudiced landlords, and the claims and necessities of pauper millions. He shrank from a theory which might be an illusion. He required a policy for the next post and the next division. There was in his view only one course to take, to outbid his predecessors as successfully in Irish politics as he was doing in taxes and tariff's. He resolved to appropriate the liberal party of Ireland, and A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. 95' merge it into the great Conservative confederation which was destined to destroy so many tilings. He acted with promptitude and energy, for Sir Robert Peel never hesitated when he had made up his mind. His real character was very different from his public reputation. Far from being timid and wary, he was audacious and even headstrong. It was his cold and constrained demeanour that misled the public. There never was a man who did such rash things in so cir- cumspect a manner. He had been fortunate in early disembarrassing himself of the Orange counsellors who had conducted his Irish questions when in opposition ; vacant judgeships had opportunely satisfied the recog- nized and respectable claims of Mr. Serjeant Jackson and Mr. Lefroy ; and so Sir Robert Peel, without a qualm, suddenly began to govern Ireland by sending it " messages of peace." They took various forms; sometimes a Charitable Bequests Act virtually placed the Roman Catholic hierarchy in friendly equality with the prelates of the Established Church; sometimes a "godless college" called forth a moan from alarmed and irritated Oxford ; the endowment of Maynooth struck wider and deeper, and the middle- classes of England, roused from their religious lethargy, called in vain to the rescue of a Protestantism betrayed. But the minister was un- shaken. Successful and self-sufficient, impressed with a conviction that his government in duration would rival that of a Walpole or a Pitt, and exceed both in lustre, he treated every remonstrance with imperious disdain. He had even accustomed his mind to con- template an ecclesiastical adjustment of Ireland which would have allied in that country the Papacy with the State, and have terminated the constitutional supre- macy of the Anglican Church, Avhen suddenly, in the very heat of all this arrogant fortune, the mighty fabric of delusion shivered and fell to the ground. 96 A POLITICAL BIOGIlA.PnY. An abused and indignant soil repudiated the un- grateful race that had exhausted and degraded its once exuberant bosom. The land refused to hold those who would not hold the land on terms of j ustice and of science. All the economical palliatives and political pretences of long years seemed only to aggravate the suffering and confusion. The poor-rate was levied upon a community of paupers, and the " godless colleges " were denounced by Rome as well as Oxford. After a wild dream of famine and fever, imperial loans, rates in aid, jobbing public works, confiscated estates, constituencies self-disfranchised, and St. Peter's bearding St. James's in a spirit becoming Christendom rather than Europe, time topped the climax of Irish misgovernment; and by the publication of the census of 1851, proved that the miUions with whose evils no statesmen would sincerely deal, but whose condition had been the pretext for so much empiricism, had dis- appeared, and nature, more powerful than politicians, had settled the " great difficulty." Ere the publication of that document, the mortal career of Sir Robert Peel had closed, and indeed several of the circumstances to which we have just alluded did not occur in his administration ; but the contrast between his policy and its results was never- theless scarcely less striking. It was in '45 that he transmitted his most important " message of peace " to Ireland, to be followed by an autumnal visit of her Majesty to that kingdom, painted in complacent and prophetic colours by her prime minister. The visit was not made. In the course of that autumn, ten counties of Ireland were in a state of anarchy; and, mainly in that period, there were 136 homicides committed, 138 houses burned, 483 houses attacked, and 138 fired into ; there were 544 cases of aggravated assault, and 551 of robbery of arms ; there were 89 cases of bands ap- pearing in arms; there were more than 200 cases of A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. 97 administering unlawful oaths; and there were 1^944 cases of sending threatening letters. By the end of the year, the general crime of Ireland had doubled in amount and enormity compared with the preceding year. Instead of a visit to her Irish subjects, Queen Victoria had thus to address her Parliament on its meeting in 1846. " My Lords and Gentlemen, " I have observed with deep regret the very frequent instances in which the crime of deliberate assassination has been of late committed in Ireland. It will be your duty to consider, whether any measures can be devised calculated to give increased protection to life." In accordance with this important declaration from the throne, the earl of St. Germans, then chief secretary to the Lord Lieutenant, called the attention of the House of Lords, on the 24th of February, to the new " message of peace" of the government of Sir Robert Peel, which took the shape of a Coercion Bill. 98 A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. CHAPTER VIII. Lord George Bentinck had large but defined views as to the pohcy which should be pursued with respect to Ireland. He was a firm supporter of the constitutional preponderance allotted to the land in our scheme of government, not from any jealousy or depreciation of the other great sources of public wealth, for his sympathy with the trading classes was genuine, but because he believed that constitutional preponderance, while not inconsistent with great commercial prosperity, to be the best security for public liberty and the surest foundation of enduring power. But as reality was the characteristic of his vigorous and sagacious nature, lie felt that a merely formal preponderance, one not sustained and authorized by an equivalent material superiority, was a position not calculated to endure in the present age, and one especially difficult to maintain with our rapidly increasing population. For this reason, he was always very anxious to identify the policy of Great Britain with that of Ireland, the latter being a country essentially agricultural ; and he always shrank from any proposition which admitted a difference in the interests of the two kingdoms. Liberal politicians, who, some years ago were very loud for justice to Ireland, and would maintain at all hazards the identity of the interests of the two coun- tries, have of late frequently found it convenient to omit that kingdom from their statistical bulletins of national prosperity. Lord George Bentinck, on the contrary, would impress on his friends, that if they wip'^ed to maintain the territorial constitution of their A rOLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. 99 country, they must allow no sectarian considerations to narrow the basis of sympathy on which it should rest ; and in the acres and millions of Ireland, in its soil and its people, equally neglected, he would have soujjht the natural auxiliaries of our institutions. To secure for our Irish fellow-subjects a regular market for their produce; to develope the resources of their country by public works on a great scale ; and to obtain a decent provision for the Roman Catholic priesthood from the land and not from the consolidated fund, were three measures which he looked upon as in the highest degree conservative. When the project of the cabinet of 1846 had transpired, Lord George at once declared, and was in the habit of reiterating his opinion, that " it would ruin the 500,000 small farmers of Ireland,'' and he watched with' great interest and anxiety the conduct of their representatives in the House of Commons. It was with great difficulty that he could bring himself to believe, that political liberalism would induce the members for the south and west of Ireland to support a policy in his opinion so fatal to their countrymen as the unconditional repeal of the corn laws ; and, indeed, before they took that step, which almost all of them have since publicly regretted and attempted to compensate for by their subsequent votes in the House of Commons, the prospect of their conduct frequently and considerably varied. The earl of St. Germans, the chief secretary of the Lord Lieutenant, introduced the Coercion Bill to the House of Lords on the 24th of February, and, con- sidering the exigency, and the important reference to it in the speech from the throne, this step on the part of the government was certainly not precipitate. It was observed that the strongest supporters of the measure in the House of Lords on this occasion were the leaders of the Whig partv. Lord Lansdowne, " & llfi A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. rations of Ireland should be placed on the same footing as the corporations of England." Who could be sur- prised that such a policy should end in famine and pestilence? The followers of Mr. O'Connell again succeeded in adjourning the debate until Monday the 6th. On that day Sir Robert Peel made " an earnest appeal " to extricate himself from the almost perilous position in •which he found his administration suddenly involved. In case the division on the first reading of the Irish Bill should not take place that nighty he endeavoured to prevail on those members who had notices on the paper for the following night (Tuesday the 7th), the last night before the holidays, to relinquish their right and to permit the Irish debate to proceed and conclude. " He had no wish to interfere with the due discussion of the measure ; but he believed that the Irish members, if they permitted the House to proceed with the Corn Bill, by concluding the discussion on the Irish Bill, would be rendering an essential service to their country." But this earnest appeal only influenced still more the fiery resolves of Mr. Smith O'Brien and his friends. They threw the responsibility for delay of the Corn Bill on the government. The inconvenience which the country suffered was occasioned by the minister, not by the Irish members. He ought, on Friday last, to have adjourned the discussion on the Coercion Bill until after Easter. He and other members who were on the paper for to-morrow would willingly relinquish their right of priority in favour of the Corn Bill, or of any measure of a remedial kind, but not in favour of a Coercion Bill. He did not wish to have any conceal- ment with the minister as to the course which the Irish members would pursue. It was their bounden duty to take care that pari passu with the discussion of the Coercion Bill there should be discussions as to the mis- A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. 117 government of Ireland ; and that, in the absence of any- remedial measures of the government, they should have an opportunity of suggesting such as they thought advisable for removing those evils which they utterly denied that the measure now before the House would remove. In vain Sir Robert, in his blandest tones and with that remarkable command of a temper, not naturally serene, Vt-hich distinguished him, acknowledged to a certain degree the propriety of the course intimated bj^ Mr, Smith O'Brien; but suggested at the same time that it was compatible with allowing the Irish bill to be now read for a first time, since on its subsequent stages Mr. O'Brien and his friends would have the full opportunity which they desired, of laying before the House the whole condition of the country. All was useless. No less a personage than Mr. John O'Connell treated the appeal with contempt, and lectured the first minister on the " great mistake " which he had made. Little traits like these revealed the true parliamentary position of the once omnipotent leader of the great Conservative party. With the legions of the Protec- tionists watching their prey in grim silence, while the liberal sections were united in hostile manoeuvres against the government, it was recognised at once that the great minister had a staff without an army ; not a reconnoitring could take place without the whole cabi- net being under orders, and scarcely a sharpshooter sallied from the opposite ranks without the prime minis- ter returning his tire in person. Sir Robert Peel mournfully observed that he "did not wish to provoke a recriminatory discussion,'^ and he resigned himself to his fate. Immediately the third night of the adjourned debate on the Irish bill com- menced, and was sustained principally by the Irish members until a late hour. It had not been the intention of Lord George Bentinck to have spoken on 118 A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. this occasion, though he had never been absent for a moment from his seat, and watched all that occurred Avith that keen relish which was usual with him when he thought things were going right ; but having been per- sonally and not very courteously appealed to by the late Mr, Dillon Browne, and deeming also the occasion, just before the holidays, a not unhappy one, he rose and con- cluded the debate. His speech was not long, it was not prepared, and it was very animated. Recapitulating himself the main features of the dis- turbed district, he said : " It is because of these things, sir, that I am prepared to support at least the first reading of a bill, Avhich I freely admit to be most unconstitutional in itself.^^ Noticing a speech made in the course of the evening by Lord Morpeth, who had himself once been chief secretary of the Lord Lieutenant, Lord George thought it discreet to remind the House of the unequivocal sup- port given to this bill by the Whig leaders in another place : " Sir, I think when we see all the great leaders of the Whig party supporting the measure elsewhere, we cannot be justly impugned for doing as they do." Lord Morpeth had referred to " remedial measures which he thinks should be introduced for Ireland : to measures for the extension of the municipal, and also of the parliamentary franchise of that country ; and he expressed his desire to see those franchises put on the same footing as the francliises of England." "For the life of me," exclaimed Lord George, "■ I confess, I cannot see in what way the extension of political fran- chises of any description in Ireland would afford a remedy for the evils which this measure aims to sup- press. I think, sir, it is impossible not to perceive that there is a connection between agrarian outrage and the poverty of the people." After noticing the inadequate poor-law which then existed in Ireland, he added : " There is also another A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. 119 point immediately connected with this subject to which I must refer. I allude, sir, to the system of absen- teeism. I cannot disguise from myself the conviction, that many of the evils of Ireland arise from the system of receiving rents by absentee landlords who spend them in other countries. I am Avell aware that, in holding this doctrine, I am not subscribing to the creed of political economists. I am well aware that Messrs. Senior and M'Culloch hold, that it makes no difference whe- ther the Irish landlord spends his rents in Dublin, on his Irish estates, in London, in Bath, or elsewhere. I profess, sir, I cannot understand that theory. I believe that the first ingredient in the happiness of a people is, that the gentry should reside on their native soil, and spend their rents among those from whom they receive them. I cannot help expressing a wish that some arrangement may be made connected with the levying of the poor-rate in Ireland, by which absentee landloi'ds may be made to contribute in some- thing like a fair proportion to the wants of the poor in the district in which they ought to reside. There is an arrangement in the hop-growing districts in England in respect to tithe, which might, I think, afford a very useful suggestion. There are two tithes : the one, the ordinary tithe ; the other, extraordinary ; which is levied only so long as the land is cultivated in hops. I think if there were two poor-rates introduced into Ireland, the one applying to all occupiers of land, and the other to all those who did not spend a certain portion of the year on some portion of their estates in Ireland, it would prove useful. I think, that by thus appealing to their interests, it might induce absentee landlords to reside much more in Ireland, than is now unfortunately the case. " But, sir, I think there are other remedial measures. Some days ago, the Secretary of State told the member for Stroud (Mr. Poulett Scrope), when he suggested 120 A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY, some such measure_, that he was treading on dangerous ground, and that the doctrines he was advocating might be written in letters of blood in Ireland ; but, notwithstanding all this, I still say that I think measures might be introduced for improving the relations between landlord and tenant in Ireland. I do not think that some guarantee might and ought to be given to the tenantry of Ireland for the improve- ments they make upon their farms, " Sir, the Secretary of State, in introducing this measure, maintained a doctrine which, I think, much more likely to be written in letters of blood, for he bound up the question of the corn laws with the present one. He said, that unless he could have prevailed on his colleagues to accede to his free-trade measures as regards corn, he would not have intro- duced this bill. Why, sir, far from giving food to the people of Ireland, in my opinion the measures of her Majesty^s ministers will take away from the people of Ireland their food, by destroying the profits of their only manufacture — the manufacture of corn — and in- juring their agriculture; depriving them of employ- ment; in fact, by taking away from them the very means of procuring subsistence. Sir, I cannot see how the repeal of those laws affecting corn can be in any way connected with the suppression of outrage and the protection of life. What is this but to say, that unless we have a free trade in corn, we must be prepared to concede a free trade in agrarian outrage — a free trade in maiming and houghing cattle — a free trade in incen- diarism — a free trade in the burning and sacking of houses — a free trade in midnight murder and in noon- day assassination ? What is this but telling the people of Ireland, that assassination, murder, incendiarism, are of such light consideration in the eyes of the Secretary of State, that their sanction or suppression by the minister of the crown hinges upon the condition A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. 121 of the corn market and the difference in the price of potatoes ? " Sir, what has the potato disease to do with the outrages in Ireland ? Some think a great deal. I have taken the trouble of looking into the matter. I have examined into the state of crime in at least five counties — Tipperary, Roscommon, Limerick, Leitrim, and Clare — and I find, that during the three months prior to the first appearance of the potato disease, and when in fact food was as cheap in Ireland as at almost any former period — when plenty abounded in all quarters of the empire, that the amount of crime ex- ceeded that in the three months immediately following. Now, those who doubt this statement will have an opportunity of ascertaining the correctness of my figures, for I will not deal in general assertions. Well then, sir, I find in the three months. May, June, and July last, that the numbe^r of crimes committed in the five counties I have mentioned amounted to no less than 1,180, while in the three months immediately after the potato disease, or famine as it is called, the amount of crime committed in the same three months was not 1,180, but 870. I should like to know, therefore, what this agrarian outrage has to do with the potato famine; and where is the justi- fication for a minister coming down to this House, and declaring that unless we pass a free-trade measure, we are not to obey her Majesty's commands by passing a measure for the protection of life in Ireland. Why, sir, I think when this language reaches the people of Ireland — coming too, as it does, from the Treasury, above all, from the Secretarv of State for the Home Department — there is indeed danger to be apprehended that such a doctrine may be written in letters of blood in that country. Why, sir, if we are to hear such language as this from that minister of the crown charged with the peace of the country, we may just as 122 A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. ■well have Captain Rock established as lord lieutenant in the castle of Dublin, a Whiteboy for chief secretary, and Mollv M'Guire installed at Whitehall with the seals of the home department/^ And afterwards he remarked, "I have been taunted that when I may be entrusted with the government of Ireland, I should perhaps then learn, that Tyrone was an Orange county. Sir, in answer to that taunt, I must take leave to ask what expression of mine, either in this house or out of it, justifies any such remark ? When or where can it be said, ' that 1 have ever per- mitted myself to know any distinction between an Orangman and a Catholic ; when, in the whole course of my parliamentary career, have I ever given a vote or uttered a sentiment hostile or unfriendly to the Roman Catholics, either of England or Ireland?" Tiiis speech, though delivered generally in favour of the Irish bill, attracted very much the attention, and, as it appeared afterwards, the approbation of those Irish members, who, although sitting on the Liberal benches, did not acknowledge the infallible authority of Mr. O'Connell, and was the origin of a political con- nection between them and Lord George Bentinck, which, on more than one subsequent occasion, promised to bring important results. Two successive motions were now made for the adjournment of the debate, and Sir Robert Peel at length said, that he " saw it was useless to persist." He agreed to the adjournment until the next day, with the understanding that if it did not come on, he would name the time to which it should be postponed after the holidays. Upon this. Sir William Somerville made one more appeal to the minister to postpone the further dis- cussion of the Irish bill altogether until the Corn Bill had passed the Commons, He intimated that unless the government at once adopted this resolution. A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. 123 tliey would find themselves after Easter in the same perplexity which now paralyzed them. They would not be permitted to bring on this measure except upon government nights, and the discussion might then last weeks. The minister, exceedingly embarrassed, would not, however, relent. On the following day, when he moved the adjournment of the House for the holidays, he reduced the vacation three days, in order to obtain Friday, a government night, which otherwise would have been absorbed in the holidays, and he announced the determination of the government again to proceed on that night with the Irish bill in preference to the Corn Bill. The Irish members glanced defiance, and the Protectionists could scarcely conceal their satis- faction. The reputation of Sir Robert Peel for par- liamentary management seemed to be vanishing; never was a government in a more tottering state ; and the "Whigs especially began to renew their laments that the Edinburgh letter and its consequences had pre- vented the settlement of the corn question from devolving to the natural arbitrator in the great con- troversy, their somewhat rash but still unrivalled leader. Lord John Russell. 124 A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. CHAPTER X. The members of the Protectionist opposition re- turned to their constituents with the sanguine feelings which success naturally inspires. Their efforts had surprised, not displeased, the country; the elections were in their favour ; the government business halted ; the delay in the calculated arrival of the famine had taken the edge off the necessity which it was supposed would have already carried the Corn Bill through the Commons; while the twin measure, which the throes of Ireland had engendered, had developed elements of opposition which even the calmest observer thought might possibly end in overthrow. Above all, that seemed to have happened which the most experienced in parliamentary life had always deemed to be imprac- ticable ; namely, the formation of a third party in the House of Commons. How completely this latter and difficult result was owing to the abilities and energies of one man, and how anomalous was the position which he chose to occupy in not taking the formal lead of a party which was entirely guided by his example, were convictions and considerations that at this juncture much occupied men's minds. And it was resolved among the most considerable of the country gentlemen to make some earnest and well-combined effort, during the recess, to induce Lord George Bentinck to waive the unwilling- ness he had so often expressed of becoming their avowed and responsible leader. When Lord George Bentinck first threw himself into the breach, he was influenced only by a feeling of indignation at the manner in which he thought A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. 125 the Conservative party had been trifled with by the government and Lord Stanley, his personal friend and political leader, deserted by a majority of the cabinet. As affairs developed, and it became evident that th« bulk of the Conservative party throughout the country had rallied round his standard. Lord George could not conceal from himself the consequences of such an event, or believe that it was possible that the party in the House of Commons, although Lord Stanley might eventually think fit to guide it by his counsels, and become, if necessary, personally responsible for its policy, could be long held together unless it Avere con- ducted by a leader present in the same assembly, and competent under all circumstances to represent its opinions in debate. Lord George, although a proud man, had no vanity or self-conceit. He took a humble view of his own powers, and he had at the same time an exalted one of those necessary to a leader of the House of Commons. His illustrious connec- tion, Mr. Canning, was his standard. He had been the private secretary of that minister in his youth, and the dazzling qualities of that eminent personage had influenced the most susceptible time of life ot one who was tenacious of his impressions. What Lord George Bentinck appreciated most in a parliamentary speaker was brOliancy : quickness of perception, prompt- ness of repartee, clear and concise argument, a fresh and felicitous quotation, wit and picture, and, if neces- sary', a passionate appeal that should never pass the line of high-bred sentiment. Believing himself not to be distinguished by these rhetorical qualities, he would listen with no complacency to those who would urge in private that the present period of parliamentary life was different from the days of Mr. Canning, and that accumulated facts and well-digested reasoning on their bearing, a command of all the materials of commercial controversy, and a mastery of the laws that regulate 126 A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. the production and distribution of public wealth, com- bined with habits of great diligence and application, would ensure the attention of a popular assembly, especially when united to a high character and great social position. This might be urged; but he would only shake his head, with a ray of humour twinkling in his piercing eyes, and say, in a half-drawling tone, " If Mr. Canning were alive, he could do all this better than any of them, and be not a whit less brilliant." There was also another reason why Lord George Bentinck was unwilling to assume the post of leader of the Conservative party, and this very much in- fluenced him. Sprung from a great Whig house, and inheriting all the principles and prejudices of that renowned political connection which had expelled the Stuarts, he had accepted, in an unqualified sense, the dogma of religious liberty. This principle was first introduced into active politics in order to preserve the possessions of that portion of the aristocracy which had established itself on the plunder of the Church. It was to form the basis of a party which should prevent re- action and restitution of church lands. Whether the principle be a true one, and whether its unqualified application by any party in the state be possible, are questions yet unsettled. It is not probable, for example, that the worship of Juggernaut, which Lord Dalhousie permits in Orissa, would be permitted even by Lord John Eussell at Westminster. Even a papist proces- sion is forbiddtn, and wisely. Tlie application of the principle, however, in Lord George Eentinck^s mind, was among other things associated with the pubhc recognition of the Roman Catholic hierarchy by the state, and a provision for its maintenance in Ireland in accordance with the plan of Mr. Pitt. What had happened, with respect to the vote on the endowment of Maynooth in 184-5, had convinced him that his opinions on this subject presented an insuperable bar- A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. 127 rier to liis ever becoming the leader of a party, wliicli had contributed three-fourths of the memorable mi- nority on that occasion. It was in vain that it was impressed upon him by those most renowned for their Protestant principles, and who Avere at tlie same time most anxious to see Lord George Bentinck in his right position, that the question of Maynooth was settled, and there was now no prospect of future measures of a similar character. This was not the opinion of Lord George Bentinck. He nursed in his secret soul a great scheme for the regeneration and settlement of L-eland, which he thought ought to be one of the mainstays of a Conservative party ; and it was his opinion that the condition of the Roman Catholic priesthood must be considered. It was in vain, in order to assist in removing these scruples, that it was represented to him by others that endowment of a priesthood by the state was a notion somewhat old-fashioned, and opposed to the spirit of the age which associated true religious freedom with the full development of the vohxntary principle. He listened to these suggestions with distrust, and even with a little contempt. Mr. Canning had been in favour of the endowment of the Irish priesthood, that was sufficient for that particular; and as for the voluntary principle, he looked upon it as priestcraft in disguise ; his idea of religious liberty was, that all religions should be controlled by the state. Besides these two prominent objections to accepting the offered post, namely, his unaffected distrust in his parliamentary abilities and his assumed want of con- cordance with his followers on a great principle of modern politics, we must also remember that his com- pliance with the request involved no ordinary sacrifice of much which renders life delightful. He was to relinquish pursuits of noble excitement to which he was passionately attached, and to withdraw in a great 128 A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. degree from a circle of high-spirited friends, many of them of different political connection from himself, by whom he was adored. With all his unrivalled powers of application when under the influence of a great impulse, he was constitutionally indolent and even lethargic. There was nothing, therefore, in his position or his temperature to prick him on in ^46 ; it was nothing but his strong will acting upon his indignation which sustained him. It is not, therefore, marvellous that he exhibited great reluctance to commit irre- trievably his future life. At a subsequent period, in- dignation had become ambition, and circumstances of various kinds had made him resolve to succeed or die. On the adjournment. Lord George had gone down to Newmarket, which he greatly enjoyed after his ex- hausting campaign. Here some letters on the subject of the leadership passed, but nothing was definitively arranged till some time after the re-assembling of Par- liament. For convenience we mention here the result. The wish of the party was repeatedly and personally urged by the popular and much-esteem.ed member for Dorsetshire, and at last Lord George consented to their wishes, on these conditions : that he should re- linquish his post the moment the right man was dis- covered, who, according to his theory, would ultimately turn up ; and secondly, that his responsible post was not to restrict or embarrass him on any questions in which a religious principle was involved. Before, however, this negotiation was concluded, and while yet at Newmarket, he wrote to a friend, the day before the House met (April 16th). " I think there is no doubt, but that the Irish will take care of Friday (to-morrow) night. I have not much hope of their keeping up the debate beyond Friday. " It is quite clear from O'ConnelFs language at Dublin that we have no hope from the Irish tail. A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. 159 " I still tliink myself, that delay affords a great chance of something turning up in our favour ; already the rejection of any reciprocity by M. Guizot has provided us with a grand weapon^ which, I trust, you drive well home into -^^^^^'s vitals; a very short delay would probably bring over similar intelligence from the United States and their Congress. I trust we shall have an important deputation over from Canada, re- presenting that the inevitable results of these free- trade measures in corn and timber will be to alienate the feelings of our Canadian colonists, and to induce them to follow their sordid interests, which will now, undoubtedly, be best consulted and most promoted by annexation to the United States. " Lord ^s intended tergiversation has been, I believe, some time known ; he admits that all farmers without capital, in short, all little men, must be sacrificed. What a barbarous and odious policy, that goes upon the principle that none but capitalists are henceforth to be allowed to live, as farmers at least. We must turn the tables upon Lord and all such heartless doctrinaires ! " I fear the majority in the Lords will be greater than was expected ; I am told that we must endeavour to put ministers in a minority two or three times before the bill gets to its second reading in the Lords, 110 matter upon what question. I hear there are many peers whose votes depend entirely upon their notions, whether or not Peel can, by hook or by crook, carry ou." 130 A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. CHAPTER XI. It seems that Lord George Bentinck took a too desponding view of the resources and intentions of the Irish members. They returned not merely resolved to continue their opposition to the Coercion Bill, but with a determination among several of them not only to defeat the particular measure, but to overthrow, if possible, the minister altogether. Notwithstanding the eftbrts of Mr. O'Connell, who was anxious to hasten the passing of the Corn Bill in order to facilitate the return of his old allies to power, the repeal of the corn laws was a measure which a great many of the Irish members found it very difficult to digest, and which they could not help suspecting was a somewhat heavy price to pay for the benefit of restoring ths Whigs to office. The declining energies of Mr. O'Connell and the complete failure of his policy, every day becoming more evident, had of late combined to develope in Ireland the first germs of a party, now prevalent, which, while still avowing what are styled liberal opinions, sought the regeneration of that country in social rather than political remedies, and aimed to unite men for that object without reference to their religious opinions. Country, and not creed, was held out as the foremost consideration by these persons, national rather than ecclesiastical objects, material more than spiritual aims, and, at the bottom, the superintendence of the landlord rather than the supremacy of the priest. Like everything else, this tendency was a reaction, occasioned by the abuse and disaster of the system for which it desired to be substituted. A roi/ITICAL BIOGRAPHY. 131 It is due to an unfortunate gentleman, who liad many generous qualities, to state that Mr. Smith O'Brien, the member for the county of Limerick, was one of the first who perceived the necessity of this course, and if his judgment had been equal to his abilities, which were far from inconsiderable, there is little doubt he might have filled a very useful and gratifying position. The speech of Lord George Bentinck on the state of Ireland, which was noticed in our ninth chapter, had attracted the attention of Mr. O'Brien and his friends, who thought they per- ceived in that address an outline of measures much more calculated to alleviate and ultimately remove the evils of their country than the effete programme of the Whig leader, or the precipitate and violent scheme of the minister, which, while introduced on the plea of encountering the emergency of Ireland, was well known to have been framed only to meet the exigency of Manchester, and which, while it affected to consider above all things the condition of the Irish people, warned the House at the same time not to trench on the sacred subject of tenure, or to attempt to cure the chronic evil of national pauperism. The attempt of Mr. O'Connell, made at Dublin during the recess, to secure at all hazards the passing of the Corn Bill, and which was noticed in the letter of Lord George Bentinck, determined those who had freed themselves from the ancient thraldom of the delegate of the Irish priesthood, to take some decisive step, on their return to England, which might open in impending changes some better prospect for their country than a mere transfer of office from Sir Robert Peel to his accustomed rival. Accordingly, when the House met on the 17th of April, and the Secretary of State moved the order of the day for the adjourned debate (the fourth night) on the Coercion Bill, Mr. Smith O'Brien, with clia- T' ^ 133 A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. racteristic impetuosity, interposed to " make an appeal to government with respect to that part of Ireland with which he was connected." The people were starving, " but the circumstances which appeared most aggravating was, that the people were starving in the midst of plenty." Every tide carried from the Irish ports corn sufficient for the maintenance of thousands of the Irish people. He then criticised in considerable detail the ineffective measures of the government to meet this state of aff"airs. He was for increased assess- ments for the poor and additional assessments from absentees. He distinctly announced that he was one of those who differed from the great majority at his own side of the House with respect to measures to alter the corn laws. No doubt such alteration might be of service to England, but it must be for some time injurious to Ireland. It was unfair and ungenerous on the part of the government, with respect to members who differed from them, to mix up the question of the Corn Laws with the Coercion Bill. This address, well digested, full of detail, and evincing an acquaintance with the subject, forced a vindication of the government at some length from the Secretary of State. Mr. Roche, the member for the county of Cork, and a gentleman who has always taken an independent part in the House of Com- mons, supported the views of Mr. Smith O'Brien so earnestly and effectively, that Sir Robert Peel himself felt obliged to rise and defend the administration. This interesting discussion threw back the adjourned debate, which was continued later in the evening in a languid spirit, when a further adjournment was again moved, on the ground that, "though the debate had continued for four nights, only two members of the government had spoken, while not a single Irish member had yet come forward to advocate the measure." A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. 133 Mr. Ellice, the member for Coventry, whose prac- tised eye began to perceive that the embroilment was becoming serious, and that unless some arrangement were brought about, it Avas quite possible that the government might break up Avithout passing the Corn Bill, appealed to the Irish members with specious sympathy not to persist in their course. He felt very strongly with them; for nearly thirty years he had voted for a liberal policy to Ireland ; this appeal came from a warm friend to their country, but there were measures for which both England, Scotland, and even Ireland, were waiting with anxiety. He entreated them to reflect on the course they were pursuing, and on the effect it would have on the countrv, sufferinij from one end to the other from the little progress yet made in the business of the session. But those per- suasive tones, and all that faculty of afl'ectionate ex- postulation, which had so often soothed and stifled the mutiny of faction, were now employed in vain. Mr. Dillon Browne '^ could come to no other con- clusion, than that the Irish members were treated with contempt," so they divided on the adjournment, and being defeated, moved a fresh adjournment; on which the minister surrendered, and postponed the debate until the next Monday, when, to complete the vexation of the government, they did not succeed iu making a House. Thus, after the recess, a whole week passed without the government advancing a single step, either with their Corn or their Coercion Bill. So feeble and barren a behaviour, when above all things progress and even a little audacity were required, confirmed the suspicion in the public mind, that had been for some time rising, that the minister had undertaken a measure beyond his powers and one of a character un- necessarily extreme. The lovers of compromise, always the strongest party in this country, were now active. ]34 A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. Why did not the Whigs step in and settle the question in a spirit consistent with all their previous decla- rations, which even the Protectionists would now willingly accept ? A moderate fixed duty was the Whig policy ; it would save the honour of the landed party; it would meet the scientific objections of those economical authorities, who, however favourable to interchange, were of opinion that it was injurious to encounter hostile tarifl's by free imports; it might prove a fruitful source of revenue; finally, it would permit the formation of a strong government, and the Whigs would only be in their natural position as the leaders of the aristocracy of the country. Nor were the objections and obstacles to a course so temperate and conciliatory very apparent. There was no excitement in England in favour of the govern- ment scheme ; on the contrary, the only excitement then was that of the farmers, and that was against the measure; all the important elections had invariably been decided against the ministry ; Ireland, for whose advantage it was especially irtroduced, viewed it with distrust, and even dislike. There was the clamour of Manchester to encounter; but the manufacturing dis- tricts were by no means unanimous in favour of total repeal, and the proud confederation which now demanded that abrogation had, only a few months previously to the meeting of Parliament, been on the point, with empty coflers, of withdrawing from a struggle which they then considered hopeless. What then prevented the overthrow of Sir Kobert PeeFs government after the Easter recess of 1846? The Whigs were sufficiently patriotic not to shrink from ofl^ice ; they were as a party, both from feeling and conviction, unanimous in favour of a fixed duty ; Lord Palmerston's speech was still ringing in the ears of the House of Commons, and not to run the risk of its being forgotten, his lordship had properly taken care A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. 135 to have it printed ; they were sure, under the circum- stances, of the unanimous support of the Irish members who would have got rid at the same of the Corn and the Coercion Bills ; they would have received from the landed interest a permanent support; and if Lord George Beutinck had entered the new cabinet, which many among the Whigs talked of and desired, he would have only reverted to that a:acient political con- nection, of which his house for generations had been one of the main props. What then prevented this important and desirable consequence ? The Edinburgh letter. Some time, however, elapsed before the insurmount- able nature of this barrier transpired ; and during this period of suspense, intrigue was active and prolific. Young Ireland was not sluggish. It was important to remove the prejudice which might be raised against the Protectionist party, on the ground that in opposing the repeal of the corn laws they were preventing the ne- cessary supplies from being poured into famished Ire- land; and it was therefore resolved that some public declaration of the disposition of the Protectionists on this head should be immediately elicited. It was, therefore, on Tuesday, the 19th of April, at Harcourt House, and while in conversation with Mr. Baron Martin, that Lord George Bentinck received a letter from Mr. Smith O'Brien, preparatory to the antici- pated meeting of the House on the morrow, in which lie inquired, " whether in the event of the government bringing in a bill to suspend the existing corn laws as regards Ireland, so as to admit grain duty free, the noble lord and the party with which he was connected would support such a measure?" Lord George Ben- tinck had no personal acquaintance with INIr. Smith O'Brien, and this was the first letter he had received from him. He opened it, and read it aloud without first reading it to himself, so that Baron Martin became 136 A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. aware of its purport as soon as Lord George. The answer to the inquiry of Mr. Smith O'Brien was im- mediate and straightforward. Lord George said he would give no reply to such an inquiry without con- sulting his friends; that he would confer with them; and that if the question were addressed him in his place in the House of Commons, he would state the resolution at which they might arrive. These slight circumstances are noticed, because this inquiry led to no inconsiderable results; the government became much alarmed, and a cabinet minister who, some days after was seeking the suffrages of the electors of a Scotch borough, declared that a "compact^' had been entered into between the Protectionists and the Irish members to defeat the repeal of the corn laws. Mr. Smith O'Brien did not obtain his opportunity until Friday, the 24th of April, when the order of the day was again moved for the fifth night of the ad- journed debate on the Coercion Bill. Then he rose and put the question at once in the language we have quoted ; but without waiting for an immediate answer, he proceeded to illustrate his inquiry by a speech of some length, and very skilfully prepared. Since he had called the attention of the House to the condition of his countrymen, a week ago, the govern- ment had laid documents on the table which were now in everybody's hands. They proved that famine was rapidly approaching in Ireland, nay that it actually existed. Quoting from these documents in great de- tail, he said that such a state of things could not con- tinue without some resort to violence by the people. "With these documents before them, he could hardly believe that government would persevere in a measure which took away from the people the right of being out of doors half an hour after sunset. Ministers declared they had foreseen famine. Why then had they not taken due precautions ? If the minister saw so clearly A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. 137 in November what has since occurred, was it not his business to have made arrangements to prevent starva- tion ? And now the Irish members were taunted with preventing an influx of food into Ireland, because the government will not proceed with the Com Bill until the House has sanctioned their Coercion Bill. The Irish members had attended in their place for the purpose of supporting those measures of free trade which the English Liberals considered so essential to the welfare of the country. They might therefore have reasonably expected that the English Liberals would have concurred Avith them in offering such resistance to the Coercion Bill as would render it impossible for the minister to pass it. It was not so difficult to con- trol a government which had only one hundred and twelve supporters. The Irish members were denounced for doing their duty to their country ; but they were not the only per- sons who received this welcome vituperation. Lord George Bentinck and his friends came in for a share of it. They were present to answer for themselves. He did not know what answer he should receive to the question that he had put to the noble lord, but as far as he could observe, the course of the Protectionists up to the present moment had been this : — " You have no right," they said to the government, "to couple the question of Irish famine with the question of free trade ; and if you had come down to this house and told us the people of Ireland were starving, we would have assented to placing a greater abundance of food at the disposal of the Irish government." Mr. O'Brien felt the same ; he felt there was a want of candour in mixing up the famine of Ireland with the repeal of the corn laws. " The repeal of the corn laws was evidently an English measure ; it was not an Irish measure." Although hitherto silent on that subject, he would speak on it now without reserve. He was 138 A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. now, as he Lad been in '42, an advocate for a fixed duty. Lord John Russell, whom he followed on that occasion, had left him in the rear ; but he had seen no reason to change his views, which he considered best for Ireland and England too. The house was very full when this declaratory in- quiry was made, and great interest was felt when Lord George Bentinck rose to reply to it. There had been a numerous meetinof held at Mr. -Bankes's house in Palace-yard, to take the pre- position of the Irish members into consideration, and which had scarcely concluded in time for Lord George to take his seat at five o'clock. It was the first occa- sion on which Lord George had met his friends as their avowed leader. It might be thought, he said, that, under ordinary circumstances, it was not fair to ask an independent and isolated member what might be his intentions ; but then the circumstances in which they found themselves were not ordinary. There was a ministry endeavouring to govern the country in which only a sixth of the members of the House of Commons placed confidence, while those with Avhom Lord George Bentinck acted and agreed "numbered two hundred and forty, constituting with the Irish members a clear majority of the House." He thought these were cir- cumstances which entitled Mr. O'Brien to put to him the question which had been asked, and he would give to it a frank and honest answer. If, through a cry excited by the ministry, a feeling had been created in Ireland that the Protectionist party, or the opponents of the Coercion Bill, were stand- ing between the starving people of Ireland and their food, the Protectionist party were willing to remove that delusion by passing, instantly, any measures which for a period should open the ports of Ireland. But, in so doing, they solemnly protested against the assump- tion that they believed such a measure would afford A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY, 139 any relief to tlie people of Ireland. Into London and Glasgow alone^ within the three months subsequent to the 1st of January^ MG^ 260,000 quarters of oats had been imported from Ireland. How was it possible, by suspending the corn laws in Ireland, to supply oats for the people when the price of oats in the London market, exclusive of duty, was now one shilling a quarter higher than in Cork, the dearest market in Ireland? So as to wheat, it was 495. Qd. per quarter at Cork, while foreign wheat in bond averaged 54^. Cork was the most distressed part of Ireland, yet in this year ('46), this year of scarcity, Cork had sent us more than 386,000 barrels of grain. If then the people of Cork were starving, it was not for the want of food, but for the want of money to purchase food, and the want ot employment. Money must be afforded, or the employ- ment which may be the means of obtaining money, in order to enable the people to purchase food. The Devon commission had reported that, one year with another, there were always 2,300,000 destitute poor in Ireland, and deducting the establishment ex- penses (j£90,000), there was raised by the poor law .£166,000 to provide for their sustenance. That amounted to something less than one farthing and a half per head per week. There were at that moment 37,000 persons in the workhouses. £166,000 would give these persons one shilling per head, per week, and there were 2,263,000 paupers totally unprovided for. " And you wonder that riots and agrarian outrages occur with such a state of things !" There was but one remedy : to make a sufficient provision for the poor of Ireland. Was it to be en- dured that £10,000,000 in food should come from Ireland, and that no more than £166,000 should be given to the poor of that country. But a poor law coidd not be carried in haste; immediate relief was wanterl. In '33 we could give £1,000,000 to the tithe 140 A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. owners of Ireland : were the rigid rules of political economy not to be broken through when the people were starving ? We must supply the immediate wants of the Irish people from the funds of this country, and then we must seriously endeavour to make a permanent provision for them. "These are not new opinions," continued Lord George ; " they were the opinions of one, who possessed the full confidence of this House. Mr. Huskisson said, that in a poor law for Ireland would be found the in- troduction of a feeling of security which would invite and retain the employment of English capital in that country. It was that feeling of security which had occasioned the greatness and wealth of this country, and which alone would produce similar results in Ire- land. Mr. Huskisson even said, that unless such a measure were quickly brought in, all the hopes which he entertained of the benefit to Ireland from the pass- ing of the Emancipation Act would be dissipated." "1 look to that period," concluded Lord George, with considerable emotion, " with the greatest satis- faction. In my humble office of private secretary to Mr. Canning, nearly a quarter of a century past, I had the satisfaction of possessing the confidence of that illustrious statesman. I have often heard Mr. Canning say, that it was to the poor laws of this country, that England owed her successful struggles with Europe and America, that they reconciled the people to their bur- thens, and had saved England from revolution. These are the measures to which my friends around me look for the salvation of Ireland; for quieting disturbance and for promoting peace." There was considerable cheering when he concluded an address which the House generally felt was not un- worthy of the leader of a great party. His friends were extremely gratified, and the expressions of con- fidence in him on the part of several of the Irish mem- A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. 141 bers who sat on the Liberal benches marked and uncompromising. An interesting debate took place, and this again arrested the progress of the Coercion Bill. Late in the evening, Mr. Cobden, who had stu- diously kept in the back-ground during the session, watching his game played by less notorious hands, alarmed at the appearance of affairs, thought it ex- pedient to sound the note of danger, and rated the Protectionist party in that clear and saucy style which he knows how to manage. He said, that the House had rather lost sight of the origin of this discussion. Irregular and unexpected, it had originated in a question from Mr. Smith O'Brien to Lord George Bentinck, " which it seems had arisen out of a private communication between them." That question was, whether Lord George Bentinck and his party would be Avilling to vote for a suspension of the corn law for three months, limited to Ireland only. But the House had another proposition before them, one not to suspend, but to abolish, the corn law ; and, therefore, the object of Mr. O'Brien was, instead of abolishing the corn law for the United Kingdom, to sub- stitute a three months' suspension, applicable to Ire- land only. Now he begged, in the first place, to tell Mr. O'Brien, and Lord George Bentinck, and the two hundred and forty gentlemen who sat behind him and cheered his speech, that there were other parties to be consulted with regard to such a proposition — the people of England — "not the country party, but the people who live in towns, and will govern this country." The question of the corn laws, he said, could no longer be made matter for manoeuvring and compacts within the walls of the House of Commons. It was dis- posed of, settled, out of doors; and although their artifices here might delay the measure and cause anxiety out of doors, still they could only delay it; and, in fact, the only thing that could be substituted 143 A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. for the deferred measure, was total and immediate re- peal. There was a delusion in the minds of the oppo- sition as to the state of public opinion on this question, and he wished that circumstances would permit the minister to appeal to the country, to make an example of honourable gentlemen below the gangway which they little anticipated. He then argued, with great acuteness, that it was impossible to limit the suspension of the corn laws to Ireland, and added, " I have intruded but seldom in this debate. I am anxious to be a party to nothing, which, in reference to the Coercion Bill, stands in the way of the Corn Bill. I deeply regret that those two measures should have got into a dead lock. The people of England are utterly perplexed and puzzled at the state of things here. I am almost perplexed myself. During the recess, I was repeatedly asked to attend meetings at Manchester and elsewhere, to censure the delay. Upon my honour. I know not Avhom to blame. I cannot blame the government, for, though I were disposed to do so, I see them so much blamed by other gentlemen, that I may well abstain. -"^ Mr. Cobden was repeatedly cheered as he spoke by the Treasury bench, and particularly by Sir Robert Peel. The Protectionists murmured among themselves, that the first minister had cheered the declaration, that this country should be governed by the towns, and that such a demonstration in a minister was unconstitu- tional, and in him, considering his antecedents, in- decent. Several gentlemen having privately stated that they had personally observed the minister cheer the obnoxious sentiment, a member of the Protec- tionist party deemed it right to rise and charge the minister with what, if it had occurred, was undoubtedly an offensive indiscretion. This member said, that Mr. Cobden had threatened the country narty with the indignation of the people. A POLITICAL BICGP.APIIY. 143 and had followed up his threat by a terse definition of what the people was — namely^ the people who lived in towns. This sentiment had been cheered and this definition accepted by one gentleman, the expression of whose opinion or of whose feelings must always make a great impression on the House and the country. It was the more curious, because the cheer came from the same right honourable individual who was once so proud of being the head of the gentlemen of England. Sir Robert Peel sprang from his seat, and emphati- cally denied the cheer. A scene of great excitement and confusion occurred. Various members favoured the House with their impressions as to the conduct of the minister. Of that, however, there could be no doubt after his declaration. The minister had cheered Mr. Cobden generally, but not that particular definition, " the validity of which,'' as he stated subsequently in the evening, " he did not recognise. He totally dis- sented from the principle stated by Mr. Cobden." At length all was tranquil, but the fifth night of the adjourned debate only produced one speech, and that from Mr. John O'Connell. As the House broke up at half-past one o'clock, members, as they put on their great coats and lit their cigars, said, " It is impossible that this can last." It was about this time that a strange incident occurred at the adjournraeut of the House. The miuis- ter, plunged in profound and perhaps painful reverie, was unconscious of the termination of the proceedings of the night, and remained in his seat unmoved. At that period, although with his accustomed and admir- able self-control he rarely evinced any irritability in the conduct of parliamentary business, it is understood that, under less public circumstances, he was anxious and much disquieted. His colleagues, lingering for awhile, followed the other members and left the house, r.nd those on whom, from the intimacy of their olHcial 144 A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. relations with Sir Robert, the office of rousing him would have devolved, hesitated ' from some sympathy with his unusual susceptibility to perform that duty, though they remained watching their chief behind the Speaker's chair. The benches had become empty, the lights were about to be extinguished ; it is a duty of a clerk of the House to examine the chamber before the doors are closed, and to-night it was also the strange lot of this gentleman to disturb the reverie of a states- man. A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. 145 CHAPTER XII. When political affairs are critical, Sunday is always a great day for rumours. There was a rumour ou the Sunday following the last adjournment ; namely, that the government had resolved at all events to terminate " the dead lock/' as Mr. Cobden called it ; and that next day the minister was not only himself to speak ou the Coercion Bill, but to make a declaration of the danger in which cheap food for the people was placed by a factious opposition, and to intimate that if the obstacles were not removed, he would counsel the queen to dissolve Parliament. This piece of news reached Lord George Bentinck from such a quarter, that though very scrupulous, he credited it, and not at all alarmed at the consequences, devoted all his energies to the maintenance of "the dead lock." He liked the phrase, and, as was his cus- tom under such circumstances, it was often in his mouth. On Monday the house was very full. " Sir Robert v.'ill be up early," was the word of order. The debate was opened by a dashing speech from Mr. McCarthy, worthy of the Historical Society in the most fervent hour of its Rhodian eloquence. This coloured the atmosphere, but though it gained a deserved com- pliment from the first minister, the feeling was not sustained. The understanding that Sir Robert was to rise early checked debate. The promise was fulfilled. The minister rose about half-past nine o'clock, and with that abstracted air which generally announced an im- portant statement or a great effort. After having vindicated the conduct of the govern- L 148 A POLITICAL BIOGR.\PHY. ment in tlieir resolution of persisting in asking the House to read the Irish bill for a first time, and stating that "it was from no mere punctilious deference for the House of Lords that they took that course, but because they were deeply convinced, that if they per- mitted that bill, so recommended from the throne and so passed by the House of Lords, to lie on the table with- out notice, the representatives of Ireland might accuse them, and justly accuse them, of offering an insult to their country,'' he thus proceeded : — " Sir, I think I need hardly refer to the injurious surmises which I have heard thrown out, that her Ma- jesty's government had become indiflFerent to the pro- gress of the Corn Bill, and that they had interposed this discussion, or rather this first reading of another measure, with a view to the defeat of that bill. I know that honourable gentlemen have not said so for themselves, but they have said in the course of dis- cussion that such an impression exists on the part of the public. Sir, I shall be prepared to give whatever pi'oof may be required of the sincerity of my convic- tions on the subject of the Corn Bill. It is sufficient for me now to state, that the progress of the discussion, the lapse of time, and intervening events^ have more strongly confirmed me in the feeling which I expressed when I proposed the permanent and final adjustment of this measure. Sir, I will not deny that, even during these debates, my opinions on that subject have under- gone a change; but it is this change — that restrictions which I at first believed to be impolitic, I now believe to be unjust, and consequently a sense of their injustice precludes any compromise on my part. That which I have proposed, both with respect to the amount and the continuance of duty, is all that I am enabled to offer; and in answer to injurious suspicions, I think it enough to say, that I shall be perfectly ready to testify, by any public act, the sincerity of my intentions." . A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. 147 There was a dead silence in tlie House. Lord George Bentinck whispered to the member who sat next to him, " He has taken new ground ; that which he behoved to be impolitic, he now believes to be unjust. Note that," * " Any public act to testify sincerity " was generally accepted by both sides as dissolution. The Protec- tionists, as a body, desired that result, and were pre- pared for it ; the Whigs shrank from the settlement of the corn question devolving on them, or disappearing as a party in the storm of a general election, a still more probable catastrophe. Lord George Bentinck never would believe that Sir Robert Peel would dissolve Parliament; because, whatever might be the national decision as to the principle of policy which was to be adopted, he was convinced that the whole body of the present men in office, at least with rare exceptions, must lose their seats. What he wanted was to force the ministry to resign, and secure the dissolution for their successors, whoever thev mijrht be. After this pointed declaration of the minister, he addressed himself to the bill before the House in detail, and spoke at great length and in his best manner. Nevertheless he did not succeed, as was anti- cipated, in securing the division. Although, from the line which they had adopted, it was not in the power of the Protectionists to protract the debate; and although it was understood that the Whigs began to be appre- hensive of the possible consequences of further delay, and although Mr. Smith O'Brien had been withdrawn in the interval from the scene, and was imprisoned by the House for refusing to attend on a raihvaj^ com- mittee, the Irish members contrived, not only to adjourn the debate until the next Friday, the 1st of May, but to sustain it, though somewhat languidly, the whole of that night, or rather till two o'clock on the morning of Saturday the 2ud, when the division on L Ji 148 A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. the first reading of the Coercion Bill took place, and the Government carried it by a majority of 274 to 125. Lord John Russell voted for the bill ; Lord George Bentinck voted for the bill ; followed by his brother, the Lord Henry, Mr. Bankes, Mr. Baring, the marquis of Granby, Mr. Christopher, Sir John Trollope, Mr. Miles, and the great majority of the most influential members of the Protectionist party. The individual who had ventured to oppose this step in council, on the ground that the support of an unconstitutional measure was equivalent to a vote of confidence in the Government which introduced it and might eventually embarrass an opposition, left the House, as he would not be told from a different lobby from that in which his friends were counted. The great obstacle, which for five weeks had arrested the progress of business at so critical a period, was at length removed. The members felt like men in a great thoroughfare when some desperate stoppage has been broken up. The wheels of the state chariot were un- locked again, and the minister expected on Monday, the 4th of May, to go into committee on his Corn Bill as a matter of course. But this was not the intention of Lord George Bentinck. He was resolved to have an explanation from Sir Robert Peel of the strange an- nouncement, on the previous Friday, of his present feelings with respect to the corn laws. Lord George had been brooding over it ever since it was made, and was armed to the teeth for the combat for which he panted. At the meeting of the House, therefore. Lord George opposed the Speaker leaving " the chair," as a new feature and a new character had arisen in the dis- cussion of this question since it came under the con- sideration of the House. The first minister had allowed it to go forth to the country, that those laws which he desired to have repealed, and which, at the time he first A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. 149 intimated his intention to that effect, he deemed to be impolitic, he now considered unjust; that he, who had a hand in the construction of every corn law that had been devised for the last thirty years, had now been induced, by the debate of the last three months, so far to change his opinion, that those laws which, at the early part of last autumn, he had deemed injudicious for the first time, he now deemed to be unjust. Lord George thought the House ought not to allow the measure to proceed until the minister had stated the views which had induced one to come to this extra- ordinary and sudden conclusion, who had for so many j'ears exerted himself to maintain those laws. Lord George then proceeded to consider the subject under all the heads on which new facts might have occurred, since the opening of the session, to authorize the statement of the minister. Was there anything in the state of the markets, either as to the existing prices or the quantity that was to be consumed, which should induce us to forget the interest of the farmer for the sake of the consumer? The average price of wheat, on that day, was beneath that which, four years ago, this very minister stated was the price which was the object of the law he then, as a minister, introduced. They had heard much of stagnation of trade ; not they who resist a change in the laws of commerce, but those who would create that change, are responsible for that stagnation. But Lord George showed by elaborate tables, with which he was prepared, that there had been 116,000 quarters more of grain sold in the 288 markets of England in this year of stagnation, than were sold in the four corresponding weeks of the previous year. Well, then, the stagnation of trade had not interfered with the supply and consumption of corn. Was it tiie anxiety of foreign countries to establish an interchange with us, that made the minister so suddenly sensible of the injustice of the regulations 150 A POLITICAL BIOGRAl'lIY. that might prevent that intercourse? Lord George reviewed the latest information received from foreign countries on this important object. He quoted a recent declaration of M. Guizot not favourable to the English policy ; he appealed to the latest intelligence from the United States, extremely hostile to a miti- gated tariff; he proved that Prussia was not yet " shaken.'^ Had anything occurred then in Ireland to operate this change in tlie convictions of the right honourable gentleman? Hardly that. And here he quoted a variety of documents from individuals of all ranks, and journals of all opinions, in Ireland, to prove that there ■was no sympathy with the measures of the government in that country, and a denial of the justness of the representations of its condition. " I think, therefore," said Lord George, " that we are entitled to know, before we go into committee on this question, what are the new circumstances which have come to the knowledge of the minister and which have caused him for the last time to change anew his opinions ? " The reply of the minister was very remarkable. The appeal to him was unexpected ; but when master of his case, he never spoke with more vigour and facility than "when taken unawares. Preparation was apt to make liim cumbrous. In the present instance, disposing at first of the Irish part of the case, and acknov/ledging " that he knew very well that scarcity was not universal in that countr}'," he addressed himself to the particular inquiry of the Protectionist leader. What had induced him to change his opinions, even in the course of this session, and now to believe that those restrictions, "which, at the commencement of the session, he only thought impolitic, were also unjust. In the first place the minister " adopted and deli- berately repeated that statement ;" and he then pro- ceeded to assign the grounds on which he had arrived A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. 151 at the opinion, after listening to the discussions of the List three months, and after mature consideration. He informed the House that there was an abstract pre- sumption against restrictions on food, which he endea- voured to establish ; that he did not believe that a free trade in corn involved any dependence on foreign nations for the necessaries of life ; that he did not believe that the rate of wages varied with the price of food ; that he did not believe that protection was necessary to farmers of adequate intelligence and means; that he did not believe that heavy taxation was a reason for the continuance of the duties on corn, but quite the reverse. On these heads he dilated, and stated that, because of his belief in these opinions, he had come to the conclusion, that it was unjust to continue legis- lative restrictions upon food. Both sides of the House listened with no little asto- nishment while the minister, with an apparent interest in the subject which it would have been supposed novelty could have alone inspired, recapitulated all those arguments which for years the Anti-Corn Law League had presented to the consideration, not only of the community, but even of the House of Commons, in every form which ingenuity could devise and a versatile and experienced rhetoric illustrate and enforce. But Avhen, with an air of discoveiy, he availed himself of one of the most subtle but certainly not less hackneyed tactics of Mr. Cobden, and, in order to depreciate the im- portance of wheat-growing, called upon the House to take the map of Great Britain, and divide the island by a line from Inverness and Southampton, and observe that, generally speaking, to the Avestward of the line, the countr}'^ had no interest in the restrictions on the importation of wheat — the gentlemen who had left their agricultural constitutents in the lurch because they had been told that unless Sir Robert Peel were permitted to repeal the corn laws Mr. Cobden might actually 152 A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. become a minister, began to ask themselves wbetlier, after all, sucb an event would not have been the honestest arrangement of the two. Unlike the corn laws, the exclusion of Mr. Cobden might have been politic, but, "after the discussion of the last three months,'^ it certainly seemed unjust. This general feeling was expressed later in the even- ing by one of the Protectionist party, who, noticing the observation of the minister that the debate was unex- pected, observed, " that not being prepared for debate was certainly not an excuse for not being prepared to answer the speech of the right honourable gentleman. It was not a speech that was heard for the first time. It had been heard in other places, in different localities, and he might be permitted to add, from a master- hand. That speech had sounded in Stockport ; it had echoed in Durham. There had been on the stage of the classical theatre a representation of it on the finest scale, and, as is usual in such cases, the popular perform- ance was now repeated by an inferior company. Espe- cially, when he heard the line drawn, which marks on the map the corn-growing districts of Great Britain, he thought he might say, as he heard sometimes said on railway committees upon rival lines, ' That is surely the line of the honourable member for Stockport,'*' (Mr. Cobden.) This remarkable declaration of the minister, that he had changed his opinions as to the character of the corn laws even during the present session, was noticed also on a subsequent night by Mr. Ker Seymer, the member for Dorset, in a happy passage of a maiden speech, which was also generally distinguished by its vivacity and acuteness. "The minister," he said, "had admitted that changes had taken place in his opinion since his first introduction of the question, and in that respect he illustrated a well-known principle in human nature. A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. l53 accorolusf to which, persons became attached to that for which they made sacrifices; and he believed that the sacrifices which the minister had made, with respect to this question, had been greater than was anticipated. He brought forward the measure on the ground of policy ; but he found himself opposed by two hundred and forty members of that House, and then he raised it to a question of justice ; and if he found hereafter, that the opposition to it in another place should be still more determined than that which it had met with in this house, he might raise it, as some reverend orators at Covent Garden Theatre had done, into a religious question. But whatever might be the changes in the views of the minister, the question itself remained the same. It was no more a question of religion or justice now than it was last year. It was a question involving great commercial and social considerations, but was no more a question of justice or religion than the duty on hair powder." What was the cause of this remarkable declaration of the minister, made with so much form and repeated with so much emphasis? It was not an ebullition. It was a preconcerted statement, at a very important crisis in the condition of his government (April 27th), every word of which had been weighed, though appa- rently not calculated to please those who, at great sacrifice, had remained attached to him. This decla- ration denoted a change in the parliamentary position of Sir Robert Peel, and an approachment to the Man- chester confederation. When Lord John Russell failed to form a govern- ment in Christmas, ^45, and Sir Robert Peel was again sent for by her Majesty, in resuming the reins of govern- ment and in appealing to his colleagues to co-operate with him in the subversion of the protective system, he justified his course by the assurances, that there was no other mode of preventing a third party from being 154 A POLITICAL BIOGRAPnY. called into tlie raanagement of public affairs, and tliat too a democratic party; thr-t the incompetency of the Whigs to take charge of the administration when their turn and time had constitutionally arrived, rendered it necessary for the Tories to fulfil those liberal functions which, according to the practice, if not the theory, of our political scheme, the Whigs ought to have been prepared to fulfil. In a word, the Manchester confede- tion was held up as the alternative to a Conservative government. What a catastrophe for the territorial constitution ! The position, therefore, which Sir Robert Peel assumed and intended to preserve at the meeting of Parliament was that of the patriotic individual who by great sacrifices had succeeded in preventing Mr. Cob- den from becoming a minister. It was in this spirit that the appeal was made to the duke of Wellington, and it was in this spirit that it received a sympathetic response. Not only was Mr. Cobden not to be a minister, but Sir Robert was to remain one. And in one of the last of those strange, unconstitutional speeches, full of naivete and secret history, which the duke of WeUington was in the habit of addressing to the peers when his grace led the House of Lords, he said, " that, whatever may be the result of this bill (the Corn Bill, May 28tb, 1846) in this House, it appears very clear, that the object I had in view in resuming ray seat in her Majesty's councils will not be attained. I conclude that another government wiU be formed." After the alleged refusal of Lord Stanley to attempt to form a Protectionist ministry in 1845, and the avowed failure of Lord John Russell to form a free trade one, it was not perhaps unjustifiable for a minister, elate with long success, haughty with court favour, con- tinental influence, and parliamentary sway, to believe that his position was impregnable. The private tone A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. 155 of the Treasury bencli, therefore^ when Parliament met was martyrdom. They were sacrificing their opinions to save the country from Mr. Cobden, and several gentlemen of great weight were so touched by the interesting position of these statesmen^ that although they entirely disapproved of the policy of the minister, they permitted their names to be seen in every division list with that of Mr. Cobden, in order to save the country from the pernicious influence of his councils. Not very fine in their observation of the phases of political life, they remained, notwithstanding some awkward incidents like the "injustice" speech, in the same fool's paradise ; until having, as they supposed, repealed the corn laws in order to prevent the triumph of Mr. Cobden, they heard the member for Stockport hailed by their prime minister as the saviour of the country and the ornament of the senate. When the first minister discovered that his original calculations were erroneous, and that the Conservative party was lost to him, a remarkable change took place in his tone, and especially towards the jMauche&ter league. The union of simplicity and sagacity, which was the characteristic of Lord George Bentinck, shrank with indignation and a little disgust from what appeared to him to be Jesuitical. He sincerely believed that the system of the Manchester confederation was hostile to tne greatness and permanent prosperity of this coun- try, and that for the sake of a temporary expansion of our commerce, it was sacrificing the durable sources of power and public wealth. But he respected Mr. Cob- den, for his talents, his position, the clear manner in which he had obtained it, and the considerable public sympathy which supported him. He thought Mr. Cobden a dangerous foe, but he was at least an open one ; and if the Manchester principles were to predominate, he could not comprehend why they should 156 A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. not be administered by Manchester men. Nay, more ; believing their principles were injurious, Lord George thought tliat he had a better chance of defeating them when they were openly and completely avowed, than when they were carried into operation in detail by one who had obtained power by professing his hostility to them. The '^injustice debate" took up the whole of the night. The Protectionists, at a certain hour, adjourned the committee on the Corn Bill, as the Irish members liad adjourned the first reading of the Coercion Bill. The minister resisted the adjournment, and divided twice on it. He then gave up. " I have not strength to go through with this contest/' he exclaimed : " I do not wish to subject others to it." The opposers of the Irish Bill, however, had a great advantage over the opposers of the Corn Bill. Liberal members always gave up their motions to ensure precedence to the Corn Bill. The Government, therefore, obtained the next night, otherwise devoted to private members^ for the committee to sit again. Nevertheless, they were again invited to battle On the first item in committee, the chairman reading the words, that " upon all wheat, barley, oats," Lord George Bentinck rose and said : " I rise, sir, to move the omission of the word ' oats.' " And on this text he delivered a most able speech on the agriculture of Ireland. '^Our former discussions," he said, "have almost entirely turned upon the species of grain Avitli which mainly the people of England are concerned, and scarcely at all upon that species of grain in which the people of Ireland, Scotland, and Wales are more par- ticularly interested. When we come to consider that there are 558,000 occupiers of land in Ireland, almost every one of whom is a grower of oats, we cannot but admit how important it is to Ireland that we should A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. 157 not bastily alter the law which protects their grain in the En<>iish market." After entering- into protracted calculations upon the effect of free importation on the oat producers of Ireland, he observed : " The minister last night referred to a statement of mine, that there were 558,000 far- mers in Ireland, with no other capital than their industry and their honesty, and he said that if it could be asserted generally of the farmers of Ireland, that tbey are without capital, can we contend that protec- tion has been for their interests; but the minister omitted the very important portion of ray statement, that these farmers held but fifteen acres of land. How can it be possible that a farmer of fifteen acres should have much capital ? Can he have threshing and win- nowing machines? We must deal with the "state of things we find. We did not make that state of things ; bui we find 558,000 occupiers of land in Ireland who hold but fifteen acres, and we are to say, if we agree with my Lord Essex, with whom the right honourable gentleman seems very much to sympathise, that they ought never to have been farmers, and consequently, that they ought at once to be sacrificed; that 558,000 far- mers, employing or sustaining three millions and a half of human beings, are to be sacrificed, because they do not possess a sufficient amount of capital. It might certainly be better that there should not be these small tenures in Ireland — but they exist ; we must deal with things as we find them. 1 cannot cut up human beings like a log of wood. " The minister asks what has protection done for these holders of land in Ireland ? I rather think the question to be answered is, whether the five or six hundred thousand small farmers of that country are worse off than they were at the time of the Union, when free- trade prevailed? Why, Ireland previously imported grain, while now she is an exporting country to the 158 A rOLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. amount of nearly five millions sterling, and of other agricultural produce, which will be affected by the measures now in agitation, to the extent probably of ten millions per annum. But the secretary of the savings' bank of Coi'k tells us, that in the past year £200,000 were paid into that bank by small farmers of the class I speak of, in sums not exceeding £30. Was not that ground for believing that Ireland was making progress under a protective policy ? These sums of £30 would certainly not constitute the capital necessary to a system of farming on a greater scale, or perhaps even to save the class of people possessing such a small amount of capital from being sacrificed by the minister at the shrine of free-trade. Still, this indicated a state of inde- pendence much to be rejoiced at, and showed the exist- ence of a race of men, who, though they might not perhaps ' cultivate their land to the best advantage,' or know how ' to make five quarters grow where three did before,' are yet a class of men, whom it would be worse than unwise to sacrifice for the sake of a system." He contrasted this conduct with the policy towards Ireland so earnestly supported by Mr. 13urke and Mr. Pitt. " But our measures now, it seems, are to be of such a description that you must drive her agricultural produce out of the market. It may be true that you are not about to divorce her, but you are going to admit into the arms of England concubines from everv part of the world." Noticing the often-repeated declaration of the minister, and which had been elaborately made on the previous night, that he felt no humiliation in con- fessing his errors, and acknowledging that he had hitherto been wrong with respect to the commercial policy of the country, Lord George said, that he did not wish to say much on that head. " It may not be humi- liating in a private gentleman to acknowledge that for thirty years of parliamentary life he had been entirely in A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. lo9 error in his opinions on a great branch of public policy. But I cannot agree that it is not humiliating to a great minister, to one who aspires to be a great statesman, to be obliged to confess, that the Avhole course of his public career has been one continued series of errors. Why, what advantage is there in having men at the helm of public affairs, if not to direct the public judgment? And if he direct it entirely in a wrong course, surely it is humiliating, and surely it cannot be otherwise than a humiliating avowal, that he has governed the country erroneously for a long series of years. Sir, it is the privilege of girls to change their opinions; but even they cannot do so without risk of a damaged reputation." But notwithstanding the dauntless energy and inex- haustible resources of the Protectionist leader, who watched every opportunity to resist the progress of the enemy, and was prepared always for every point; not- withstanding all his researches, his vast correspondence, his multifarious information, his conferences, interviews, deputations, his indefatigable life ; notwithstanding he was never absent from his seat, retired the last and rose the earliest to a day of constant toil, and never of suffi- cient sustenance, the inevitable hour arrived, and, on the 11th of May, the bill for the repeal of the corn laws was to be read a third and last time. Lord George Bentinck was extremely anxious that the Protectionist party should sustain their reputation on this occasion, and also that the bill should not go up to the Lords with a majority of three figures, which, it was boasted by the government and their new friends would be the case. The amendment was moved at his instance by the marquis of Granby, who, by his careful study of the question then under discussion, the earnest- ness of his disposition, and the firmness of his character, had attracted the attention and gained the confidence of his leader. Lord Granby more than fulfilled all that was hoped from him. He placed the whole question 160 A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. before the House in a style, comprehensive, masculine, and sincere. He was seconded by Mr. Milnes Gaskell, who had retired from the Treasury from his unwilling- ness to support the policy of the administration of which he had been recently a member. He brought to official experience the accessories of a cultivated mind and a classic elocution. The debate, after having occu- pied the 11th and 12th of May, was adjourned to Friday, the 15th of that month, when, after a discussion of per- haps unexampled excitement in the House of Commons_, the division was called at four o'clock in the morning of Saturday, and in a House of 560 members, the third reading of the bill for the repeal of the corn laws was carried by a majority of 98. A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. 161 CHAPTER XIII. On the 13th of Maj, in the heart of the adjourned debate on the third reading of the Corn Bill^ news arrived of the rejection by the legislative assembly of Canada of the new commercial policy of her Majesty's government, and Lord George Bentinck seized the following night, the 14th, which did not belong to the government, to bring forward, though at a late hour, the whole question of the effect of our new commercial policy on our relations with Canada. This is mentioned as illustrative of his energry and vigilance ; certainly throughout his remarkable and too brief career he never lost an opportunity. Even after the passing of the Corn Bill in the Commons, which took place, as we have stated, on Friday the 15th, on the Monday ibllowing, on the ministerial motion that the amendments made by the committee be read a second time. Lord George rose, and moving an amend- ment that the resolutions be read that day six months, made an elaborate and able statement, in which he laid down two principles, the effects of which he developed in detail : Istly, that it was our duty to remit excise duties in preference to customs^ duties ; and 2ndly, that the principle of reciprocity in our commercial intercourse, as laid down by Mr. Huskisson, should never be abandoned. He urged also, that if we were to reduce customs' duties in preference to excise, we ought to reduce the duties on the produce of those countries which take most of our produce, and should give the preference to duties on articles which do not come into competition with the industry of this country. When excise duties M 363 A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. were reduced^ independently of the relief to the subject, the expenses of collection were got rid of. The salaries of four hundred and fifty officers were saved by the mere reduction of the duties on auctions and glass. But when customs' duties are reduced, the services of not a single officer are dispensed with. Also, when you reduce customs' duties, the foreigner shares with the consumer in this country the benefit of the reduction. But if you reduce the duties on excise articles, the whole benefit is derived by the subjects of the queen. " I cannot understand," observed Lord George, " on what principle, so long as there are any excise duties to be reduced, the legislature should prefer to levy these duties and to reduce the duties of customs." Lord George said that Mr. Huskisson never con- templated free trade without reciprocity. The govern- ment appeared to have a pleasure in reducing the duties on the products of those countries which have hostile tariffs. The wiser policy would be to reduce the duties upon the products of those countries which take our manufactures at a low duty — China especially. Lord George repeated and enforced the opinion of one of his supporters, that hostile tariffs could not be encountered by free imports. A very long debate ensued upon this interesting subject which terminated at a late hour. The question whether hostile tariffs can be success- fully combated by free imports has not yet received a satisfjictory solution. Those who suppose they answer it when they point to the fact that under such cir- cumstances our trade with a restrictive country has increased, have mistaken its bearing. The question refers not to the increase of trade, but to the terms of interchange. A trade may increase with diminished profits. Diminished profits must ultimately lead to diminished wages. If a trade be increased, or even sustained, by our exchanging more of our productions A POLITICAL niOGRAPIIY. 1G3 for a less quantity of a foreign article, it can scarcely be esteemed iu a fiourisliing condition. The action of a hostile tariff seems to be equivalent to an increase in the cost of production in tlie country against whose industry it is directed, and to alter the terras of ex- change accordingly. So a reduction in the duties laid upon British goods in foreign countries would be as beneficial to England as an equivalent diminution in the cost of producing goods for foreign markets. If this be true, an increase of tbe duties imposed upon British goods in foreign countries, or a decrease of the duties imposed by England upon foreign goods, would be as injurious as the other movement would be bene- ficial. It has been frequently urged that a hostile tariff exacts from a country whose ports are free what is equivalent to paying a tribute, and it has been replied that this can hardly be the case, as the Manchester manufacturer, for example, sells his goods at the same price at Cincinnati as at Aylesbury. How then, it is asked, can the Manchester manufacturer pay a tribute to the American, when he receives from him the same price as he receives from his fellow-subjects ? But hostile tariffs diminish the demand for British goods in the foreign market ; this diminished demand lowers their value in the Manchester market; and the fall of prices in the Manchester market causes a correspond- ing and a general fall in the prices of British goods throughout all the markets, domestic or foreign, in which those goods are sold. It is also urged that countervailing duties on the raw materials of the manufacturer would be a very questionable mode of sustaining him against the taxes of the foreigner on his manufactured goods, but eminent men, who have scientifically treated the im- portant question of reciprocity, have never sanctioned a tax upon a raw material, Tlie object of the reciprocal M 2 1C4 A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. system is to maintain the efficacy of native industry, and therefore it is opposed to any tax on a material which enters into native fabrics. If the effect of this country combating hostile tariffs ■with free imports be, that its labour exchanges for a less quantity of foreign productions than heretofore, that result would of course equally apply to the pre- cious metals which are foreign productions, and im- portant considerations respecting our currency, arising from our diminished command over the standard of value, have naturally occurred to economical writers, and have engaged much of their attention. But all those questions which are dependent on the distribu- tion and command of the precious metals have assumed a new aspect since the vast metallic discoveries that have taken place since the debates and discussions of 1846. Irrespective of this last consideration, the principle of reciprocity appears to rest on scientific grounds, and it is probable that experience may teach us that it lias been recklessly disregarded by our legislators.. A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. 165 CHAPTER XIV. After a discussion of three nights^ closed by the duke of Wellington in a speech in which he informed the House of Lords that " the bill for the repeal of the corn laws had already been agreed to by the other two branches of the legislature/^ and that, under these circumstances, " there was an end of the functions of the House of Lords," and that they had only to comply with the projects sent up to them; a sentiment the bearing of which seems not easy to distinguish from the vote of the Long Parliament which openly abro- gated those functions, the Lords passed the second reading of the measure on the 28th of ]May, by the large majority of 47. On the day following, in the Commons, the minister moved the adjournment of the house for one week, for the Whitsun recess ; and gave notice that, on Monday the 8th, the day of re-assembling being necessarily devoted to supply, the government would proceed with their Coercion Bill, and continue to do so in preference to all other business. The time had now arrived when it became necessary for those who were responsible for the conduct of the Protectionist party gravely to consider the state of affairs, which had become critical, and to decide upon the future course. The large majority in the House of Lords had extinguished the lingering hope that the ministerial scheme might ultimately be de- feated. Vengeance therefore had succeeded in most breasts to the more sanguine sentiment. The field was lost, but at any rate there shoidd be retribution for those who had betrayed it. Proud in their numbers. 1G6 A POLITICAL BIOGRAPnY. confident in their discipline, and elate with their memo- rable resistance, the Protectionist party as a body had always assumed, that when the occasion was ripe, the career of the minister might be terminated : it was not until the period had arrived when the means to secure the catastrophe were to be decided on, that the diffi- culty of discovering them was generally acknowledged. How was Sir Robert Peel to be turned out ? Here was a question which might well occupy the musing hours of a Whitsun recess. The impetuous demanded a formal vote of want ot confidence in the government, but the objection to this suggestion was, that in all probability the vote would not have been carried. The Whigs might have joined in it, and perhaps would have done so, on the ground subsequently taken by Lord John Kussell, that, although they supported the government measures, the very introduction of those measures was a practical testimony that in former years the members of that government had been mistaken, and the Whigs had been right. But although the Whigs might have joined in the vote of condemnation, there was reason to believe that the great body of the liberal party would not have followed Lord John Russell, and, per- sonally, the mere Whig connection in the second Par- liament of the queen was extremely weak. The pure free traders could not with any grace censure the administration; and it was very questionable whether Mr. Hume and the Enghsh radicals generally would have co-operated in such a proceeding. Add to all this, an element of calculation, which, though an unknown quantity, could not be omitted by a saga- cious leader — viz., the defalcation which would occur in the Protectionist ranks themselves, if such a line were adopted. There were many who were not pre- pared to add to the mortification which they had already experienced, the re-establishment in power, and A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. 16/ by their own means, of that party to which they had ever been opposed. If indeed the Whigs had been prepared to form a government on the economical principles of their own budget of 1842, the whole of the Protectionist party would have arrayed itself under their banners, and the landed interest, whose honour they would have then saved, would have been theirs for ever. This was a result which the Whigs as a party were desirous to accomplish; and a nobleman, whose semces have been since prematurely lost to the country, and whose ex- cellent sense, imperturbable temper, and knowledge of mankind, had for many years exercised a leading: in- nuence m the councils of the Whigs, and always to their advantage, was extremely anxious that, by a reconstruction in this spirit, an end should be put to that balanced state of parties, which, if permitted to continue, frustrated the practicability and even the prospect of a strong government. What he wished particularly to accomplish was, to see Lord George Bentinck in the new Whig cabinet. But though this eminent individual conducted his negotiations under the happiest auspices, for Lord George Bentinck enter- tained for him great personal regard, and was united to his son by ties of warm and intimate friendship, his object was not attained. Lord John Russell could not recede from the Edinburgh letter, and he was more valuable to his party than a fixed duty on corn. Lord George Bentinck offered, and promised, to support the Whig government, but would not become a member of any administration which was not prepared to do justice to the land. When all hope of reconstructing the Whig party on a broad basis was reluctantly given up, and the future ministers reconciled themselves to that pros- pect of a weak government which was so clearly foreseen by their sagacious friend, and has been sub- 168 A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. sequently so unfortunately realized, those active spirits who busy themselves with the measures of parties fixed upon the sugar duties as the inevitable question on which the government might be expelled from office. The existing government, it was understood, had pledged itself to the colonial interest to maintain their old policy of excluding slave-grown sugar ; and, in fact, it was only by such an engagement that the Totes of those members of the House of Commons connected with the two Indies had been lost to the Protectionists in the division. It was supposed that the agricultural interest, having lost the protection which the land enjoyed, would not be indisposed to console themselves for this deprivation by the enjoyment of cheap sugar, especially when the representatives of dear sugar had exhibited so decided a predilection for cheap bread. But when Lord George Bentinck was sounded on this scheme he shook his head, with that peculiar expression which always conveyed to those who were appealing to him the utter hopelessness of their enter- prise. " No,^^ he said : " we have nothing to sustain us but our principles. We are not privy-councillors, but we may be honest men. True to the principle of pro- tection, we must support East and West-India interests. We think it the wisest policy, at once, to give pro- tection to colonial interests and thereby to our manu- facturing interests, at home. We are resolved to support British capital wherever it may be invested." Slave-grown sugar would have united the whole of the liberal party under the auspices of Lord John Russell and Lord Palmerston, but then unfortunately it was just the question which would have brought the entire Protectionist body back to the standard of the Treasury, and instead of turning out the administra- tion, there would have been a painful resuscitation of of the old Conservative majority of 96. Thus it happened, that, although for several weeks A POLITICAL BIOGRAPUY 169 the persons most adroit in sncli affairs had been plan- ning the overthrow of a government which was only supported by one-sixth of the members of the House of Commons, the Whitsun recess had closed and Par- liament had again re-opened without apparently any ap2)roximation to the means which were to accomplish their purpose. The bill for the repeal of the corn laws could not be carried through the House of Lords until the end of June ; and until that measure was secured, the Whigs and their liberal allies were not prepared to strike. What opportunity would they have of dealing the blow. after June? There was no reason why the government, having carried their measure, might not rapidly wind up the session and prorogue Parliament. Was it probable that, at the end of another month, the government having achieved their great object, those who were conspiring their overthrow would be richer in their resources or more felicitous in their expe- dients than at the present moment, when vengeance, ambition, the love of office, and the love of change, all combined to advance and assist their wishes. Notwithstanding the frank confession of the duke of W^ellington, which we have noticed, that he was dis- appointed in the object for which he had consented to the repeal of the corn laws, and that a change of government was impending, the House of Commons, better judges of such a contingency, began to suspect that his grace was a little misinformed, and that he only represented, which was the fact, the opinion of his colleagues after the Easter recess, and not after the Whitsun. If there were any doubt in the mind of Lord George Bentinck, that the government were con- vinced, on the re-assembling of Parliament, that they had weathered the storm, this doubt was removed by an interesting occurrence. About this time, Louis Philippe of Orleans, king of the French, exercised a great influence over public 170 A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. affairs. This prince had entirely identified himself with the Peel administration. There existed between his Majesty and the Enghsh minister not only a sen- timent of sympathy^ but one of reciprocal admiration. Each believed the other the ablest man in their re- spective countries : their system of government was the same^ to divert the public mind from political change by the seduction of physical enjoyment,* and to neu- tralise opinion in the pursuit of material prosperity : finally, they agreed in another point, that their tenure of power was as interminable as the nature of things admitted, and that it was insured by mutual co- operation. No one was more amazed and more alarmed by the breaking up of the Conservative government in November, '45, than the king of the French. With the quickness of perception which with him always seemed rather instinct than thought, he instantly trembled before a long vista of war and revolution. His fears of Lord Palmerston were fed by all the diplorqacy of Europe, and especially by the connections of the late Conservative cabinet, who still hoped that the repugnance of the European courts to the appoint- ment of that minister might, in conjunction with the domestic weakness of the Whig party, yet bring back the game to Sir Ilobert. One, to whom the king had disburthened his mind in an hour of intolerable anxiety, and from whom his Majesty asked that counsel which circumstances permitted to be given, tried to relieve him from these bugbears of state, in a truer appreciation of the position than those around him cared to encourage. It was represented to the king, that a cordial under- * " I have thought it consistent with true Conservative policy, that thoughts of the dissolution of our institutions should be forgotten in the midst of pljysical enjoyment." — Speech of Sir Mohert Feel on the opening of Parliament, January 22, 1846. A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. 171 standing between the two countries had become a necessity for every English administration ; that the Parhament and the people of England would never support a minister whom they believed to be inclined to treat the French connection with levity or dis- regard ; and that it was especially the interest of the Whigs, in their present feeble condition, to prove to the country that they took office with no prejudice against their neighbours. With these views, and in order at once to relieve his mind, it was suggested to the king, that, through the medium of some private friend, it might be wise to make an effort to disembarrass this question of the personal complications with which it had been the interest of certain individuals too long to invest it ; and that he should seek for some frank ex- planation of the feelings with respect to France with which the new English minister returned to office. The king, who was a man of great impulse, grasper! at the suggestion and acted upon it immediately. The appeal was promptly attended with the most satis- factory results, and the king of the French, with a countenance radiant with smiles, was assuring the whole diplomatic circle that he was never less uneasy as to the prospects of Europe, and that Lord Palmerston had resumed office with a determination to act cordially with France ; when, to the astonishment of his Majesty, he learnt, that Lord John Russell had resigned his mission, in consequence of an absurd and really discreditable intrigue against Lord Palmerston by a portion of his own party, on the plea that his appoint- ment to the Foreign Office would endanger our friendly relations with the Tuileries. The excitement of the king was very great on the return of Sir Robert Peel to power. His Majesty looked upon all the intervening incidents which had occasioned him so much disquiet and perplexity merely as dexterous tactics preliminary to a crowning triumph. 172 A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. He thought that the sovereign, the Parliament, and the nation, had combined to give the minister car/e blanche. A member of the British ParHament, who was then at Paris, presumed, with great humihty, to question the justness of the royal conclusions. " Do you not think, then," said the king, "that Sir Robert Peel will carry his measures ?" " Yes, sir." "And what then?" "And then, sir, he will be turned out." " Who is to turn him out ? Lord John Russell has had the offer, and has refused. I can tell you, the duke of Wellington says the government is esta- blished. I remember," the king added, with a smile of confidence, "when they said that Mr. Pitt would not remain in for six weeks, and he was minister for twenty years." The confidence of his Majesty in the star of Sir Robert Peel remained unfaltering until at Easter he was apprised, from a quarter that could not be deceived, that the administration tottered. For more than a month the king was in the habit of assuring the royal circle, that in case there was a change of ministry in England, Lord Palmerston would be found inspired with the most cordial feelings towards France, which were reciprocated. It was at the very moment, when his Majesty had reconciled himself to the worst, that the news of the large majority in the House of Lords reached him, and he was assured at the same time that all danger was over, and that there were no existing means, and that none would certainly be afforded, of disturbing the government. It was on the 6th of June that the contents of this communication to the king of the French were placed before Lord George Bentinck, whose own experience at that moment proved how much foundation there was for the statement. It was clear that the blow must be A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. 173 dealt immediately. Even with that determination, the difficulty of proceeding seemed almost insurmountable. It might be three weeks before the Corn Bill was re- turned from the Lords, and it was evident that the Commons would not place the government in a mino- rity until that measure was secured. A notice of a vote of want of confidence in the ministry Avas the only motion from which it was certain that the government would not shrink and would not attempt to avoid by prorogation ; but then that was a motion which it was sufficiently clear must end in failure. It seemed that they had escaped, and that the king of the French, as usual, was right. In this state of affairs it was submitted to the con- sideration of Lord George Bentinck, that there appeared only one course to be taken, and which, though beset with difficulties, was with boldness and dexterity at least susceptible of success. The government had an- nounced their intention of moving the second readins: of the Irish Coercion Bill on Monday the 8th of June. If this second reading were opposed both by Lord John Hussell and Lord George Bentinck, the defeat of the administration seemed more than probable. The first great difficulty to be considered in this pro- ject was that presented by the fact, that both Lord John Russell and Lord George Bentinck had hitherto supported that measure. To support a government in an unconstitutional measure is tantamount to a vote of confidence in them ; and the step therefore taken by Lord John Russell and Lord George Bentinck, in the first instance, was un- skilful and unwise. But Lord John had been em- barrassed and entrapped by the precipitate acts and indiscreet admissions of his colleagues in the House of Lords : and Lord George, though warned against taking a course which was in itself foreign to his policy with respect to Ireland^ had been seduced into the pro- T74 A POLITICAL BIOGKAPHT. ceecling by the irresistible temptation- of securing delay in tiie progress of the Corn Bill. Yet both of these leaders had been provident even in their errors. Lord John Russell had, very early in the discussion, prepared, if necessary, a retreat. When the bill was brought in, notwithstanding the unqualified approbation of it by his friends in the other house, he had ventured to hint that there were some clauses to which he had objections; advancing with circum- v^tances, he had, on a subsequent occasion, expressed his disapproval of the curfew clause, supposed to be a vital part of the measure; and just before the House was adjourned for the Whitsun holidays, he said, " he thought it Avould be the fairer and more direct course to oppose the second reading of the bill, rather than so to mutilate it as to leave none of its important clauses." Thus about the 25th of May, when these expressions were used, though at the time they did not attract all the attention they deserved. Lord John Russell had contrived to extricate himself pretty completely from the engagements of Lord Lansdowne, Lord Clanri- carde, and Lord Grey. The position of Lord George Bentinck in this re- spect was even stronger than that of Lord John Russell. When the Coercion Bill was first brought forward in the Commons, he had described it as an unconstitu- tional measure and had even christened the curfew clause; but had stated, that he and his friends were prepared to support the measure, provided the govern- ment evinced an earnestness to press it forward, and suffer no unnecessary delay or obstruction to interpose which they could reasonably avoid. But if, on the contrary, it should appear from the conduct of the go- vernment that they were lukewarm or indiff'erent, and that, permitting other measures of less necessity to be carried through the House in preference, they gave the House cause to believe that in their own minds no such A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. 1/5 emergency as they spoke of existed, tlien, under such circumstances, the Protectionist party should not feel themselves bound to continue their support of such a measure. Nor could there be any misconception in the mind of the government, as to the intentions of Lord George Bentinck in this respect. They Avere not to be col- lected merely from his speech. The reader will re- collect that after the Easter recess a communication on the conduct of public business was opened with Lord George, by the Secretary of the Treasury on the part of Sir Robert Peel, and will recall the circumstances under which that gentleman, the present Sir John Young, M.P. for Cavan, figured as the "disavowed plenipotentiary." That conference had led to a corre- spondence which the noble lord at the time had ex- pressed his wish should be read to the House ; but no member of the government had responded to that pro- position, and .the correspondence, therefore, had re- mained in obscurity. The following passage, afterwards quoted by Mr. Stafford in the course of the debate on the second reading of the Coercion Bill, indicated with precision the views of the Protectionist party on the 21st of March, '4G. Extract of a letter from Ziord George BentincTc to JoJin Younj, Esq., Secretary of the Treasury. " I then frankly told you, with respect to the Anti-murder Bill, that I believed the whole party with whom I served were but of one opinion, that it was a most unconstitutional measure, and only to be justified by some dire exija;ency. I believe I termed it another Curfew Act, and said, that nothing but the most imminent danger could excuse it ; but that if the govern- ment were prepared to state that the emergency did exist, and were ready to have their honesty and sincerity tested by press- ing the measure with all possible speed through the House, we should be disposed to give them credit for the existence of so dire an emergency, and suppoi't them. But if, on the contrary, it should appear from their conduct that in their hearts they 176 A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. did not believe sucli dire necessity did exist, if the danger to life was so little imminent that they could afi'ord to postone the measure on which the security of life was said to depend, then the complexion of the case would be very much altered, and I conceive we should feel ourselves bound to take a different course, presumin{]j, as we must under such circumstances, that no true or lasting ground did in fact exist for the adoption of so unconstitutional a measure." Well then, " was the complexion of the case " very much altered by the subsequent behaviour of the go- vernment, and might it be inferred " from their con- duct, that, in their hearts, they did not believe in the * dire necessity/ " which was the alleged cause of their proposition ? It could not be denied that this Coercion Bill came down from the House of Lords on the 13th of March, and was not read for the first time until the 1st of May; and that since that period nearly six weeks had elapsed without her Majesty's ministers attempting to take any steps to forward the measure. It might be replied, that these six weeks had been devoted to the discussion and passing of the Corn and the Customs' Bills ; and that although Lord George Bentinck might not credit the urgent necessity of such measures, that, at any rate, was not the predominant opinion of the House of Commons. But this plea would not bear analysis. It appeared that, irrespectively of the go- vernment night on which no house had been made, four other of their nights had been occupied with government business other than the Corn and the Cus- toms' Bills ; that these nights too were only partially occupied; that they were wasted; that on three of these occasions, the House rose before eight o'clock, and on the fourth, before nine o'clock. Lord George Bentinck was of opinion that the case of the Protectionists, as against the government, was a good one; he was also definitively of opinion that op- A POLITICAL BIOGKAPfli'. 177 position to the coercion bill afforded the only oppor- tunity of overthrowing the administration; but he doubted whether the Protectionist party, after having voted once for the measure, would be generally, or in a sufficient degree, induced to strike the blow. One section of his most zealous supporters, and a body of gentlemen too among whom he counted many warm personal friends, namely the Irish Protectionist mem- bers, could certainly not be expected to vote against the bill ; all those members who, from the strong feel- ing of their constituents, might be counted on in any division against the government where the protective principle was involved, but who in their hearts had no wish to disturb the administration, would certainly avail themselves of the opportunity of voting with a minister Avhom they had been obliged too frequently to oppose; strong measures also with respect to Irish outrage, it could not be denied, were popular with many most respectable persons who, not having very deeply investigated the condition of our sister isle, held that violence could only be successfully encountered by restraint. On Saturday therefore nothing was decided ; on the following day, Lord George Bentinck took the oppor- tunity of breaking the situation to several of the lead- ing country gentlemen who were in the habit of acting with him; the reception of his suggestion was not favourable. They were embarrassed by their previous vote, and were astonished to learn that if they repeated it, the " government was in for ever." On Monday, before the meeting of the house. Lord George held a rapid council with such of his friends as he could immediately collect. Only one voice sup- ported him on the ground that the step was not only wise but indispensable. The rest, while they declared they would not desert him in any course which he pursued, gave it as their opinion that the movement 178 A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. ■u'ould fail, and might then become unpopular in the country. Nothing was decided when Lord George had taken his seat, and while Sir William Somerville was moving the amendment that the Coercion Bill should be read that day six months. His solitary supporter in the council was sitting by his side. They had agreed their course should be decided by the report which they should receive from a gentleman who had the best acquaintance with the individual feelings of the members of the party, and who, through absence from town, had not, unfortu- nately, been present at the previous consultations. While Sir AVilliam Somerville was closing his speech with an appeal to Lord George Bentinck, this much- expected individual appeared at the bar. " I call on all who prize liberty," said Sir William, " and value the constitutional rights of the subject, to support this amendment; and, above all, I call upon the noble lord, the member for King's Lynn, to be true to Lis own words, and to carry out his engagement by withholding his advocacy from a measure which the government had by their delays proved to be unneces- sar}', and into which they had introduced such changes as showed, that they did not know their own will, nor clearly understand what measure of power they required." When Sir William Somerville sat down. Lord George exchanged signals with the member who had just arrived, to join him in the library; and then, requesting his companion to watch the debate, he repaired to that spot which has been the scene of so many important and interesting conferences. While he was absent, the House was nearly counted out. He came back in about a quarter of an hour, and remarked, " There are no means of calculating at this moment how our men will go, but he agrees with us. A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. 179 It may be penlous, but if we lose this chance tlie traitor will escape. I will make the plunge, and, as soon as I can. There is a rumour that Lord Jolin is hardly up to the niark. I suppose he has heard that our men will not vote against the bill. Now, if I speak early and strongly, it will encourage him to be decided. •'' When the seconder of the amendment sat down, no one rose, and the division was called for. How strange, that a debate which lasted nearly three weeks, led to such memorable consequences, and was distin- guished by so many remarkable incidents, should twice, within an hour of its commencement, have been on the verge of an untimely end. However, on the present occasion Mr. Osborne interposed with some of those sprightly taunts which often revive the fight, and drew forth the new Irish secretary, the earl of Lincoln, who of course had never seriously intended to avoid speak- ing, as was proved by his address, which, though at first it did not escape the depreciating interruptions of some of the Irish members, was soon recognized by the House as a statement, both for argument and detail, quite worthy of the occasion and the office. Lord Lincoln, now sitting for a Scotch borough, had originally been member for the native county of Lord George- Bentinck, and had been driven from that honourable post mainly by the exertions of tho leader of the Protectionists and his energetic appeals to the indignant farmers of Nottinghamshire. There was therefore something of a public feud between the two noble lords, wlio rarely spared each other. Hitherto, the attacks of Lord Lincoln had been confined to the hustings, though that limitation scarcely deprived him of opportunities, for he had enjoyed the singular fortune of appearing on the hustings of three different places since the meeting of Parliament. Lord George naturally delivered his rejoinders and criticism in the House, and they were certainlv always prompt, and in N 2" 180 A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY, general tolerably plain. To-niglit, towards tlie close cf an apparently temperate speech^ Lord Lincoln, remind- ing the House of the difficulties which the government had to encounter in Ireland, said " that thev had to adopt measures to meet a great emergency in the teeth of taunts and opprobrium from many of their former friends. They had received insults and reproaches that, out of the House, would not have been cast on them — taunts and reproaches that they had fabricated returns for party purposes, and which, though uttered by honourable gentlemen sitting there, they would not have dared to pi'onounce out of the House." The House being now full, for Lord Lincoln had spoken at considerable length, Lord George Bentinck rose, not encouraged to make a less decided declaration than he was prepared to do by the somewhat defying comments of one between whom and himself there perhaps existed local emulation as well as political difference. Lord George touched lightly on the provisions of the bill, though ho corrected one important statement of the Chief Secretary with great effect. " The noble lord, the Chief Secretary for Ireland, who announced on the hustings of Falkirk that he was to be returned to this House in order to rescue ministers from that defeat which otherwise, he said, was hanging over them, says it is a notorious fact, that crime in Ireland invariably diminishes in proportion as the days grow long. Well, Sir, if that be the case, I think it was reason enough for passing this measure whilst the days were short and the nights long. This statement surely furnishes no grounds for postponing the second reading until the middle of the mouth of June. But, Sir, the very reverse of what the noble lord tells us, is the fact. So far from this being the case, I find, that looking at the return of crimes committed last year, that the month of June, which it is perhaps known to the noble lord has the longest A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. 181 (lay, is precisely the very month when the greatest number ot offences of this kind occurred." Then, dwelling on the conduct of the government, who, " at the expiration of five months, call upon the House to proceed with a measure to meet an emergency which occurred five months ago/' he added, " But, Sir, there are much stronger and heavier reasons for my opposing the government on the present occasion. I and the gentlemen around me refuse to trust her Majesty's ministers. We have for good reasons ceased to place any confidence in them. We are of opinion that we cannot with safety intrust them with the charge of so unconstitutional a power as this bill contains. " I will not stay to discuss this measure. Is there any one who thinks the government mean to carry it through ? After such postponements, such obstruc- tions, such delays, Avith five months suffered to elapse between the first and the second reading, we know the session must be over before this bill is dragged through the House of Commons." He said this, he continued, " because some of my Irish friends may be disposed to support this measure from an honest conviction that some measure of coercion is required. " We have been told that the government were as much in earnest about carrying this measure as in carrying the corn law. But how different has been their conduct in the one measure and the other. They devoted every day — order and motion days — to the dis- cussion of the Corn Bill, to repeal that law which they had so often pledged themselves to support. They acted with the zeal of converts; they forced on the measure ; they were willing to sacrifice the holidays ; they were to be worked up to Good Friday eve : in short, no toil too great, no question so important, no delay so fatal, as those which occurred on the Corn Bill. But how different the case with the Coercion Bill — delay. 183 A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. obstruction, months' intermission, short sittings. Why, bad and unkind as the government is, I cannot believe they are jet so far lost to a sense of propriety as to con- sent to a waste of so much valuable time, if they really considered that the bill was necessary. No sooner does it become a question of the Coercion Bill instead of the corn law, than the House is indulged with long holi- days; and on Monday night, Tuesday, and Thursday nights, permitted to adjourn at half-past seven. Does this look like earnestness, like sincerity ? "I should certainly have preferred an amendment which took the" shape of a direct vote of want of con- fidence in her Majesty's ministers ; but if we can believe any pledges which are given from the Treasury bench, we may, I suppose, conclude that when they find they are no longer able to carry their measures, they will think it time to retire. We used, Sir, I re- collect, to be told by the right honourable baronet, that he would not consent to be a minister on suffer- ance; but I think he must be blinded indeed bv the flattery of those around him, if he has not learnt, that lie is now a minister on sufferance, tossed from one side to the other, sometimes depending on honourable gentlemen opposite, sometimes on my friends around me, supported by none but his forty paid janissaries, and some seventy other renegades, one half of whom, while they support him, express their shame of doing so. "We are told now — we hear it from the minister himself — that he thinks there is nothing humiliatins; in the course which he has pursued — that it would have been base and dishonest in him, and inconsistent with liis duty to his sovereign, if he had concealed his opinions after he had changed them; but I have lived long enough, I am sorry to say, to remember, and to remember with sorrow — with deep and heartfelt sorrow — the time when the right honourable baronet chased and hunted an illustrious relative of mine to A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. 183 death ; and when he stated that he could not support his ministry, because, as leading member of it, though he had changed no opinion, yet from his position he was likely to forward the question of catholic emanci- pation. That was the conduct of the right honourable baronet in 1827; but in 1829, he told the house that he had changed his opinions on that subject in 1825, and had communicated that change of opinion to the earl of Liverpool. " If, therefore, the right honourable baronet says it is base and dishonest, and inconsistent with the duty of a minister to his sovereign, to continue to maintain opinions after he has changed them, does not he stand convicted, by his own verdict, of base and dishonest conduct, and conduct inconsistent with the duty of a minister to his sovereign ? When I recollect his con- duct in 1827 and in 1829, after his change of opinion in 1825, though he has been sitting long on the stool of repentance, I am satisfied that the country will not forgive twice the same crime in the same man. A second time has the right honourable baronet insulted the honour of Parliament and of tlie country, and it is now time that atonement should be made to the be- trayed constituencies of the empire." The speaker sat down in a tumult of applause, amid which the Secretary at War rose, with great indigna- tion, to notice " charges against her ^Majesty's govern- ment couched in language seldom heard in that House, language which, for the sake of the character of that House, it would be better should not be heard. "The noble lord," continued the secretary, after having spoken for some time amid much interruption, " says we are not in earnest in passing this bill. He quotes, with that uufortunate love of arithmetic which leads him to calculations in human blood now, just as it led him to in grain, tallow, and timber before — a calculation to show that, though three weeks back it 184.< A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. might be worth the while of the government to inter- fere^ it is not worth while to interfere now, because he finds only 552 homicides in the returns. Only 552 homicides ! The Avhole tone of his mind in fact is changed in consequence of some prospects he enter- tains from the combination of parties in this House, but totally irrespective of the opinions he himself advanced." After denouncing the conduct of Lord George Ben- tinck in changing his course upon this measure at some length and with no inconsiderable acrimony, and saying that the country would judge between him and the government, the Secretary at War added, that under a paramount sense of duty, the government would persevere with the Coercion Bill, " notwithstand- ing all his vituperation, and all his factious combina- tions." " I make no charge against honourable gentlemen opposite," continued the Secretary at War. " It is those who alter their course without any alteration in the circumstances, I denounce. Sir, if I may be allowed to allude to the rumours circulated for the last few days, I may repeat, that I have heard it stated that proposals have been made to the noble lord oppo- site (Lord John Russell) to bring to his assistance the services of a number of gentlemen who are more anxious to divide with him than to consider the merits of the question — a proposal in reference to which the noble lord has acted as I should have expected him to act — he treated it with that silence which I suppose it is hardly parliamentary to designate as the silence of contempt." At these strange expressions, unwise even if they had had some foundation, singularly unfortunate in the actual circumstances, there was a burst of exclamations from below the gangway, where the Protectionist host were encamped, and loud cries of "Name, name." The Secretary at War declined to name those who had A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. 185 " preferred to make a combination to unseat a govern- ment, rather than to support a policy to which they were pledged," and said their names would be found in the division list ; then, pursuing his speech, and reiter- ating his declaration that to "this measure the govern- ment was determined to adhere," resumed his seat. Whereupon the marquis of Granby, with promptness and spirit, said that the Secretary at War had com- plained that Lord George Bentinck had used language in that House Avhich was most unusual; but Lord Granby complained that the government had taken a Course which was most unusual. The conduct of the government had been such as had not before been witnessed in that House. Unusual conduct required unusual expressions. They had been told that they had entered into a compact with those opposite. Lord Granby was not aware of this compact. He believed the only agreement between the ^^'otectionists and the Opposition was, that they had no confidence whatever in her Majesty's government. An li-ish member then moving the adjournment of the House, Mr. Stafford rdse, and said he would take advantage of the question of adjournment to ask the Secretary at War for an explanation of his remarkable statement, that a proposition for a compact had been made between the Protectionists and Lord John Russell, and had been treated with silent contempt. If said only in the heat of debate, an explanation might be offered, but if said " decidedly, believing it, and intend- ing to adhere to it," the House had a right to require a reiteration of that statement in detail, and the name of the members of the Protectionist party who had en- deavoured to make this compact. The Secretary at War, thus pointedly appealed to, rose and stated, that " he had not asserted of his own knowledge any fact, nor had he quoted any authority. But rumours had flown about town that Lord George Bentinck had 186 A POLITICAL BIOGRAniY. made an offer to Lord Jolin R-usscll of the kind de- scribed, ' Rumour had no name/ " Upon this, Mr. Eliot Yorke said, that it had been most distinctly- stated that a negotiation had been carried on. No other construction could be put npon the words of the Secretary at War but that some application had been made to Lord John Eussell, If so, by whom made? Let Lord John Russell inform the House, and let the individual who made the application have an oppor- tunity of statins: his authority to do so. Lord John Russell upon this rose, and said that " no application or proposition had been made to him on the part of Lord George Bentinck or of any other mem- ber. Some of his own friends indeed had asked what he intended to do with regard to the Coercion Bill, and, far from using any contemptuous silence, he had re- plied, that it was his intention to oppose its second reading, and that they might tell that to any person who required information on the subject. Lord George Bentinck had come to his conclusion on grounds satisfactory to himself; and he, Lord John Russell, had come to the same conclusion with regard to the bill on grounds which were satisfactory to him- self. Those grounds were entirely public; he should be prepared to state them in debate, but they mainly rested on this, that he thought it would be injurious to Ireland and to the protection of life, to allow the go- vernment measure to pass." Tims closed this eventful night. The field on which the fate of the administration depended was fixed. The leaders of the three parties were pledged. The govern- ment would stand or fall by their measure : Lord John Russell and Lord George Bentinck had come " to the same conclusion" on different grounds, but "satisfac- tory to themselves." But what would the House do? At present it adjourned at two o'clock in the morning, in great agitation. Rage rather than despair was con- A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. 187 veyed by the countenances of the '^ janissaries^' and the " renegades." The " moderate men/' who wished to be at the same time on the best terras with their constituents and the Treasury bench, keep in the govern- ment and yet keep their seats^ murmured their disap- probation of '^ strong language/' and said^ that a vote of non-confidence would have been the proper course, knowing very well that they would not have supported it. Many trimmers were observed to walk home with "janissaries/' or, lighting their cigars with " renegades/' declare, with a glance of secret sympathy, that they, being thorough Protectionists, should certainly vote for protection of life. 188 A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. CHAPTER XV. Every influence that existed or that could be created was now used and devised to break up the Protectionist party on the impending question. The estimate of those whose authority on such matters with the first minister was deservedly great was^ that two-thirds of the two hundred and forty gentlemen, who had " main- tained the chastity of their honour '' on the famous division of February, would be found on the critical night in their old conservative ranks. Three days had to elapse before the struggle could be continued, and they were days teeming with intrigue, with calculations, combinations, and canvassing. At least a fortnight must pass before the decision could be arrived at. The debate must be maintained until the third reading of the Corn Bill had been agreed to by the House of Lords. What a situation ! And what might not be managed in such a fortnight, for such a stake? The assailant and the assailed were not fighting on equal terms : they were not rivals. Power, place, patronage, might reward those who upheld tlie minister; they might even at this conjuncture become "janis- saries " without ever having been " renegades.^' On the contrary, if Lord George were victorious, he handed over the prize to another, and the fulfilment of retri- bution was the only return that he could afford his supporters. Besides, there was a lively recollection among the Tory party g-enerally of the evil effects which had accrued in 1830 from their former punishment of Sir Robert Peel. Old gentlemen at clubs shook their heads, remembering the family boroughs they liad lost by avenging the betrayed Protestantism of "29. A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. 189 It was felt that if the Conservative party were broken up again, a period of terrible indefiniteness must elapse before its reappearance on the political stage. And why should Lord John be brought in ? Was he not as bad as Sir Robert Peel ? Rather worse, because had it not been for that mischievous Edinburgh letter, there might have been a politic solution of the affair in a respectable, moderate, fixed duty, which might have benefited no one and satisfied everybody. On Friday, June 12th, the minister concluded a tame discussion by a spirited speech. He spoke with an alacrity which of late had somewhat deserted him. His manner was confident, his voice merry, and his eye sparkled with that rich humour of which he had a store, but of which he had favoured the House with no ebullitions in this sad, fierce session. He threw off that martyr aspect which hitherto he had ostentatiously worn. It was thought that his manner was auspicious of the impending event. He fastened at first upon the Recorder of Dublin, who, on a previous occasion, " in order to prove the ignorance in England, from highest to lowest, on the condition of Ireland,'^ appeared to have stated that a housemaid in his establishment had very inconveniently declined to accompany the right honourable gentleman to the seat of his judicial duties. Sir Robert stated the circumstance with great gravity but with playful misrepresentation, in tones of sym- pathy but with a twinkling eye. The recorder, impa- tient of the malicious narrative, and anxious for the cause of truth, interrupted the orator, and indignantly exclaimed, " No, no,^' which was exactly what Sir Robert was angling for, who, turning round with respectful gravity, and saying, " AYell, then, at this stage of the discussion, I must really ask the right hon. gentleman to explain to the House what he did say respecting his housemaid,^' amid the roars of his audi- ence, provisionally resumed his seat. 190 A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. Tills made good sport, and it was continued^ for the learned judge had on his legs to repeat what the minister had already described as " the housemaid argument;" and Sir Robert had a further opportunity of stating "■ with perfect sincerity, that nothing could be further from his mind than to cast any reflection whatever on the conduct or motives of the right honourable and learned gentleman, ne sit ancUlcB tibi amor pudori ! " There was much merriment in the House ; it was even general. It was thought that every Protectionist who laughed must be going to vote for the government. After discussing the bill in detail and with much animation for more than an hour, the minister, sud- denly assuming a solemn tone, said, that he should here have stopped, but he felt it incumbent on him not to sit down without noticing the speech made on the last night by Lord George Bentinck. There was a general rustling in the House and a mom^entary pause of the speaker. When his voice again sounded, it was in tones of sorrowful indignation : not for his own sake, but for the sake of the character of the House he deeply regretted — " Yes, I do deeply regret, that during this session there has been, for the first time, a license assumed wliich is, I think, injurious to the cause of legitimate debate." He descanted much npson this ; at least his parliamentary life for five-and-thirty years could afford no example for such license. There were bounds which ought to be respected by every one who respects the usages of Par- liament. " Janissaries and renegades ! " He had heard Lord George Bentinck absolutely speak of those with whom " he was connected by official ties," as paid janis- saries and renegades, " gentlemen engaged in the public service ; acting from as pure and conscientious a sense of public duty as ever influenced any member of this House. Unless a restraint was placed upon the exer- cise of such language, however right party feeling A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. 19] may prevail^ it was calculated to create unmitigated disgust." He now came to the personal attack upon himself; he rejoiced that he did not attempt to answer those personal imputations until he had an opportunity of ascertaining how far they were well founded. The reply of the minister was therefore made with ample research and the advantage of four days for reflection, but it consisted mainly of inferences. Would the friends of Mr. Canuing have joined Mr. Peel in '28 when the duke of Wellington formed a cabinet^ if he had so conducted himself towards Mr. Canning in '25 and '27 ? Amongst Mr. Canning's most intimate friends were INIr. Huskisson, Lord Dudley, Mr. Grant, and Lord Melbourne. Not one of them made any objection to join him on account of any preceding transaction. They one and all consented to serve witn him in the government and cabinet. Is it likely that, if such an impression respecting him prevailed in their minds as would appear now for the first time to rankle in the heart of Lord George Bentinck, they would, in five months after the death of Mr. Canning, join with him in the cabinet and admit him as the leader of the House of Commons ? Was it likely that Lord Anglesea, "the personation of a gallant and chivalrous spirit, the embodiment of every generous and manly emotion, the intimate friend of Mr. Canning/' would have gone as lord-lieutenant to Ireland Avhen Mr. Peel was secretary of state if he had thought that Mr. Peel " had chased and hunted Mr. Canning to death ? " How came it that the minister heard of these feelings on the part of Lord George Bentinck for the first time on Monday last ? Lord George had been in Parliament since '26. " There may have been intermissions,'* observed Sir Robert, " but since 1835, I have been honoured with the noble lord's cordial, and, I must say, liis pure and disinterested support. He called me his 193 A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. right honourable friend ; he permitted me to be the leader of the party to which he belonged ; he saw me united to his own immediate connections and followers ; and never, until Monday last, in June 1846, did I harbour the suspicion that the noble lord entertained such feelings in respect to me and believed me to be a man who had hunted and chased his relation to death/' But the minister was not satisfied with inferences. He gave the whole statement an unequivocal denial : he declared, that tlie charge that in 1829 he had avowed a change of opinion in 18.25, which change of opinion he concealed in J 827, was utterly and entirely destitute of foundation. To confirm his statement. Sir Robert read a long extract from his speech of 1827, which he made in the presence of Mr. Canning, but it was observed that he did not refer to the speech in ques- tion, the speech of 1829, and prove to the House that no such passage as described could be found in it. Finally, dwelling strongly on the possible error but the positive purity of his conduct in his present mea- sures, he concluded by this extraordinary statement : " I may have been mistaken in my views respecting the corn laws, and the mistake, if it be one, may and ought, perhaps, to involve the forfeiture of poli- tical confidence; but that I have been influenced in this course by any desire to rob others of the credit which is their due, by any desire to interfere with the noble lord (Lord John Russell) whom I should have been glad to have seen in office — this imputation to me of motives so base, I declare to be as foul a calumny as a vindictive spirit ever directed against a public man.'" It being fresh in the recollection of the House, the statement indeed emanating from his own lips, that Sir Robert Peel, in the previous November, had proposed to his cabinet the repeal of the corn laws, and was pre- pared, if they had assented to his proposition, to attempt to carry that repeal, without any effort or inclination A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. 193 whatever to yield the measure to Lord John Russell, or any one else, this emphatic declaration was listened to by all with an air of perplexity and astonishment, so that the applause when the minister sat down was not such as might have been expected from so able and interest- ing an address, but was feeble and partial. The House adjourned till Monday the 15th. Lord George Bentinck had made the charge against Sir Robert Peel, that he had admitted in 18,29 that, four years previously, he had expressed to Lord Liverpool an opinion that the Catholic question ought to be settled, while in the interval (1827) he had declined acting with Mr. Canning, inasmuch as he was a minister favourable to such settlement, because Lord George Bentinck believed that he had himself heard such a declaration at the time from the lips of Mr. Peel. He did not refer to the circumstance as a matter of contro- veisy, but as a fact acknowledged by all those who sat in the Parliament of that day, or who were familiar with the political transactions of those times. The charge was a statement from his personal experience and memory, the tradition of the circle in which he lived, and the conviction of his heart. He was prepared for an explanation from Sir Robert Peel, but he was nou prepared for his denial of- the fact. But since Sir Robert had denied the fact unequivocally, and had referred to authoritative reports of parliamentary pro- ceedings in support of such denial, it became necessary for Lord George Bentinck, in the interval occurring until the next night of debate, to examine the evi- dence on which the minister rested his vindication, and generally to investigate the subject. Of course the admission in question did not occur in the report of the speech of 1829 in Hansard, since that was a republication of the pamphlet in which the speech had authoritatively been published, as avowedly cor- rected and revised by Sir Robert Peel. o 194 A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. The alleged admission was, however, found in the Mirror of Parliament, a publication which had ceased, but which, according to its prospectus, was edited by a Mr. Barrow, with the assistance of the ablest parlia- mentary reporters. Mr. Barrow was a well-known and accomplished parliamentary reporter, a writer of short- hand, and a gentleman of character and education. The alleged admission appeared also in the parlia- mentary report of the Times newspaper of that day. There appeared also in the Mirror of Parliament a full version of a somewhat celebrated speech, ending with " nusquam tuta fides,'^ made by Sir Edward KnatchbuU, in answer to the speech of Mr. Peel, in Avhich was the alleged admission, and in which speech Sir Edward KnatchbuU attacked the admission with bitterness and in a spirit of great reproach. " If, as he now says, he had discovered in 1825 the necessity of passing this question, I ask why he did not say so in 1827, and give his support to Mr. Canning then, when the supposed difference between him and Mr. Canning obtained for him the support of many honourable gen- tlemen who differed with him only on that, which I confess was the case with me." Here were the materials of a good reply. Indeed the case seemed conclusive, especially to one whose memory and personal experience only required these documents as confirmation. Unfortunately, as he had already spoken in the debate, it was not open to Lord George Bentinck to avail himself of the fruits of his researches, which he gave, therefore, on Monday morning to a friend who had not yet interfered in the discussion. Late at night, therefore, on Monday, this reply was made on his behalf The extraordinary declaration with which the minister had concluded his speech on the preceding Friday was noticed and contrasted with his own of&cial statements in the course of this very A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. 195 session; Lord George Bentinck was vindicated from the use of unparliamentary language, and quotations from celebrated speeches of Mr. Fox and of Mr. Gren- ville were read, not only far exceeding any observations of Lord George in Vituperative expression, but abso- lutely using, in both instances, that particular phrase of "janissary,^' the unprecedented use of which in de- bate had been denounced by the minister in tones of such solemn indignation. The documentary evidence was then clearly put before the House and enforced, and the speaker sat down. The minister rose confused and suffering. He said he had no right to reply, but continued to make de- precatory and feeble observations. Finally, he called upon the House to " suspend their judgment^' until an opportunity for reply came. The House adjourned until Thursday. The general opinion was that the minister was greatly damaged, and that had the division then taken place, the go- vernment would certainly have been in a minority. On Thursday, the debate was vapid : it was sup- posed that Sir Robert Peel would have made his ex- planation on that night; but he was silent. There were rumours from the Treasury bench, that certain papers that were expected from Drayton had not arrived: the delay made the Protectionists confident. When the House broke up, it was bruited about that the " explanation " would certainly be made on the next day. Consequently, on Friday, at five o'clock, the house was crowded; the gallery of the peers was full, and the diplomatic body were present ; the minister en- tered the house with an air of injured innocence, with his eyes cast upon the floor, and as if he felt that, until his character was cleared; it was not be- coming in him to assume the deportment befitting his high office. o 3 196 A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. When the statement was made on the 15th by the friend of Lord George Bentinck, in vindication of the charge and in rejoinder to the reply of the minister, a member of the Liberal party had sent across the house a number of the Edinburgh Review, of April, 1829, in which was an article on the state of parties, written, it was understood, by an individual who had subsequently become a member of the Whig govern- ment, and in which article it was stated, " that at the very time Sir Robert Peel told Mr. Canning, in the House of Commons, that liis unlooked-for opposition to that statesman was grounded on a difference of opinion on the Catholic question, he had in his desk a letter, in which, two years before, he had told Lord Liverpool that, in his opinion, the Catholic claims ought to be granted, and proposing that he should retire from office in the mean time." This document, thus casually turning up, and inad- vertently introduced, was used by the speaker after he had concluded that portion of his statement which depended upon evidence ; " after this, I think, it is unnecessary to produce any more evidence,'^ were his words. " I have accomplished the vindication of my noble friendj who had not the power of speaking again in this debate;" and then, with reference to an obser- vation of the minister in his reply, that tlie charge made by Lord George Bentinck was heard by him for the first time, it was observed, that that was remarkable, since, although an anonymous publication was no autho- rity, there were publications of that kind of such high character, as the Edinburgh and Quarterly Revieivs, for example, to which many cabinet ministers of both sides had been contributors, that they might fairly be adduced, not as evidence of any fact, but certainly as evidence of the belief of Avell-informed circles on particular circum- stances ; and in one of them this charge had been made without reserve, and with the allegation of circum- A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. 197 stances wliich Lord George Bentinck on an anonymous authority did not for a moment adduce, and then the authority was lead. It is necessary to record this insignificant circum- stance, because it illustrates the admirable art with which Sir Robert Peel managed a case in the House of Commons. In the present instance, after a prelude in which he ran over the long series of great political events that had occurred since the period in controversy: " There have been great political conflicts and great political excitement since that period. Since 1825, there has been the severance from Mr. Canning ; the formation of his government ; the formation of the government of Lord Goderich ; the union of the friends of Mr. Canning with the duke of Wellington and my- self in 1828 ; the separation from us of those friends of Mr. Canning in the same year, on matters totally unconnected with the reputation or character of Mr. Canning. Then followed the fierce conflicts of 1829, when I felt it my duty to propose the adjustment of the Catholic question. In 1830, the government of the duke of Wellington, the combination of parties against that government, and the loss of power by the duke of Wellington and those who held office under him. Then followed the government of Lord Grey, and the severe conflicts of reform; the dissolution of the government of Lord Melbourne in 1834; and the formation of that government over which I presided in 1835, attempting to conduct the affairs of this country by a minority of this House for about three months, when I yielded to the right honourable gentlemen oppo- site, and the formation of their government in 1835 ensued.^^ Surely after such a series of party contentions, he was justified in presuming that so far as they could be the subject of crimination against him, they were buried in oblivion. Every document connected with 198 A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. these events had been sent many years ago to a distance from London, in the full confidence that future reference to them would not possibly be required. Occupied by urgent public duties, he had been unable himself to repair to their place of deposit. The private secretaries by whose aid the correspondence of that period was conducted had passed away ; the whole of the corre- spondence had been sent to his country residence in Staffordshire. He was obliged to have it examined by those who were no parties to the conduct of it; they had brought to London a confused and compli- cated mass of documents, from which, for the last three days, he had been attempting to collect the materials for his vindication from charges directed against his veracity and honour. This picture quite carried away the feelings of the House. A minister, at such a moment of public duty, forced to investigate such a mass of documents for the vindication of his private character, — " a confused and complicated mass.^' And why was all this^ and what was all this about ? Now came the skilful disposition of the case. Be- cause a charge had been made against him by a member of Parliament, that there was a letter of his to Lord Liverpool in existence, which proved that he had inti- mated to Lord Liverpool that there had been not only a wish to relinquish office but that there was a change of opinion on his part on the Roman Catholic question. " And he cited, as a proof of that, an article in the Edinburgh Review, in which it was stated that I had a copy of that letter in my desk." No such charge had ever been made, and no such proof ever been adduced. Admitting that his com- munications with Lord Liverpool, " whom he saw every day," were verbal ones, and that he was " not in the habit of making formal written communications " to that minister; that he "had not the slightest doubt/' A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. 199 that on the subject in question, " no written commu- nication took place between them/' he informed the House, that the whole of his correspondence, for seven years, under the letter L, had been brought to London, and, as he had anticipated, the written com- munications with Lord Liverpool were very few. Nothing should be concealed; he would read every one of these letters to the House. And he did read, amid profound silence, three gossiping notes, marked private and most confidential, under date of 1825. This was not much fruit from a " confused and complicated mass of documents,'^ which, yet too, seemed sufficiently digested and in order, in well-arranged pigeon-holes, with appropriate initial letters. Such an investigation would hardly seem to have required three days. But the audience was not critical. It was full of sym- pathy, admiration of such public devotion, and grati- tude for such confidential revelations. The vindication, which did not even meet the imaginary charge, was held complete ; and the House only checked its cheers that it might not lose a syllable of this great historic and personal " explanation.'' The answer to the " letter in the desk " took about an hour, though the time passed so quickly that all were unconscious of its lapse, except one individual who carefully watched the dial, and that was the orator himself. Hitherto all had gone off to his perfect satisfaction. Scarlett himself, in the days of his Nisi Prius srlorv, had never shown more adroitness or more intimate acquaintance with the tribunal to which he appealed. But this was nothing to his next position. He now addressed himself to the report of his speech contained in the Mirror of Parliament, which com- prised the admission in controversy. He denied that there was any report in the Mirror of Parliament at all. He said the alleged reports of that publication 200 A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. were compilations from the newspapers; he denied that Mr. Barrow wrote short-hand ; he denied that he was even a parliamentary reporter ; finally, he denied that there was such a man as Mr. Barrow, for he was dead, or otherwise he should have referred to him. As it was, he had referred to those who, from their pursuits, were acquainted with this subject ; gentlemen connected Avith the public press, beyond his influence, beyond his control, who had given him this informa- tion, who, actuated by no other feelings than those which are suggested by a love of justice, had gene- rously come forward to supply him with the infor- mation necessary to vindicate himself, and to prove that the equivocal expressions appeared only in one organ, the Times, and that the report in the Times was adopted and engrafted into the Mirror of Pai'lia- ment. All this was very victorious ; but when the minister, feeling the wind was in all his sails, described himself as " oppressed with public business, yet having to devote three days to the collating and contrasting of news- paper reports and speeches delivered seventeen years ago,^' some might have remembered, that only one space of three days had elapsed, and that that had already been occupied by the " confused and compli- cated mass of documents " sent up from his country residence in Staffordshire, from which he had " to attempt to collect the materials for his vindication from charges directed against his veracity and honour.^^ The awkward speech of Sir Edward Knatchbull was treated gingerly. It still remains a very singular cir- cumstance. Sir Edward was then alive, and had been the colleague, and the recent colleague, of Sir Robert Peel. A line from the county of Kent might have thrown some light upon this perplexed affair, and have saved Sir Robert a very elaborate statement ; but no applica- A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. 201 tion was made to Sir Edward Knatclibull. Sir Robert, indeed, suggested that Sir Edward was not present in the house when he made his speech in 1829 ; but unfor- tunately a division happened to take place on that evening, and in the list of names that of Sir Ed- ward Knatclibull appears. Glancing only at this, the minister recurred to some personal considerations ; attacked, though cautiously, his principal assailant in this affair; declared that nothing would have tempted him to condescend to a defence, but for "the plau- sibility of the charge and the concatenation of circum- stances which had been brought together as evidence ;" and then, with the air and tone of a man who, thus assailed, might have become a victim, had he not been saved by the generous interposition of the press and the spirit of justice in the House of Commons, almost over- come by his emotions, and observing that it was exactly half-past seven o'clock, he sent the peers, the diplo- matic body, and two-thirds of the House of Commons to dinner, knowing very well that Demosthenes him- self under such circumstances and at such an hour could not have revived the fight and turned the tables against him. There never was a more successful " explanation '*' and nobody, except perhaps Lord George Bentinck, would have had the courage to have risen amid the noise and disregard of a dissolving assembly, to reite- rate his charges, and to declare that they either were not met or that they were evaded. And thus he ended : " I will maintain, as long as I have a seat in this house, my right to denounce the men, whether they are ministers or private individuals, who shall have betrayed the trust confided to them by their constituents." Mr. Bickham Escott, interrupting him — " Who has betrayed them?" "You ask me" replied Lord George, "who has 202 A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. betrayed them ! "Why you ! On high constitutional grounds I say we ought not to wrap up in deceitful lan- guage the crime of tergiversation of which so many have been guilty. And I use the sentiments of Lord Chatham when I say^ that ' if the country cannot place confidence in the promises and pledges of their representatives, the power and authority of this House will fall ;' and it is because for the second time the right honourable baronet has attempted to lower the character of Eng- lish gentlemen who are representatives in this house, and to drag them through the mire, that I denounced such conduct so strongly as I did on a former occasion. Sure I am of this, that the tendency — I will not say the object — but the tendency of the measures of the minister is to lower the character and to sap and undermine the confidence reposed in the chai-acters of English gentlemen, and so to destroy them. He has subverted that feeling of placing political trust in the representatives of the people, which is essential to main- tain the power and dominion of the House of Com- mons. He has brought things to this pass, that by his example he has taught the representatives of the Eng- lish people that if it is not their duty it is their privilege to betray their constituents. And I venture to say, without fear of contradiction, that there was not when Parliament met — though I hope things are different now — a great constituency in the country that did not apprehend more danger from those whom they had themselves sent to Parliament to protect their property and to defend their rights, than from their most open and daring enemies.^^ Later in the evening, an interesting criticism on the career of Sir Eobert Peel was given in his pre- sence by Lord John Eussell. Lord John noticed in detail the points of the evidence that had been laid before the House. He acknowledged that, some time before, " in the course of this very year," the report A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. 203 in the Mirror of Parliament had been pointed out to him by a friend, and had " made some impression on him;^' and that there were other passages in the speeches of Sir Robert Peel on this subject at the time, as his answer to Lord Uxbridge and others, which, without careful comparison with other state- ments, were liable to misconstruction; but recapitu- lating all the heads of the case, he expressed his opinion, after hearing the statement of the minister, that the charges were, in his opinion, unfounded. " Sir, having said thus much," continued Lord John, " I must add that I think these questions are entirely different from any which my noble friend or others can raise as to the political conduct of the right honourable gentleman. As to his opposition to Mr. Canning, in 1827, I have myself a strong opinion, but my opinion is not now in question. As to the general political conduct of the right honourable gentleman, I think he has rendered great service to his country, in taking the post he has taken on the present occasion ; but, at the same time, I cannot express surprise or wonder at any warmth or vindictive feeling being directed against him, because in his political career he has done that which, perhaps, has never happened to ' so eminent a man before. He has twice changed his opinion on the greatest political questions of his day. Once, when the Protestant Church was to be defended, and the Protestant constitution rescued from the assaults of the Roman Catholics, which, it was said, would ruin it, the right honourable gentleman under- took to lead the defence. Again, the corn-laws were powerfully attacked in this house, and out of it. He took the lead of his party to resist a change, and to defend protection. I think, on both occasions, he came to a wise conclusion, and to a decision beneficial to his country; first, when he repealed the Roman Catholic disabilities ; and secondly, when he abolished 204 A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. protection. But that those who had followed him — men who had committed themselves to these questions on the faith of his political wisdom, on the faith of his sagacity, led by the great eloquence and ability he displayed in debate — that when they found he had changed his opinions, and proposed measures different from those on the faith of which they had followed him, that they should exhibit warmth and resentment was not only natural, but I should have been sur- prised if they had not displayed it.'^ Not the least curious circumstance connected with this episode is, that, six months after it had occurred, and when it was already forgotten in the important result which had immediately followed, Mr. Barrow, whose existence even was denied by Sir Robert Peel, called at Harcourt House on Lord George Bentinck. He had just returned from India, where he had been on an important mission from a London newspaper, as " our own correspondent,^^ and, not a little indignant that he was described by the highest authority as being dead, unable to write short-hand, and never a member of that distinguished body, the parliamentary reporters of England, in whose brotherhood, although a barrister-at-law, he was justly proud of having been, once enrolled and as one of its ablest members, Mr. Barrow wished his case to be brought before the House, and the honour and accuracy of the Mirror of Par- liament vindicated on certain representations which he was prepared to make, and Lord George Bentinck was very inclined to undertake the office, but he was per- suaded that, on the whole, and under the existing circumstances, it were better not to revive the con- troversy. And if the writer of these pages had any influence in that resolution, and thus deprived Mr. Barrow of his opportunity, he has tried to compensate a respectable and intelligent gentleman for this de- privation by recording his name and merits in a A POLITICAL BIOGEAniT. 205 volume which perhaps may live as long as a personal debate. The truth about the question which so conveniently occasioned this interesting episode in the debates on the Coercion Bill, appears to be this : that Sir Robert Peel, in 1829, having to make a complicated and embarrassing statement respecting his change of opinion and policy with regard to the Roman Catholics, and to refer by dates to several periods, both as to his positive and his contingent conduct upon that subject, conveyed by some expressions a meaning to the House of a perplexing character, and ditferent from that which he intended ; that the reporter of the Times caught the sentence, and, although it was inconsistent with the reputation of Sir Robert Peel, perhaps im- perfectly preserved it ; that the reporters of the other journals, not comprehending the remark, and deeming it quite incongruous and contrary to received im- pressions, omitted it, as under such circumstances is not unusual ; that Sir Robert Peel, when he corrected the version of his speech, which he did from the report of the Times, finding a sentence which conveyed a false meaning, and which was authorized by no analogous expressions iu the other papers, very properly struck it out; that the reporter of the Times, who, after due comparison and consultation with the reporters of some other principal journals, prepared with them the ma- tured version, for the MiiTor of Parliament, adhered to his text with the general concurrence of his colleagues, and thus embalmed the error. Perplexing as it is, we have no doubt that the speech of Sir Edward Knatch- bull can be explained to the entire vindication of Sir Robert Peel ; the solution of this, however, as far as we are concerned, must be left to CEdipus, with a full admission that though Lord George Beutinck was per- fectly justified in making the particular charge which he advanced, it was without real foundation. Por the 206 A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. rest, those who are well informed of the political history of this country, know that between Mr. Canning and Mr. Peel there existed an antipathy. They disliked each other: Mr. Canning was jealous of Mr. Peel, and Mr. Peel was a little envious of Mr. Canning. A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. 207 CHAPTER XVI. There are few circumstances more remarkable in parliamentary history than the suspense which at- tended the fate of the Peel government. The opposing hosts were drawn up in array for three weeks without the possibility of a general engagement. The return of the Corn Bill from the House of Lords was to be the signal for a general battle, and a bill of such vast importance could not be hurriedly passed by either House of Par- liament. Had it not been for the Canning episode, it is difficult to see how the evenings devoted to the ad- journed debate on the Coercion Bill could have been filled up. But that episode was now concluded, and it was said that another week must inevitably elapse before the Corn Bill could come down. The friends of the govern- ment^ elate with the last rally of their chief, and en- couraged by several circumstances which then occurred, redoubled their efforts to detach the Protectionist party from Lord George Bentinck. The colonial and shipping interests were very active in this endeavour. They had deserted the land on the great division, and were now very busy, through their representatives in the House of Commons, canvassing the votes of Pro- tectionist members, and trying, as they styled it, to reconstruct the Conservative party. Sugar yet re- mained to be conserved, and the wooden walls of old England, as with Kyan^s patent. The colonial and shipping interests therefore were stirring, denounced unprincipled coalitions with revolutionists and radicals, and were decided in their reprobation of *' strong language." 208 A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. There were, however, deeper heads workint^ at this crisis than those gentlemen, whose efforts, though not without effect, were rather on the surface. Sir Robert had always been well served in the unseen manage- ment of his party. The great Conservative party that destroyed everything was the creation of individuals who did not figure in senates or cabinet councils; above all, of one gentleman who by his knowledge of human nature, fine observation of opinion, indefati- gable activity, universal correspondence, and fertility of resource, mainly contributed to the triumph of '42, though he was spoken of only in a whisper and moved only behind the scenes. Such scheming spirits, at such a crisis, did not desert the chief whom they had so laboriously placed upon so mighty a pedestal. It was thought that some signal demonstration from an unsuspicious quarter, made before the division, appealing to the Conservative sympathies of the party, and disapproving of the spirit in which the opposition to the minister had been con- ducted, might have a very great effect, and in the present wavering disposition of members turn the scale of the division. But where was the personage to perform the evolution ? No small man would do. Several petty squires, who had of course voted against the ministerial measure to save their seats, had already been egged on to take what Avas called a temperate tone, that is to say, cheapen Lord George Bentinck and keep out the Whigs ; but these efforts had been quite uninfluential, indeed unnoticed ; the House would not listen to, and the reporters would not record, these prim philippics, elaborately prepared and precisely de- livered, with all the solemn conceit of a quarter sessions ■pedant. But if small men would not do, where were great ones to be found ? The Francis Egertons, the Sandons, the Wilson Pattens, and men of that stamp, from whom A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. 209 a selection is generally made when an influential diver- sion is desired, to extricate a minister from embarrass- ment, were all "renegades," and had consequently forfeited all authority. In this state of affairs, some judicious and faithful friends of the minister had the happy hardihood to address themselves to the duke of Buckingham, a nobleman who, from his long and faithful services as a county member, and from the undeviating consistencv of his political life, justly possessed the confidence and the regard of the agricultural intei'cst. There were few public men on whom the ministry had less claims than the duke of Buckingham. His grace had quitted the cabinet of Sir Robert Peel almost immediately after its formation, deeming its policy inconsistent with the professions by which its members had obtained power. After his secession, there was an ungracious and unwarrantable delay in conferring upon him the garter, which conveyed an impression that this great distinction Avas the consequence of some disreputable compact, whereas it had been arranged that the duke should have the garter long before he had felt the necessity of resigning his office as Lord Privy Seal. No one also had given a more earnest opposition to the present measure of the minister than his grace, which he had proved by very decided conduct. It would seem, therefore, at the first blush, that the application for assistance to such a quarter was not likely to prove favourable. But the duke of Buckingham had had a long and active experience, of party life; he had witnessed the overthrow of the Tory party by the Duke of Wellington, and had felt all its dangerous, not to say fatal, consequences. No one was more conscious of the difHculties of recon- structing a great party than the duke of Buckingham, for no one bad made greater exertions for such an object, or greater sacrifices. He shrank from a repe- p 210 A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. tition of ten years of balanced parties and weak govern- ments. Indignant and irritated by the conduct of those with whom he was associated, he was still unpre- pared to assist in handing over the government to the Whigs, who offered by their accession to office nothing tp the Tories but the gratification of vengeance. The duke of Buckingham, therefore, was not willing to see tlie government overthrown, and he listened with sympathy, if not with cordiality, to their overtures. The plan was most ingenious ; a combination of the highest class, and worthy of the only political brain capable of devising it. A member of the ministry, high in office, and re- turned to Parliapaent on strong protection principles, had been called upon by his constituents at the com- mencement of the session to oppose the govermnent measure, or to resign his seat to one more faithful to their cause. The right honourable gentleman, after re- flection, felt it his duty to quit the House of Commons, and the son of the duke of Buckingham, the marquis of Chandos, was elected in his stead. Entering Par- liament as a true Protectionist, on the very corpse of a convert and a victim ; having voted in every division against the government measure, pure from all ante- cedents, and the son of the duke of Buckingham — what an authoritative organ to rally round the minister the distracted and scattered sympathies of the Con- servative party ! But Lord Chandos was a youth who had not long completed his majority, little known and extremely reserved, and had never opened his mouth in the House of Commons. Tender shoulders whereon to place so weighty a charge ! A party manifesto and a maiden speech ; the rescue of a powerful ministry by an inexperienced stripling ! On the 22nd, the debate proceeded : at the end of the night the Secretary of State relieved the dulness ; it was observed that his tone was more cheei'ful ; he A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. 211 particularly impressed on tliose who were satisfied of the necessity of the measure to give the government a manly and cordial support, apart from all questions of confidence or want of confidence in the existing administration. That question could be raised at any time and upon other issues. " I may be wrong/' con- cluded the Secretary, " but I have a deep conviction, that if all those who are conscientiously satisfied that in the present circumstances of Ireland this bill is necessary, shall support the present reading, the result of the division will not be doubtful.'" The debate was adjourned till the next government night, Thursday, the 25tli of June. Fine calculators thought it possible that the corn-laws might come down from the Lords that night; but at all events it must come down early on the following daj^, Friday; so the decision was inevitable that week. All were wearied and exhausted with suspense. On Thursday morning. Lord George Eentinck was informed in confidence, but with circumstances of some exaggeration, of the intended movement of Lord Chandos, and of the great defalcation in the Pro- tectionist ranks which would certainly take place. It reached him also that an application of the greatest urgency was made late at night on Wednesday, to a member of the cabinet Avhose seat was in the House of Lords, on a subject which might considerably affect tlie division ; that the Secretary of the Treasurj'' had stated to this personage, that " things never looked better," and that, at the worst, the majority against the government could not exceed eleven. It was added, that the ministry would not feel it necessary to retire if the majority were so light under the circumstances of coalition. Thursday came at last. The debate was languid until Mr. Charles Buller rose, who spoke with his usual vivacity and clear argument. While he was 213 A POLITICAL BIOGHAPHY. speaking, Mr. BuUer was interrupted by messengers from the Lords. Two Masters in Chancery were here introduced, bringing several bills from the Upper House, among which were the Corn Importation and Customs' Duties Bills. Mr. Speaker, amid profound silence, announced that the House of Lords had agreed to the Corn Importation Bill and the Customs' Duties Bills, without any amendment. This announcement was followed by loud cheering. Seated on the highest bench, hid by a column, with his back against the wall, in a position from which no person ever yet did, or apparently ever could, address the House, a voung man whom nobodv knew now sprang up, very pale, and solicited Mr. Speaker's eye, who called Mr. Bankes. " Chandos," whispered a member to Lord George, who looked round and threw at him a scrutinizing glance. Mr. Bankes was down, and Lord Chandos rose again, but the Speaker called Mr. Spooner. When Mr. Spooner had finished, it was about ten o'clock, and the Speaker retired to his coffee and his only re- laxation often minutes, preliminary to the great speech of the night, which, on this occasion, was to be offered by an orator no less accomplished than Mr. Shiel, whose name had of course been called before the chair was vacated. The House broke into groups ; members talked together on the floor with their hats on, some lounged in the lobby, some sauntered to the galleries. " Well, we shall divide at last," was the general ob- servation, "and how will it be?" At that hour, neither Sir Robert Peel nor, perhaps, even Lord George Bcntinck, could exactly tell. The result de- pended on what number of Protectionists would stay away. If all those members of the Protectionist party who did not follow their leader in the present instance, voted with the government, it was concluded that the majority in favour of the ministry might not be con- A rOLITICAL BIOGRAniY. 213 temptible. The managers for the government were certain of the support of a large portion of the Protectionist party. They were induced to believe that many of that party would avoid the division, but that very few indeed would bring themselves to vote against a bill which they had already stoutly supported. The ministerial managers felt quite assured that all the Tory members for Ireland would be found in the government lobby. The Protectionists were very dis- creet, and their tactics extremely close; the party was never better managed than on this division. As late as midnight, Lord George Bentinck received bulletins of the varying circumstances of the impending event. The House listened with glowing attention to the last great Irish harangue of the most brilUant of modern rhetoricians. It was so eager for division, that nore but he could have commanded and charmed it. When Mr. Shiel sat down. Lord Chandos and a member of the government, the Solicitor-General, rose at the same time. The Speaker of course called the minister, but the restlessness and impatience of the House .were so uncontrollable that the learned gentleman was quite inaudible during his address. When he concluded, the calls for a division were overpowering ; nevertheless Lord Chandos rose again, and this time, as he rose alone, he was necessarily named. The cries for Lord Chandos from the Treasury bench were vehement, and the voices of more than one of the leading members of the admi- nistration were easily to be distinguished. The position of the speaker ; the novelty of the example, for surely a maiden speech was seldom made under such difficult circumstances ; the influence of the Treasury bench in. their neighbourhood ; and the conciliatory circumstance that he was a " new member,^' combined suddenly to produce in this disturbed scene a complete stillness. Very pale, looking like the early portraits of Lord 214 A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. Grenville, determined but impassive and coldly earnest. Lord Chandos, without any affectation of rhetorical pre- lude said in a clear and natural tone that he wished to state his intention of recording his vote for the measure of the government. And he gave succinctly his main reasons for so doing. Those reasons convinced him of its necessity. He had felt it his duty since his return to Parliament to oppose the measure of her Majesty's ministers, voting with a portion of the party sitting on the same side as himself; but he wished to take this opportunity of saying that he should be sorry it should be thought he concurred in the language which had been directed by that party against the government, and especially against the right honourable baronet who was at the head of it. They were told that the question to-night involved a vote of confidence in the minister. He did not acknowledge the justness of that conclusion. He gave his vote on this bill solely with reference to the condition of Ireland; but if he could bring his mind to understand that the question of general confidence in the administration was the principal question on which they were going to decide to-night, and the proper govern- ment of Ireland only a secondary one, then he thought it fair to say that he for one was not prepared to vote a want of confidence in the present Conservative govern- ment. He supported them as an administration founded on Conservative principles, and he for one did not agree that Conservative principles depended on tariff regula- tions, or that the existence of the institutions of the country relied upon the maintenance of a fiscal prin- ciple. Whatever the result of the division, he should have the satisfaction of knowing that his vote would be registered freely and fairly on the merits of the question, and that he was not actuated by personal prejudice or factious opposition. There is unfortunately no report of these observa- tions. Sir Robert Peel, turning his face to Lord Chandos, A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. 215 listened to hira with great attention and watched him with approving interest. When he sat down, the cheering from the Treasury bench and its quarter was vociferous. The observations of Lord Chandos pro- longed a little the debate, which was concluded by Mr. Cobden offering the reasons why he voted against a minister in whom he had the utmost confidence, and on whom he delivered a fervent panegyric, tendering him *'his heart-felt thanks for the unwearied perseverance, the unswerving firmness, and the great ability with which he had, during the last six montlis, conducted through the House of Commons one of the most magni- ficent reforms ever carried through any country." At length, about half-past one o^clock, the galleries were cleared, the division called, and the question put. In almost all previous divisions, where the fate of a government had been depending, the vote of every member, with scarcely an exception, had been antici- pated : that was not the case in the present instance, and the direction which members took as they left their seats was anxiously watched. More than one hundred Protectionist members followed the minister ; more than eighty avoided the division, a few of these however had paired ; nearly the same number followed Lord George Bentinck. But it was not merely their numbers that attracted the anxious observation of the Treasury bench as the Protectionists passed in defile before the minister to the hostile lobby. It was impossible that he could have marked them without emotion : the flower of that great party which had been so proud to follow one who had been so proud to lead them. They were men to gain whose hearts and the hearts of their fathers had been the aim and exultation of his life. They had extended to him an unlimited confidence and an admi- ration without stint. They had stood by him in the darkest hour, and had borne him from the depths of political despair to the proudest of living positions. 216 A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. Right or wrong, they were men of honour, breeding, and refinement, high and generous character, great weight and station in the country, which they had ever placed at his disposaL They had been not only his followers but his friends ; had joined in the same pastimes, drank from the same cup, and in the pleasantness of private life had often forgotten together the cares and strife of politics. He must have felt something of this, while the Manners, the Somersets, the Bentincks, the Lowthers, and the Lennoxes passed before him. And those country gentlemen, " those gentlemen of England,^"* of whom, but five years ago, the very same building was ringing with his pride of being their leader — if his heart were hardened to Sir Charles Burrell, Sir William JoUiffe, Sir Charles Knightly, Sir John Trollope, Sir Edward Kerrison, Sir John Tyrrell, he surely must have had a pang when his eye rested on Sir John Yarde Buller, his choice and pattern country gentleman, whom he had himself selected and invited but six years back to move a vote of want of confidence in the Whig government, in order, against the feeling of the court, to install Sir Eobert Peel in their stead. They trooped on : all the men of metal and large- acred squires, whose spirit he had so often quickened and whose counsel he had so often solicited in his fine Conservative speeches in Whitehall Gardens : Mr. Bankes, with a parliamentary name of two centuries, and Mr. Christopher from that broad Lincolnshire which protection had created ; and the Mileses and the Henleys were there ; and the Buncombes, the Liddells, and the Yorkes ; and Devon had sent there the stout heart of Mr. Buck — and Wiltshire, the pleasant presence of Walter Long. Mr. Newdegate was there, whom Sir Robert had himself recommended to the confidence of the electors of Warwickshire, as one of whom he had the highest hopes ; and Mr. Alderman Thompson was A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. 217 tliere, who, also tlirougli Sir Robert's selection, had seconded the assault upon the Whigs, led on by Sir John Buller. But the list is too long, or good names remain behind. When Prince IMetternich was informed at Dresden, with great ostentation, that the emperor had arrived — " Yes ; but without his army," was the reply. Sir Robert Peel was still first minister of England, as Napoleon remained emperor for a while after Moscow. Each perhaps for a moment had indulged in hope. It is so difficult for those who are on the pinnacle of life to realize disaster. They sometimes contemplate it in their deep and far-seeing calculations, but it is only to imagine a contingency which their resources must surely baffle; they sometimes talk of it to their friends, and oftener of it to their enemies, but it is only as an insur- ance of their prosperity and as an offering to propitiate their Nemesis. They never believe in it. The news that the government were not only beaten, but by a majority so large as 73, began to circulate. An incredulous murmur passed it along the Treasury bench. " They say we are beaten by 73 ! " whispered the most important member of the cabinet, in a tone of surprise, to Sir Robert Peel. Sir Robert did not reply or even turn his head. He looked very grave, and extended his chin, as was his habit when he was annoyed and cared not to speak. He began to comprehend his position, and that the emperor was without his army. 218 A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. CHAPTER XVII. The House met the next day (Friday), but the first minister was not in his jDlace ; and it having been pri- vately notified that, in consequence of the vote of the previous evening, the government was at an end, all business was postponed, and the House adjourned. On Monday, at five o'clock, the public notification of the resignation of the ministry was made by Sir Eobert Peel, to a crowded House, and in a remarkable speech. He said that the ministers had advised her Majesty to accept their resignations without adopting the after- native of dissolving the Parliament, though, had they failed in carrying in all their integrity the main mea- sures of their commercial policy, they would have re- commended an appeal to the country. Sir Robert then passed in review the principal acts of his adminis- tration in every department. He did not forget to touch on the Bank Charter Act of 1844, as "giving stability to the monetary system of the country, with- out interfering with legitimate speculation, without paralyzing or at all deranging the credit of the state.'' The speech was considered one of glorification and pique. It included an unparliamentary eulogium of Mr. Cobden, whom it mentioned, to the surprise of the House, by name ; and it terminated with a panegyric of himself, elaborate, but rather clumsily expressed, in which he talked of his leaving a name which would be execrated by monopolists, but sometimes remembered perhaps with good-will by those who recruited their exhausted strength with abundant and untaxed food, the sweeter because it was no longer leavened by a sense of injustice. A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. 219 Little was said : Lord John was absent, having re- paired, by command, to her Majesty "for the purpose of rendering his assistance in the formation of a go- vernment." Lord Palm erston very properly said some- thing, that "the silence of himself and his friends should not be construed into an acquiescence in the general commendation which Sir Robert Peel had passed on the measures of his own government." After this protest, the House adjourned. Nature had combined in Sir Robert Peel many ad- mirable parts. In him a physical frame incapable of fatigue was united with an understanding equally vigorous and flexible. He was gifted with the faculty of method in the highest degree, and with great powers of application, which were sustained by a pro- digious memory ; while he could communicate his acquisitions with clear and fluent elocution. Such a man, under any circumstances and in any sphere of life, would probably have become remarkable. Ordained from his youth to be busied with the aff'airs of a great empire, such a man, after long years of observation, practice, and perpetual discipline, would have become what Sir Robert Peel was in the latter portion of his life, a transcendent administrator of public business and a matchless master of debate in a popular assembly. In the course of time the method which was natural to Sir Robert Peel, had matured into a habit of such expertness that no one in the despatch of aff'airs ever adapted the means more fitly to the end ; his original flexibility had ripened into con- summate tact ; his memory had accumulated such stores of political information that he could bring luminously together all that was necessary to establish or to illustrate a subject ; while in the House of Com- mons he was equally eminent in exposition and in reply — in the first, distinguished by his arrangement, his clearness, and his completeness — in the second. 220 A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. ready, ingenious, and adroit, prompt in detecting the weak points of his adversary and dexterous in extri- cating himself from an embarrassing position. Thus gifted and thus accompHshed, Sir Robert Peel had a great deficiency : he was without imagination. Wanting imagination, he wanted prescience. No one was more sagacious when dealing with the circum- stances before him; no one penetrated the present with more acuteness and accuracy. His judgment was faultless, provided he had not to deal with the future. Thus it happened through his long career, that while he always was looked upon as the most prudent and safest of leaders, he ever, after a protracted display of admirable tactics, concluded his campaigns by sur- rendering at discretion. He was so adroit that he could prolong resistance even beyond its term, but so little foreseeing, that often in the very triumph of his manoeuvres he found himself in an untenable position. And so it came to pass that Roman Catholic emanci- pation, parliamentary reform, and the abrogation of our commercial system, were all carried in haste or in passion, and without conditions or mitigatory arrange- ments. Sir Robert Peel had a peculiarity which is per- haps natural with men of great talents who have not the creative faculty ; he had a dangerous sympathy with the creations of others. Instead of being cold and wary, as was commonly supposed, he was impul- sive and even inclined to rashness. When he was ambiguous, unsatisfactory, reserved, tortuous, it was that he was perplexed, that he did not see his way, that the routine which he had admirably administeied failed him, and that his own mind was not constructed to create a substitute for the custom which was crum- bling away. Then he was ever on the look out for new ideas, and when he embraced them he did so with eagerness and often with precipitancy; he always A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. 2,21 carried these novel plans to an extent wliicli even their projectors or chief promoters had usually not antici- jjated ; as was seen for example in the settlement of the currency. Although apparently wrapped up in himself and supposed to be egotistical^ except in sea- sons of rare exaltedness, as in the years 1844-5, when he reeled under the favour of the court, the homage of the continent, and the servility of Parliament, he was really deficient in self-confidence. There was always some person representing some theory or system ex- ercising an influence over his mind. In his " sallet- days " it was Mr. Horner or Sir Samuel Romilly ; in later and more important periods, it was the duke of "Wellington, the king of the French, Mr. Jones Loyd, some others, and finally Mr. Cobden. Let us now see how this peculiar temperament in- fluenced his career and the history of this country. There never was such an opportunity of forming a strong and enlightened administi'ation and rendering the Tory party famous and popular in the country, as on the junction of the friends of Mr. Canniug, after his decease, with the followers of the duke of Welling- ton. All personal jealousies had ceased, and men like Mr. Huskisson, Mr. Lambe (Lord Melbourne), and Lord Palmerston, had without reluctance or reserve recognized the leadership of Mr. Peel, then only in the perfection of his manhood, and were acting with him ■with deference and cordiality. The times were ripe for a calm, prudent, and statesmanlike settlement of two great questions — the admission of Roman Catholics into the House of Commons, and some reconstruction of that assembly itself. Very moderate measures would have sufficed. The enfranchisement of half a dozen of the great manufacturing towns would have been hailed with general satisfaction. The duke of Wellington was against all change. Sir Robert Peel was then under the influence of the duke of Welliug- 222 A POLITICAL BIOGllAPHY. ton. He believed that the duke of Wellington was indicated as the man who would govern the country for the next quarter of a century. He joined the duke, therefore, in resistance to those who would have trans- ferred the forfeited franchise of a corrupt Cornish borough to some great town of the north. The fol- lowers of Mr. Canning, who would not agree in so short-sighted a policy, were rudely expelled from the cabinet, and Sir Robert Peel remaining the leader of a parliamentary party destitute, with his own exception, of parliamentary renown, was forced in a short space of time hurriedly to concede to the violence of external agitation so unconditional a satisfaction of the claims of the Roman Catholics that he broke uj) the Tory party, and the reform of the House of Commons was con- sequently carried and in the midst of a revolution. After a great disaster, it was observable of Sir Robert Peel that his mind seemed always to expand. His life was one of perpetual education. No one more clearly detected the mistakes which he had made, or changed his course under such circumstances with more promptness ; but it was the past and the present that alone engrossed his mind. After the catastrophe of ^30, he broke away from the duke of Wellington, and announced to his friends with decision that hence- forth he would serve under no man. There are few things more remarkable in parliamentary history than the manner in which Sir Robert Peel headed an oppo- sition for ten years without attempting to form the opinions of his friends or instilling into them a single guiding principle, but himself displaying all that time on every subject of debate wise counsels, administrative skill, and accomplished powers of discussion. He could give to his friends no guiding principle, for he had none, and he kept sitting on those benches till somebody should give him one. He was so blind to the future, that when the Whigs, utterly prostrate. A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. 223 yielded him the governmeut of the country on a co- lonial defeat in '39, he did everything he could to avoid taking the helm, when he might have come into office comparatively unpledged and free at least, whatever course he had taken, from the painful and deserved reproaches that accompanied his last acts. But it so happened the finances of the country at that time were not flourishing ; the great interests under such cir- cumstances were beginning as usual to grumble; and Sir Eobert Peel wanted to be brought in by the great interests. He succeeded in this object, and in the course of five years he was denouncing those great interests as monopolies, and destroying them. The Roman Catholic Association, the Birmingham Union, the Manchester League, were all the legitimate offspring of Sir Robert Peel. No minister ever dimi- nished the power of government in this country so much as this eminent man. No one ever strained the constitution so much. He was the unconscious parent of political agitation : he literally forced the people out of doors to become statesmen, and the whole ten- dency of his policy was to render our institutions mere forms. In a word, no one, with all his conservative language, more advanced revolution. In an ordinary- period, he would have been a perfect minister, but he was not a minister for stormy times : he wanted depth, and passion, and resource for such an oc- casion. After destroying the Tory party in '46, he fell a thinking again over the past and the present as he did after his fall in '30, and again arrived at a great conclusion. In '30 he said he would act no longer as a subordinate : in '46 he said he would act no longer as a partisan. In '30 he visited his position on the duke of AVelliugton : in '46, on the political ties of '41 ; but if he had been a man of genius, he would have guided the duke of V.-'ellington^ and in '41 would have given 2.24 A POLITICAL BIOGIIAPH"?. a creed to liis party, always devoted to liifti, instead of borrowing their worn-out ideas. No one knew better than Sir Robert Peel that with- out party connection^ that parliamentary government which he so much admired would be intolerable; it would be at the same time the weakest and the most corrupt government in the world. In casting this slur upon party, Sir Robert Peel meant only to degrade the combinations of which he had experience and by which he had risen. Excluded from power, which he ought to have wielded for a quarter of a century, he sat on bis solitary bench, revolving the past. At sixty he began to comprehend his position. The star of Man- chester seemed as it were to rise from the sunset of Oxford, and he felt he had sacrificed his natural career to an obsolete education and a political system for which he could not secure even an euthanasia. Sir Robert Peel had a bad manner, of which he was sensible ; he was by nature very shy, but, forced early in life into eminent positions, he had formed an artificial manner, haughtily stiff or exuberantly bland, of which, generally speaking, he could not divest himself. There v/ere, however, occasions when he did succeed in this, and on these, usually when he was alone with an indi- vidual whom he wished to please, his manner was not only unaffectedly cordial, but he could even charm. When he was ridiculed by his opponents in '41, as one little adapted for a court, and especially the court of a queen, those who knew him well augured different results from his high promotion ; and they were right. But, generally speaking, he was never at his ease and never very content, except in the House of Commons. Even there he was not natural, though there the defi- ciency was compensated for by his unrivalled facility; which passed current with the vulgar eye for the precious quality for which it was substituted. He had obtained a complete control over his temper^ which was by nature A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. 225 somewliat fiery. His disposition was good ; there was nothing petty about him ; he was very free from ran- cour ; he was not only not vindictive, but partly by temperament, and still more perhaps by discipline, he was even magnanimous. For so clever a man, he was deficient in the know- ledge of human nature. Tbe prosperous routine of his youth was not favourable to tbe development of this faculty. It was never his lot to struggle ; although, forty years in Parliament, it is remarkable that Sir Robert Peel never represented a popular constituency or stood a contested election. As he advanced in life he was always absorbed in thought, and abstraction is not friendly to a perception of character, or to a fine appreciation of the circumstances of the hour. After the general election of '34-5, a nobleman who was his warm friend, and who had exerted himself greatly to establish Peel in power, expressed his regret that the result of the appeal to the country had not been so favourable as they could have wished. In short, the Tories, on their own dissolution, were in a minority. Sir Robert, however, did not share the apprehensions of his friend. " I have confidence in my measures," said Sir Robert, with an expression of satisfaction. Now to suppose that any measures, had they been arch- angelic, could have influenced the decision of a liberal Parliament that had been rudely dissolved by a court intrigTie, of which, by the bye, Sir Robert Peel was per- fectly innocent, and which was panting for vengeance, displayed a confidence in the abstract justice of man which experience does not warrant. The minister of a court which had outraged a Parliament, and that minis- ter in a minority, was not exactly the pei-sonage to carry measures. As might have been expected, the House of Commons refused even to put his Speaker in the chair, in order that, accepting the intimation, his measures might not even be brought forward. Q 226 A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. After the reform of the House of Commons^ Sir Robert Peel was naturally anxious to discover who was to be the rival of his life, and it is noticeable that he was not successful in his observations. He never did justice to Lord John Russell until he found Lord John not only his rival, but his successful one, and then, according to his custom and his nature, he did the pre- sent minister of England full justice. No person could be more sensible of the grave import of the events in "Canada which occurred on his accession to office in '34 than Sir Robert Peel. They were the commencement of great calamities and occasioned him proportionate anxiety. It was obvious that everything depended on the character of the individual sent out by the metro- polis to encounter this emergency. The highest quali- ties of administration were demanded. After much pondering, Sir Robert selected the amiable and popular Lord Canterbury. It was entirely his own selection, and it was perhaps the most unfit that could be made. But Sir Robert Peel associated Lord Canterbury with the awful authority of twenty years of the Speaker's chair. That authority had controlled him, and of course he thought it must subdue the Canadians. It was like a grown-up man in the troubles of life going back for advice to his schoolmaster. But perhaps his want of perception of character was never more remarkably illustrated than in the appointment of his Secretaries of the Treasury in the government of '34. The party had been managed in opposition by two gentlemen, each distinguished by different but admirable qualities. One was remarkable for the sweetness of his temper, his conciliatory manners, and an obliging habit, which gains hearts oftener than the greatest services ; he knew every member by name, talked to all sides, and had a quick eye which caught every corner of the House. His colleague was of a different cast ; reserved and cold, and a great parliamentary student ; very capable A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. 227 of laborious affairs, and with the right information always ready for a minister. Sir Robert appointed the man of the world Financial Secretary of the Treasury, locked him up in a room or sealed him to a b-^nch ; and entrusted to the student, under the usual title of Patron- age Secretary of the Treasury, the management of the House of Commons, a position which requires consum- mate knowledge of human nature, the most amiable flexibility, and complete self-control. The administra- tion did not last five months ; but enough occurred in the interval to induce the minister to change on tho next occasion the positions of these two gentlemen, who then served him as efficiently as they had before done with fidelity and zeal. As an orator, Sir Robert Peel had, perhaps, the most available talent that has ever been brought to bear in the House of Commons. We have mentioned that both in exposition and in reply he was equally eminent. His statements were perspicuous, complete, and dig- nified; when he combated the objections or criticised the propositions of an opponent he was adroit and acute; no speaker ever sustained a process of argu- mentation in a public assembly more lucidly, and none as debaters have united in so conspicuous a degree prudence with promptness. In the higher efforts of oi'atory he was not successful His vocabulary was ample, and never mean ; but it was neither rich nor rare. His speeches will afford no sentiment of sur- passing grandeur or beauty that will linger in tlie ears of coming generations. He embalmed no great political truth in immortal words. His flights were ponderous ; he soared with the wing of the vulture rather than the plume of the eagle ; and his perorations when most elaborate were most unwieldy. In pathos he was quite deficient ; when he attempted to touch the tender passions, it was painful. His face became distorted, like that of a woman who wants to ciy but cannot Q 2 228 A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. succeed. Orators certainly should not shed tears, but there are moments when, as the Italians say, the \oice should weep. The taste of Sir Robert Peel was highly cultivated, but it was not originally fine; he had no wit ; but he had a keen sense of the ridiculous, and an abundant vein of genuine humour. Notwithstanding his artificial reserve, he had a hearty and a merry laugh; and sometimes his mirth was uncontrollable. He was gifted with an admirable organ ; perhaps the finest that has been heard in the House in our days, unless we except the thrilling tones of O^Connell. Sir Robert Peel also modulated his voice with great skill. His enunciation was very clear, though some- what marred, by provincialisms. His great deficiency was want of nature, which made him often appear even with a good cause more plausible than persuasive and more specious than convincing. He may be said to have gradually introduced a new style into the House of Commons, which was suited to the age in which he chiefly flourished, and to the novel elements of the assembly which he had to guide. He had to deal with greater details than his predecessors, and he had in many instances to address those who were deficient in previous knowledge. Something of the lecture, there- fore, entered into his displays. This style may be called the didactic. After his fall, in the autumn of '46, when on a visit to one who "had opposed his policy, but who was his friend, sauntering with his host and sitting on a stile. Sir Robert Peel spoke fully of the events that had just occurred. He said then, and was then in the habit of saying, though it was quite a self- illusion, that nothing should ever induce him to accept power again. And he gave among many interesting reasons for arriving at this conclusion, not only the untimely end of so many of his predecessors, significant A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. 229 of the fata] trust, but a consciousness on liis own part that his debating powers were declining. But this would seem to have been a false judgment. Sir Robert Peel encountered in ^46 an opposition which he had not anticipated, and partly carried on in a vein in which he did not excel. To be bearded, sometimes worsted, in that scene where he had long reigned paramount, at the moment galled and mortified him, and he accounted for the success of his opponents by the decay of his own powers. But Sir Robert Peel made some of his most considerable efforts in the great struggle of ^46 ; and it may be a question whether his very best speeches were not those which he made during the last three years of his life. They were more natural than his speeches, either as minister or as leader of opposition. There was more earnestness and more heat about them, and much less of the affectation of plausibility. It is often mentioned by those political writers who on such a subject, communicate to their readers their theories, and not their observations of facts, that there was little sympathy between Sir Robert Peel and the great aristocratic party of which he was the leader; that on the one side there was a reluctant deference, and on the other a guidance without sentiment. But this was quite a mistake. An aristocracy hesitates before it yields its confidence, but it never does so grudgingly. In political connections under such cir- cumstances, the. social feeling mingles, and the principle of honour which governs gentlemen. Such a following is usually cordial and faithful. An aristocracy is rather apt to exaggerate the qualities and magnify the im- portance of a plebeian leader. They are prompted to do this, both by a natural feeling of self-love, and by a sentiment of generosity. Far from any coldness sub sisting between Sir Robert Peel and the great houses 230 A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. whicTi had supported him through his long career, there never was a minister who was treated with such nice homage — it may be said with such affectionate devotion. The proudest in the land were prouder to be his friends, and he returned the feeling to its full extent and in all its sincerity. Sir Eobert Peel was a very good-looking man. He was tall, and, though of latter years he had be- come portly, had to the last a comely presence. Thirty years ago, when he was young and lithe, with curling brown hair, he had a radiant expression of countenance. His brow was distinguished, not so much for its intellectual development, although that was of a high order, as for its remarkably frank expression, so different from his character in life. The expression of the brow might even be said to amount to beauty. The rest of the features did not, however, sustain this impression. The eye was not good ; it was sly, and he had an awkward habit of looking askance. He had the fatal defect, also, of a long upper lip, and his mouth was compressed. One cannot say of Sir Robert Peel, notwithstanding his unrivalled powers of despatching affairs, that he was the greatest minister that this country ever produced, because, twice placed at the helm, and on the second occasion with the Court and the Parliament equally devoted to him, he never could maintain himself in power. Nor, notwithstanding his consummate parlia- mentary tactics, can he be described as the greatest party-leader that ever flourished among us, for he con- trived to destroy the most compact, powerful, and de- voted party that ever followed a British statesman. Certainly, notwithstanding his great sway in debate, we cannot recognize him as our greatest orator, for in many of the supreme requisites of oratory he •was singularly deficient. But what he really was. A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. 231 and what posterity will acknowledge him to have been, is the greatest member of Parliament that ever lived. Peace to his ashes ! His name will be often appealed to in that scene which he loved so well, and never without homage even by his opponents. 233 A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. CHAPTER XVIII. The retribution which attended the colonial interest for their vote against agricultural protection was swifter than the most prophetic vengeance could have dreamed. Within a month of his accession to power, at the end of an exhausting session, the new minister announced a sweeping measure, which was at once to admit sugar the produce of slave-labour to the British market. The measure was in accordance with the views which the Whigs in opposition had always maintained, but it was not thought probable that they would have involved the House and the government in the permanent settlement of so complicated a subject at so late a period in the year, especially when political vicissi- tudes had broken up the House and little disposed it for the prudent consideration of an important ques- tion. Lord John, however, remembered that sugar was an article of colonial produce which had been em- barrassing, if not fatal, to many governments. Strange that a manufacture which charms infancy and soothes old age should so frequently occasion political disaster. The minister, therefore, was resolved to rid himself of this perpetual difficulty by precipitating a settlement while the elements of opposition on this question, though powerful, were distracted. Until the year 1846, the duties on sugar had been voted annually. It was the constitutional practice to leave a large amount of revenue dependent on an annual vote of the House of Commons in order that the allegation, and, if proved, the redress of grievances might be secured. The minister, and very wisely, did not think it expedient that the duties on sugar should be made a subject of A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. 233 annual debate. He proposed, therefore, a permanent settlement of tliese duties ; and, in order not to depart from a constitutional practice, promised to substitute in their stead at the same time another branch of revenue which it would be less objectionable to take as an annual vote. One advantage of settling great ques- tions in a hurrv and at the end of a session is, that a minister often obtains his main object without fulfilling the conditions on which it was to have been dependent. Thus, in the present case, the sugar duties ceased to be an annual vote, and the immediate influence of the House of Commons on that large branch of revenue was abolished, but the substitute which was to have secured the same amount of constitutional control was unfortunately forgotten to be appropriated. The new minister dilated on the inconsistency of our receiving slave-grown cotton, and slave-grown coffee, and slave-grown tobacco, and rejecting slave-grown sugar ; he showed that the British merchant would not be baulked of his profit by our legislation, and that he purchased slave-grown sugar notwithstanding all our re- strictions, but had to dispose of it in an indirect manner instead of in our own market ; that we, therefore, did not by our laws prevent the employers of slave-labour in Cuba and Brazil from selling their sugar in Europe and obtaining a profitable return, but that this was done with inconvenience and loss to English commerce, and above all, with a very great loss to the English con- sumer. The result of our legislation was that Cuba and Brazil carried on a thriving trade, supplying the world by our means with cheap sugar, while we our- selves paid a high price for the article. The minister showed also that under the stipulations of treaties we were bound to admit the slave-grown produce of countries which were on the footing of the most favoured action. The case of the "SMiigs, thus stated, was unanswer- 234 A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. able, but it was a condemnation of all that this country has done for the abolition of slavery, a cause too which the Whigs had especially taken up in their genera- tion for party purposes, and which they had vehe- mently stimulated. Before the abolition of slavery the British colonies could successfully compete with any country in the world in the production of sugar. Having deprived our colonies of those successful means of general competition, it would seem that the metro- polis was at least bound to secure them a home market. If the consequence of such a monopoly were a dear article, the increased price must be considered as an amercement for the luxury of a philanthropy not suffi- ciently informed of the complicated circumstances with which it had to deal. The movement of the middle classes for the abolition of slaverv was virtuous, but it was not wise. It was an ignorant movement. It showed a want of knowledge both of the laws of commerce and the stipulations of treaties; and it has alike ruined the colonies and aggravated the slave trade. But an enlightened aris- tocracy, who placed themselves at the head of a movement which they did not originate, should have instructed, not sanctioned, the virtuous errors of a well-meaning but narrow-minded community. If, in- stead of quoting in the House of Commons, in 1846, " the correspondence of an ancestor of mine, John duke of Bedford, who was employed in negotiating the treaty of 1762," Lord John Russell and the Whigs had warned the people of the West Riding, a quarter of century before, that the policy of a nation must be directed with reference to public engagements, such as the treaty of Utrecht for example, of which the Abo- litionists probably had never heard, they would have fulfilled one of the offices of their position. The first duty of an aristocracy is to lead, to guide, and to enlighten ; to soften vulgar prejudices and to dare to A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. 235 encounter popular passion. The plea of the free-traders for the admission of slave-grown sugar in 1846^ on the ground of inconsistency in excluding it since we admitted other products of slave-grown labour^ can be characterised only by an epithet too harsh for polite composition when we recollect that when the whole community shrunk from the abomination of consuming the slave-grown sugar of our own colonies, they had then for years, nay, in some instances almost for cen- turies, been in the habit of drinking slave-grown coffee, smoking slave-grown tobacco, and spinning slave-grown cotton. They, therefore, took their resolution with a full knowledge of these inconsistent accessories. The history of the abolition of slavery by the English and its consequences would be a narrative of ignorance, injustice, blundering, waste, and havock, not easily paralleled in the history of mankind. Lord George Bentinck met the motion of the govern- ment with an amendment couched in temperate and guarded language. It did not express so much as he himself felt, but he wished to unfurl a flag which might rally many round it. He adopted, therefore, the language of the famous amendment moved by Lord Sandon, when member for Liverpool, to the Whig pro- position of ^41, and which, if the memory of the present writer does not deceive him, was drawn up by the late prime minister himself. With Sir Robert Peel sitting opposite Lord George Bentinck, and Lord Sandon sitting beneath him, this was rather a dainty device of the Protectionist leader. The amendment declared that in the present state of the sugar cultivation in the British East and West Indian possessions, the proposed reduction of duty upon foreign slave-grown sugar was alike unjust and impolitic, as tending to check the advance of production by British free-labour, and to give a great additional stimulus to the slave-trade. 233 A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. Lord George spoke well to liis resolution, and in an ample but well-digested address fully considered the three points of the case ; the probable supply of sugar under the existing laws, the probable amount of revenue under the projected change, and finally the influence of that change, if agreed to, on the interests of the African race. Sir Robert Inglis, peculiarly entitled on such a subject to offer his opinion to the House, said " that the speech of Lord George Beiitinck was a speech so comprehensive in details and so abounding in facts — every fact too an argument in itself — that he, for his part, could have been content to have rested the decision of the question on it." That consequence of being obliged to take office without a parliamentary majority, which the late Lord Bessborough fervently deplored and endeavoured to prevent, now occurred. Although the government had been in office only a month, and no party, however anxious they might be to assert their opinions, wished to dislodge them, nothing but violent sacrifices of parliamentary consistency, and even of personal con- viction on the part of those who had no political con- nection with them, could maintain them in their places. It was clear from the speech of Sir Robert Inglis, cheered by Sir Thomas Acland, that the pure abolition- ists were not going to compromise their principles for the convenience of any government, past or present. When Lord Sandon rose there was a dead silence. The noble lord delivered a funeral oration over the cause of abolition. " He confessed that, in his opinion, every government which had been in power since the passing of the Emancipation Act, had failed in dealing with this subject.'" He had made inquiries of competent per- sons, who had informed him that this measure was not likely to promote or encourage the slave trade. He thought, under these circumstances, that the time was come when this fallacy, which had produced a great A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. 237 degree of irritation in Brazil, Spain, and other coun- tries, and which threw great obstructions in the way of British commerce, should be dispelled. Shortly after this. Sir Robert Peel rose, and after declaring that had he remained in office it had been his intention to have persisted in his resistance to the admission of slave- grown sugar, and offering, in a very lucid manner, every argument that could be urged against the resolutions of the government, concluded by saying that it was his intention to support ministers. And on this ground, that if the ministers resigned office, which they ouglit to do if defeated, he was not prepared to take the reins, and he wished to prevent Lord George Bentinck from taking them, he being at the head of a party which conscientiously sought the reversal of the new com- mercial system. This was the reward of the sugar members for deserting their party and voting against their con- stituents and their convictions a month ago. It was sad to watch their countenances ; they knew what was at hand from the carrying of this bill, of which before two years had passed several of them were among the noblest victims. As for Lord John Russell, if he had only pulled his hat a little more over his eyes than usual, and in the magic of abstraction called up the tumultuous scenes of ^41, when the Sandon amendment sounded the knell of his government, and virtually made Sir Robert Peel prime minister of England, he must have moralised over the strange vicissitudes of political life. In the course of this debate, a follower of Lord George Bentinck, lamenting the destruction of our colonial system and expressing his belief that we should ere' long have to reconstruct it, observed that it was a characteristic of our history that this country generally retraced its steps. He attributed the pros- perity of England in a great measure to this cause. 238 A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. "We did not commit less blunders than other countries, but we were a people more sensible of our errors. The history of England, he said, is a history of reaction. "We destroyed, for example, our church establishment and we replaced it. We destroyed our ancient mon- archy and we restored it. We destroyed the House of Lords, and yet we were now obliged to take up our bills to them for their sanction. We even abolished the House of Commons, and yet here we were at the end of the session debating a great question. This gentleman pursued his illustrations, which nevertheless were not exhausted by him. These observations amicably nettled the new prime minister, who, being an advocate of slave-grown sugar, naturally looked upon himself, at any rate for the nonce, as the representative of progress. He there- fore replied to them and vindicated his cause. Lord John Russell said the illustrations which had been adduced had been chiefly drawn from times of violence, though what bearing that had on the argument was not very apparent. Great changes naturally will often take place in times of violence, and the political cha- racters of 1630-40 on both sides, in ability, education, energy, and social weight, have never been surpassed by any body of public men who have influenced opinion and events. The county gentlemen certainly never stood so high as at that period. But then, said Lord John Ptussell, in happier and more modern times have we retraced our steps ? Has not the triumph of reason, of liberty, and of truth, been decided and continuous? The Habeas Corpus Act, the Bill of Rights, the Act of Toleration ? Have they been repealed ? In these in- stances have we retraced our steps ? His lordship even adduced the act for the abolition of the slave trade, which, considering the subject under discussion and the consequences which it involved, seemed, notwith- standing Lord Sandon, somewhat bold. Lord John A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. 239 Russell may now recollect, tliat before two years had passed he was himself retracing his steps on this very sugar bill of ^46, and mitigating its stern provisions. But this is a little matter. What does Lord John Russell say to the county courts which he has helped to establish? To that measure which has shaken to its centre, nay, has almost swept from the face of the land, that mighty fabric of centralized jurisprudence which was the most enduring element and perhaps proudest achievement of the Norman conquest. Is that progress? Or is it reaction ? The truth is, progress and reaction are but words to mystify the millions. They mean nothing, they are nothing, they are phrases and not facts. In the struc- ture, the decay, and the development, of the various families of man, the vicissitudes of history find their main solution. All is race. The Norman element in our population wanes; the influence of the Saxon population is felt everywhere, and everywhere their characteristics appear. Hence the honour to industry, the love of toil, the love of money, the love of peace, the passion for religious missions, the hatred of the Pope, the aversion to capital punishments, the desire to compensate for injuries, even the loss of life, by a pecuniary mulct, the aversion to central justice, finally the disbelief of our ever being invaded by the French. The state of public opinion in this country at present more resembles that of England under Edward the Confessor than under Queen Anne. 240 A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. CHAPTER XIX. If we take a general view of the career of Lord George Bentinck during the last seven months — from the time indeed when he was trying to find a lawyer to convey his convictions to the House of Commons until the moment when her Majesty prorogued her Par- liament, the results will be found to be remarkable. So much was never done so unexpectedly by any public man in the same space of time. He had rallied a great party which seemed hopelessly routed ; he had es- tablished a parliamentary discipline in their ranks which old political connections, led by experienced statesman, have seldom surpassed ; he had brought forward from those ranks, entirely through his dis- crimination and by his personal encouragement, con- siderable talents in debate; he had himself proved a master in detail and in argument of all the great ques- tions arising out of the reconstruction of our commer- cial svstem : he had made a vindication of the results of the Protective principle as applied to agriculture, which certainly, so far as the materials are concerned, is the most efficient plea that ever was urged in the House of Commons in favour of the abrogated law ; he had exhibited similar instances of investigation in con- siderable statements with respect to the silk trade and other branches of our industry ; he had asserted the claims of the productive classes in Ireland, and in our timber and sugar producing colonies, with the effect which results from a thorough acquaintance with a subject ; he had promulgated distinct principles with regard to our financial as well as to our commercial system ; he had maintained the expediency of relieving A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. 241 the consumer by the repeal of excise in preference to customs' duties^ and of establishing fiscal reciprocity as a condition of mercantile exchange. On subjects of a more occasional but analogous nature he had shown promptitude and knowledge, as in the instances of the urgent condition of Mexico and of our carrying trade with the Spanish colonies, both of which he brought forward in the last hours of the session, but the im- portance of which motions was recognized by all par- ties. Finally, he had attracted the notice, and in many instances obtained the confidence, of large bodies of men in the country, w^ho recognised in him a great capacity of labour combined wdth firmness of character and honesty of purpose. At the close of the session (August 28), Lord George visited Norfolk, where he received an entertainment from his constituents at King's Lynn, proud of their member, and to whom he vindicated the course which he had taken, and offered his views generally as to the relations wdiich should subsist between the legislation of the country and its industry. From Norfolk he repaired to Belvoir Castle, on a visit to the duke of Rutland, and was present at a banquet given by the agriculturists of Leicestershire to his friend and sup- porter the marquis of Granby. After this he re- turned to Welbeck, where he seems to have enjoyed a little repose. Thus he writes to a friend from that place on the 22nd September : " Thanks for your advice, which I am following, having got Lord Malmesbury's Diary ; but I am re- lapsing into my natural dawdling, lazy, and somnolent habits, and can with difficulty get through the leaders even of the ' Times' * ^ * * "The vehemence of the farmers is per- sonal against Peel; it is quite clear that the rising price of wheat has cured their alarm. The railway expenditure must keep up prices and prosperity, both K 2-13 A POLITICAL JilOGRAPHY. of whicli would have been far greater without free trade ; but in face of liigh prices, railway prosperity, and potato famine, depend upon it we shall have an uphill game to fight. " O'Connell talks of Parliament meeting in No- vember, to mend the Irish Labour-rate Act. Do vou believe this ? '' The Labour-rate Act, passed at the end of the ses- sion (^46), was one by which the Lord Lieutenant was enabled to require special barony sessions to meet in order to make presentments for public works for the employment of the people, the whole of the money requisite for their construction to be supplied by the imperial treasury, though to be afterwards repaid. The machinery of this act did not work satisfactorily, but the government ultimately made the necessarv alterations on their own responsibility, and obtained an indemnity from Parliament when it met in ^47. The early session, therefore, talked of by Mr. O'Connell, became unnecessary. As the only object of this Labour- rate Act was to employ the people, and as it was sup- posed there were no public works of a reproductive nature which could be undertaken on a sufficient scale to ensure that employment, the Irish people were occu- pied, towards the end of the autumn of ^46, mainly in making roads, which, as afterwards described by the first minister, " were not wanted." In the month of September more that thirty thousand persons were thus employed; but when the harvest was over, and it was ascertained that its terrible deficiency had converted pauperism into famine, the numbers on the public works became greatly increased, so that at the end of November the amount of persons engaged was four hundred thousand, receiving wages at the rate of nearly five millions sterling per annum. These immense amounts went on increasing every week, and when Par- liament met in February, 1 847, five hundred thousand A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. 243 persons were employed on these public worlcs^ which could bring no possible public advantage, at an expense to the country of between c€700,000 and £800,000 per month. No Board of Works could effici- ently superintend such a multitude, or prevent flagrant imposition, though the dimensions of that department appeared almost proportionably to have expanded. What with commissioners, chief clerks, check clei'ks, and pay clerks, the establishment of the Board of Works in Ireland, at the end of '46, consisted of more than eleven thousand persons. Always intent upon Ireland, this condition of affairs early and earnestly attracted the attention of Lord George Bentinck. So vast an expenditure in unpro- ductive labour dismayed him. He would not easily assent to the conclusion that profitable enterprise under the circumstances was impossible. Such a conclusion seemed to him unnatural, and that an occasion where we commenced with despair justified a bold and venture- some course. The field is legitimately ojjen to specula- tion where all agree that all is hopeless. The construc- tion of harbours, the development of fisheries, the redemption of waste lands, were resources which had been often canvassed, and whatever their recommenda- tions, with the exception of the last, they were necessarily very limited; and the last, though it might aff'ord prompt, could hardly secure profitable, employment. Prompt and profitable employment was the object Avhich Lord George wished to accomplish. Where millions were to be expended by the state, something more advantageous to the community should accrue than the temporary subsistence of the multitude. Lord George had always been a great supporter of railway enterprise in England, on the ground that, irrespective of all the peculiar advantages of those undertakings, the money was spent in the country ; and that if our surplus capital were not directed to su-ch R 2 244 A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. channels, it would go, as it had gone before, to foreign mines and foreign loans, from which in a great degree no return would arrive. When millions were avowedly to be laid out in useless and unprofitable undertakings, it became a question whether it were not wiser even somewhat to anticipate the time when the necessities of Ireland would require railways on a considerable scale ; and whether by embarking in such enterprises, we might not only find prompt and profitable employment for the people, but by giving a new character to the country and increasing its social relations and the combinations of its industry, might not greatly advance the period when such modes of communication would be absolutely requisite. Full of these views, Lord George, in the course of the autumn, consulted in confidence some gentlemen very competent to assist him in such an inquiry, and espe- cially Mr, Eobert Stephenson, Mr. Hudson, and Mr. Laing. With their advice and at their suggestion, two engineers of great ability, Mr. Bidder and Mr. Smith, were despatched to Ireland, personally to investigate the whole question of railroads in that country. Meditating over the condition of Ireland, a subject very frequently in his thoughts, and of the means to combat its vast and inveterate pauperism. Lord George was in the habit of reverting to the years '41-'42 in England, when there were fifteen hundred thousand persons on the parish rates ; eighty-three thousand able-bodied men actually confined within the walls of the workhouse, and more than four hundred thousand able-bodied men receiving out-door relief. What changed all this and restored England in a brief space to a condition of affluence hardly before known in her annals ? Not certainly the alterations in the tariff which were made by Sir Robert Peel at the commence- ment of his governmeDt, prudent and salutary as they were. No one would pretend that the abolition of the A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. 24.5 slight duty (five-sixteenths of a penny) on the raw material of the cotton manufacturer^ or the free intro- duction of some twenty-seven thousand head of foreign cattle, or even the admission of foreign timber at reduced duties, could have effected this. Unquestionably it was the railway enterprise which then began to prevail that was the cause of this national renovation. Suddenly, and for several years, an additional sum of thirteen millions of pounds sterling a year was spent in the wages of our native industry ; two hnndred thousand able-bodied labourers received each upon an average twenty-two shillings a week, stimulating the revenue both in excise and customs by their enormous consump- tion of malt and spirits, tobacco and tea. This was the main cause of the contrast between the England of '41 and the England of '45. Was there any reason why a proportionate application of the same remedy to Ireland should not proportion- ately produce a similar result? Was there anything wild or unauthorized in the suofgestion ? On the contrary: ten years before (1836), the subject had engaged the attention of her Majesty's government, and a royal commission had been issued to inquire into the expediency of establishing railway communication in Ireland. The commissioners, men of eminence, recommended that a svstem of railwavs should be established in Ireland, and by the pecuniary assistance of government. They rested their recommendation mainly on the abundant evidence existing of the vast benefits which easy communication had accomplished in Ireland, and of the complete success which had attended every Parliamentary grant for improving roads in that country. The M'eakness of the government, arising from the balanced state of parties, rendered it impossible at that time for them to prosecute the measures i-ecommended by the royal commissioners, though they made an 246 A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. ineffectual attempt in that direction. Could it be sus- pected that the recommendation of the commissioners had been biassed by any political consideration ? Was it a Whig commission attempting to fulfil a Whig object ? Another commission, more memorable, at the head of which was the earl of Devon, was appointed by a Tory government some years afterwards, virtually to consider the condition of the people of Ireland, and the best means for their amehoration. The report of the Devon commission confirmed all the recommendations of the railway commissioners of ^36, and pointed to these new methods of communication, by the assistance of loans from the government, as the best means of j)roviding employment for the people. When Mr. Smith of Deanston was examined by a Parliamentary committee, and asked what measure of all others would be the one most calculated to im- prove the agriculture and condition of Ireland, he did not reply, as some might have anticipated, that the most efficient measure would be to drain the bogs ; but his answer was, " advance the construction of railways, and then agricultural improvement will speedily follow." To illustrate the value of railways to an agricultural population, Mr. Smith of Deanston said, "that the improvement of the land for one mile only on each side of the railway so constructed would be so great, that it would pay the cost of the whole construction," He added, that there were few districts in Ireland, in which railway communication could be introduced, where the value of the country through which the railway passed would not be raised to an extent equal to the whole cost of the railway. Arguing on an area of six hundred and forty acres for evei-y square mile, after deducting the land occupied by fences, roads, and buildings, Mr. Smith, of Deanston, entered into a calculation of the gain derivable from the mere carriage of the produce of the land, and the A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. 247 back carriage of manure, coals, tiles, bricks, and other materials, and estimated the saving through those means on every square mile to more than £300, or something above £600 on 1,280 acres abutting each mile of railway, this being the difference of the cost of carriage under the old mode of conveyance as compared with the new. Following up this calculation, he showed that fifteen hundred miles of railway would improve the land through which it passed to the extent of nearly two million acres at the rate of a mile on each side ; and, taken at twenty-five years' purchase, would equal twenty-four millions sterling in the permanent improvement of the land. The ground, therefore, was sound on which Lord George cautiously, and after due reflection, ventured to place his foot. And noAV, after the reports of these two royal com- missions, what was the state of railway enterprise in Ireland in the autumn of '46, when a vast multitude could only subsist by being employed by the govern- ment, and when the government had avowedly no re- productive or even useful work whereon to place them ; but allotted them to operations which vi'cre describetl by Colonel Douglas, the inspector of the government himself, " as works which would answer no other pur- pose than that of obstructing the public conveyances"? In '46, acts of Parliament were in existence autho- rizing the construction of more than fifteen hundred miles of railway in Ireland, and some of these acts had passed so long as eleven years previously, yet at tlie end of '46 only one hundred and twenty-three miles of railway had been completed, and only one hundred and sixty four were in the course of completion, though arrested in their progress from want of funds. Almost in the same period, two thousand six hundred miles of raihyay had been completed in England, and acts of Parliament had passed for constructing five thousand 248 A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. four hundred miles in addition : in the whole, eight thousand miles. What then was the reason of this debility in Ireland in prosec^xting these undertakings ? Were they really not required ; were the elements of success wanting ? The first element of success in railway enterprise, according to the highest authorities, is population; property is only the second consideration. Now, Ire- land in '46 was more densely inhabited than England. A want of population could not therefore be the cause. But a population so impoverished as the Irish could not perhaps avail themselves of the means of locomotion; and yet it appeared from research that the rate of pas- sengers on the two Irish railways that were open greatly exceeded in number that of the passengers upon Eng- lish and Scotch railways. The average number of pas- sengers on English and Scotch railways was not twelve thousand per mile per annum, while on the Ulster rail- way the number was nearly twenty-two thousand, and on the Dublin and Drogheda line the number exceeded eighteen thousand. The cause of the weakness in Ireland to prosecute these undertakings was the total want of domestic capital for the purpose, and the unwillingness of English capitalists to embark their funds in a country whose social and political condition they viewed with distrust, however promising and even profitable the investment might otherwise appear. This was remark- ably illustrated by the instance of the Great Southern and Western Railway of Ireland, one of the under- takings of which the completion was arrested by Avant of funds, yet partially open. Com^pared with a well- known railway in Great Britain, the Irish railway had cost in its construction >£ 15,000 per mile, and the Bri- tish upwards of £20,000 per mile ; the weekly traffic on the two railways, allowing for some difference in their extent, was about the same on both, in amount varying A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. 249 from .€1,000 to £1,300 per week ; yet the imfiuished British railway was at £40 premium in the market, aad the incomplete Irish railway at £2 discount. It was clear, therefore, that the commercial principle, omnipo- tent in England, was not competent to cope with the peculiar circumstances of Ireland. Brooding over the suggestions afforded by the de- tails which we have slightly indicated, Lord George Bentinck, taking into consideration not merely the advantage that Avould accrue to the country from the estabhshmeut of a system of railroads, but also remem- bering the peculiar circumstances of the times, the absolute necessity of employing the people, and the inevitable advance of public money for that purpose, framed a scheme with reference to all these considera- tions, and which he believed would meet all the condi- tions of the case. He spared no thought, or time, or labour, for his purpose. He availed himself of the advice of the most experienced, and prosecuted his researches ardently and thoroughly. When he had matured his scheme, he had it thrown into the form of a parliamentary bill by the ablest hands, and then submitted the whole to the judgment and criticism of those who shared his confidence and counsels. To- wards the end of November he was at Knowsley, from whence he communicated with the writer of these pages. " I am here hatching secret plans for the next session ; and now, if you have not quite abjured politics, as you threatened for the next three months to do, devoting yourself to poetry and romance, I think I ought to have a quiet day with you, in order that we may hold council together and talk over all our policy. I shall be at Harcourt House on the 30th. I shall stay there till the 3rd of December, for a meeting on that day of the Norfolk Estuary Company, of which I am chairman. Would that evening suit you — or Friday — or Wednesday ? I am not well acquainted with the geo- 250 A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. graphy of Buckinghamshire, but presume you are acces- sible either by rail or road in less than twelve hours. " The activity in the dockyard must be in prepara- tion to interfere in Portugal, to keep King Leopold upon the Portuguese throne : it cannot be for Mexico, for our friend the Times formally abandoned Mexico in his leader some days ago. <(* ^ * ^ has been entertaining Lord * -^ -J^- * in Ireland, and writes : ' How Peel must chuckle at the Whig difficulties.' I dare say he does, but in Ireland it seems to me Lord Besborough is putting the late Irish government to shame, whilst the rupture of the entente cordiale, the conquest of California and New Mexico, and the complications in the river Plata, are complete inheritances from Lord Aberdeen. " Eaton has come to life again : else there was a prospect of George Manners quietly succeeding him in Cambridgeshire. I fear we shall do no good in Lin- colnshire, notwithstanding the industry of our dear friend the Morning Post, in getting hold of Lord Ebrington's and Lord Rich's letters to Lord Yarbo- rough. I suppose there is no mistake in Lord Dalhou- sie {' the large trout ') going out to Bombay with the reversion of Bengal. " The duchy of Lancaster is to be put in commis- mission. Lord * ^ * -^ to be one of the commissioners, but unpaid. He has begun, I presume, to overcome the false dehcacy which prevented his acceptance of office under the Whigs in July. S * ^ "^^ thought G "^ * "^ ^ was to be another of the Board, but that turns out a mistake, but Lord H * * ^ * is to be. " The manufacturers are woi^king short time, and reducing wages in all directions, John Bright and Sons at Rochdale among the rest. The ZoUverein increasing their import duties on cotton and linen yarn, and putting export duties of 25 per cent, (some of the states at least) on grain." A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. 251 We must not omit to record^ that in the autumn of this year, at Goodwood races, the sporting world was astounded by hearing that Lord George Bentinck had parted with his racing stud at an almost nominal price. Lord George was present, as was his custom, at this meeting, held in the demesne of one who was among his dearest friends. Lord George was not only present but apparently absorbed in the sport, and his horses Avere very successful. The world has hardly done justice to the great sacrifice which he made on this occasion to a high sense of duty. He not only parted with the finest racing stud in England, but he parted with it at a moment when its prospects were never so brilliant; and he knew this well. We may have hereafter to notice on this head an interesting passage in his life. He could scarcely have quitted the turf that day without a pang. He had become the lord paramount of that strange world, so difficult to sway, and which requires for its government both a stern resolve and a courtly breeding. He had them both ; and though the blackleg might quail before the awful scrutiny of his piercing eye, there never was a man so scrupulously polite to his inferiors as Lord George Bentinck. The turf, too, was not merely the scene of the triumphs of his stud and his betting-book. He had purified its practice and had elevated its character, and he was prouder of this achievement than of any other connected with his sporting life. Notwithstanding his mighty stakes and the keenness with which he backed his opi- nion, no one perhaps ever cared less for money. His habits were severely simple, and he was the most gene- rous of men. He valued the acquisition of money on the turf, because there it was the test of success. He counted his thousands after a great race as a victorious general counts his cannon and his prisoners. 253 A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. CHAPTER XX. The new year ('47) opened under circumstances of gloom. Two bad harvests had precipitated and aggra- vated the consequences of the reckless commercial speculations which had prevailed since ^45. The state of Ireland, however, was not one merely of deficient harvest, it was one of absolute dearth. Three-fourths of the potato crop, the food of the millions, had failed while no less than one-third of the oat crop which they exported was deficient. The estimated loss of produce on these two crops, for the year '46, was £16,000,000 ; that is to say, calculated by weight and measure, eight millions and a half tons of potatoes, and more than five millions two hundred thousand quarters of oats. There is no population, however prosperous their ordi- nary circumstances, that would not have felt such a visitation acutely. But the ordinary circumstances of the Irish population were not prosperous. It appears by the report of the Commissioners of Poor Law Inquiry made in ^35, that there were then between eleven and twelve hundred thousand agricultural labourers in Ire- land whose average earnings did not exceed from two shillings to half-a-crown a week ; that one-half of that number were destitute of work during thirty weeks in the year ; and that these with their families made a total of nearly two millions and a half of human beings out of work and in distress thirty weeks in the year. One of the witnesses before that commission said, " that the county of Mayo alone could furnish beggars for all England." It was said by the royal commission, over which Lord Devon presided, that these people were the worst A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. 253 housed^ the worst fed, and the worst clothed of any in Europe. They live in mud cabins littered upon straw; their food consists of dry potatoes, of which they are often obliged to stint themselves to one spare meal; sometimes a herring or a little milk may afford them a pleasing variety, but sometimes also they are driven to sea-weed and to wild herbs. Dwelling in hovels and feeding upon roots, they are clothed in r 33,000,000 pared with last twelve years of slavery . J £82,000,000 . The average price of sugar was 29s. per cwt. for the twelve years antecedent to emancipation. In consequence of the diminished production, through the idleness of the slaves after emancipation, the average price of sugar, ex duty, rose 10s. O^d. per cwt. in the twelve years subsequent to August 1834. Multiplying the colonial sugar consumed in Great Britain in those twelve years of freedom by 10s. O^d., and allowing one- third more for rum and molasses, I find that the British nation paid in those twelve years, £33,000,000 extraordinary for their sugar ; but notwithstanding this enormously enhanced price of sugar, the quantities produced were so much more diminished, that the planters' gross receipts were upwards of £5,000,000 sterling less than they had been in the corresponding period of slavery ! So that the blacks squeezed £33,000,000 in those twelve years out of John Bull. The nett profits of the planters in the twelve years subsequent to emancipation, were diminished beyond the amount of these two sums together. The free labourers, whilst they produced 25 per cent, less sugar and rum, upon an average, have earned 6s. a week, where before they cost the planter (according to Lord Grey's statement in 1833) but 2,d. a day. They now work upon an average six hours a day, seven dat/s in a fortnight. 343 A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. whereas under the mitigated slavery of latter times they worked nine hours a day, eleven days in a fortnight. They now get, according to Lord Grey's statement in 1833, six times the money for forty -two hours' work in a fortnight, they used under slavery to cost doing ninety-nine hours' work, 1 am assured that 60 per cent, of the free labourers in Jamaica ride their horses!!! I don't think when John Bull paid £20,000,000 to knock off their chains, he meant to make idle gentlemen of the emancipated negroes ; but practically that is what he has done. The Yankee recruiting in Manchester for female silk manu- facturers, is another ominous feature of the times. Somehow the silk manufacture does not appear to suffer so much as other trades — how comes this ? TO ME. BUEN. Harcourt House, January 20, 1848. It is excessively difficult to get at the aggregate expense of putting down slave-trading ; but though I am aware that some of the journals have set it down at £1,500,000 a year, I cannot myself make out that it has ever cost in any one year more than £i,000,000. The House of Commons' return this year, gives the expense of the African squadron for 1847, at £300,000 or £305,000, I forget which, whilst two years ago a similar return gave the expense £720,000 ! But, then, there is the slave com- mission, maintenance of slaves at Sierra Leone, head-money for captured slaves, the cost of the various military and civil es- tablishments on the African coast, payments to foreign powers, £300,000 or £400,000 to Portugal for an engagement to sign a treaty, &c. You ask me how Quakers will manage to reconcile their free- trade and their anti-slavery morality on this occasion ? I think a letter I got from Bristol, dated the 27th of last December, gives a good insight into their practice. I quote from it : — " The parties who imported the first foreign sugar here {i, e. Bristol) were John Thomas, Sons, and Co., wholesale grocers, 19th October, 1846, in the Unity from Havannah, consisting of 520 boxes. They were purchased of a house in London while fhe vessel lay at Cowes. Another house, also Quakers, of the firm of Wedmore and Claypole, wholesale grocers, imported (lirect from Porto Eico, 12th April, 1847, 158 hogsheads, 122 barrels, per Brilliant. We have had several other cargoes A POLITICAL LIOGRAPHY. 343 imported, but they have been consignments to brokers for sale." If I recollect right, the Quakers voted against the payment of any compensation to slave-owners. Theirs was a costless Christianity and a cheap philanthropy. TO ME. BUEN. Harcourt House, January 25, 1848. I have got a very good return from Calcutta. The com- mercial year at Calcutta, I suppose, begins and ends the 1st of July. It is so P If it is, if you could give me an account of the value of cotton {joods and yarn, exported from Great Britain to Calcutta for the six months commencing the 1st of July and ending the 31st of December, it would supply me with an additional argument. Mr. James's statement having already been made iu the House of Commons by himself, does not matter. The great argument will be derived from the two returns you are making out for me. If you can lay your hands upon any old and remarkable prophecies of the great increase of the cotton trade to ensue from opening up Brazil and Cuba, made by Cobden, Bright, or Milner Gibson, iu former years, I should like to have them. I well remember the general purport of them was, that free trade in corn was almost of inferior importance to cheap sugar and opening out the boundless markets of Brazil and Cuba. Let me have the Calcutta Trade Circular again. When you have done the job you are now about, I wish you would sift Du Fay's grand finance statement of the cotton trade of the last year. I have not the paper now before me, but my impression is that he has miscalculated the home consumption of cotton goods by some 100,000,000 lbs. weight in every year, besides which, his average price of raw cotton differs most materially. I think you should dissect and anatomize Du Fay in the Glance. 344 A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. TO ME. BUEN. Wimpole, January, 29, 1848. I received your account of exports to the sugar-growing countries yesterday just before I left London for this place, and . return you my warm thanks for it. Lord Ashburton, who is here, tells me that no sugar is cultivated about Bio Janeiro — that the sugar of Brazil is all cultivated in the neighbourhood of Pernambuco and Bahia. He is curious to know, and so am I, if you have the means at hand readily (not otherwise), whether the increased exports of cottons to Brazil, are ex- clusively to Bahia and Pernambuco, or whether Bio Janeiro, not engaged in the sugar trade, shares equally with, or in part with, Bahia and Pernambuco. With regard to the exports to Calcutta, though the Calcutta commercial year commences in May, I think I will only take half the year, viz., from July to December, both inclusive : half a year is a more even period ; besides, the last half year is just the period when the injury to the Calcutta sugar trade had come into practical operation. I return on Monday morning to London, so pray continue to address my letters as heretofore. Can you tell me what proportion the value of raw cotton in each period bears to the whole value ? I imagine that after deducting the value of raw cotton in the two periods, from the 12th of September, 1846, to the 12th of January, 1848, with that from the 12th of May, 1845, to the 12th of September, 1846, the case will appear much stronger as regards the balance of wages, &c., lost in the period from the 12th of September, 1846, to the 12th of January, 1848. TO ME. BUEN. February 1, 1848. Some of your quotations from Turnbull are very happy, and I shall make use of them. I propose to take this line but as a preliminary. I want you to tell me how many men, women, and children there are in Great Britain {i. e. including Scotland) dependent for their subsistence on the cotton trade. I think, according to the last census, there were about 260,000 em- ployed. Bright, last year in the House of Commons, estimated A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. 345 tbem, if I recollect right, at 310,000. Assuming them to be 310,000 employed, I suppose in the cotton trade, where so large a proportion of women and children are employed, it would be sufficient to allow 190,000 unemployed as dependent on the 310,000 employed for their subsistence. Having assumed those dependent for their subsistence on the cotton trade to be 500,000, and the average consumption of the empire at 23^ lbs. per month per annum, these 500,C)00 persons in sixteen months would eat 6,904 tons 14 cwt. of sugar, and at £10 per ton, would have saved in the sixteen months £69,046. 1*. Sd. ; but whilst they have this much on the credit side of the account, they have on the debtor sheet their share of the profits and wages of converting that raw cotton into manufactures, on which there has been a diminution in the exports to the sugar-growing colonies of £1,171,142 during the same period. I wait for you to tell me what portion of this would be wages to the operatives and profits to the manufacturers. Say half, and still on the balance, those dependent for subsistence on the cotton trade, lose upwards of half a million by the transaction. The committee on commercial distress having been appointed, the principal reason for the summoning of the Dew Parliament in the autumn had been satisfied, and an adjournment until a month after Christmas was in prospect. Before, however, this took place, a new and interesting question arose, which led to consider- able discussion, and which ultimately influenced in no immaterial manner the parliamentary position of Lord George Bentinck. The city of London at the general election had sent to the House of Commons, as a colleague of the first minister, a member who found a difliculty in taking one of the oaths appointed by the House to be sworn preliminarily to any member exercising his right of voting. The difficulty arose from this member being not only of the Jewish race, but unfortunately believing only in the first part of the Jewish religion. 346 A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. CHAPTER XXIV, The relations that subsist between the Bedoueen race that, under the name of Jews, is found in every country of Europe, and the Teutonic, Sclavonian, and Celtic races which have appropriated that division of the globe, will form hereafter one of the most remark- able chapters in a philosophical history of man. The Saxon, the Sclave, and the Celt, have adopted most of the laws and many of the customs of these Arabian tribes, all their literature and all their religion. They are therefore indebted to them for much that re- gulates, much that charms, and much that solaces existence. The toiling multitude rest every seventh day by virtue of a Jewish law; they are perpetually reading, "for their example," the records of Jewish history, and singing the odes and elegies of Jewish poets ; and they daily acknowledge on their knees, with reverent gratitude, that the only medium of communi- cation between the Creator and themselves is the Jewish race. Yet they treat that race as the vilest of generations; and instead of logically looking upon them as the human family that has contributed most to human happiness, they extend to them every term of obloquy and every form of persecution. Let us endeavour to penetrate this social anomaly that has harassed and perplexed centuries. It is alleged that the dispersion of the Jewish race is a penalty incurred for the commission of a great crime: namely, the crucifixion of our blessed Lord in the form of a Jewish prince, by the Romans, at Jerusalem, and at the instigation of some Jews, in the reign of Tiberius Augustus Cajsar. Upon this, it may be observed, that A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. 317 the allegation is neither historically true nor dogmati- cally sound. 1 . Not histoincally true. It is not historically true, because at the time of the advent of our Lord, the Jewish race was as much dispersed throughout the world as at this present time, and had been so for many centuries. Europe, with the exception of those shores which are bathed by the midland sea, was then a pri- meval forest, but in every city of the great Eastern monarchies and in every province of the Roman em- pire, the Jews had been long settled. We have not precise authority for saying that at the Advent there were more Jews established in Egypt tlian in Pales- tine, but it may unquestionably be asserted that at that period there were many more Jews living, and that too in great prosperity and honour, at Alexandria than at Jerusalem. It is evident from various Roman authors, that the Jewish race formed no inconsiderable portion of the multitude that filled Rome itself, and that the Mosaic religion, undisturbed by the state, even made proselytes. But it is unnecessary to enter into any curious researches on this head, though the autho- rities are neither scant nor uninteresting. We are furnished with evidence the most complete and un- answerable of the pre-dispersion by the sacred writings themselves. Not two months after the crucifixion, when the Third Person of the Holy Trinity first descended on Jerusalem, it being the time of the great festivals, when the Jews, according to the custom of the Arabian tribes pursued to this day in the pilgrimage to Mecca, repaired from all quarters to the central sacred place, the holy writings inform us that there were gathered together in Jerusalem, " Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven." And that this expression, so general but so precise, should not be mistaken, we are shortly afterwards, though in- cidentally, informed, that there were Parthians, Medes, 648 A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. and Persians at Jerusalem, professing the Mosaic faith ; Jews from Mesopotamia and Syria, from the countries of the lesser and the greater Asia; Egyptian, Libyan, Greek, and Arabian Jews; and, especially, Jews from Rome itself, some of which latter are par- ticularly mentioned as Roman proselytes. Nor is it indeed historically true that the small section of the Jewish race which dwelt in Palestine re- jected Christ. The reverse is the truth. Had it not been for the Jews of Palestine, the good tidings of our Lord would have been unknown for ever to the northern and western races. The first preachers of the gospel were Jews, and none else ; the historians of the gospel were Jews, and none else. No one has ever been permitted to write under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, except a Jew. For many years no one believed in the good tidings except Jews. They nursed the sacred flame of which they were the con- secrated and hereditary depositaries. And when the time was ripe to diff'use the truth among the ethnics, it was not a senator of Rome or a philosopher of Athens who was personally appointed by our Lord for that office, but a Jew of Tarsus, who founded the seven churches of Asia. And that greater church, great even amid its terrible corruptions, that has avenged the victory of Titus by subjugating the capital of the Csesars, and has changed every one of the Olympian temples into altars of the God of Sinai and of Calvary, was founded by another Jew, a Jew of Galilee. From all which it appears that the dispersion of the Jewish race, preceding as it did for countless ages the advent of our Lord, could not be for conduct which occurred subsequently to the advent, and that they are also guiltless of that subsequent conduct which has been imputed to them as a crime, since for Him and His blessed name, they preached, and wrote, and shed their blood " as witnesses." A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. 349 But, is it possible that that which is not historically- true can be dogmatically sound? Such a conclusion would impugn the foundations of all faith. The fol- lowers of Jesus, of whatever race, need not however be alarmed. The belief that the present condition of the Jewish race is a penal infliction for the part which some Jews took at the crucifixion, is not dogmatically sound. 2. Not dogmatically sound. There is no passage in the sacred writings that in the slightest degree warrants the penal assumption. The imprecation of the mob at the crucifixion is sometimes strangely quoted as a divine decree. It is not a principle of jurisprudence, human or inspired, to permit the criminals to ordain his own punishment. Why, too, should they transfer any portion of the infliction to their posterity? What evidence have we that the wild suggestion was sanctioned by Omnipotence ? On the contrary, amid the expiating agony, a Divine Voice at the same time solicited and secured forgiveness. And if unforgiven, could the cry of a rabble at such a scene bind a nation ? But, dogmatically considered, the subject of the crucifixion must be viewed in a deeper spirit. We must pause with awe to remember what was the prin- cipal office to be fulfilled by the Advent. When the ineff'able mystery of the Incarnation was consummated, a Divine Person moved on the face of the earth in the shape of a child of Israel, not to teach but to expiate. True it is that no word could fall from such lips, whether in the form of profound parable, or witty retort, or preceptive lore, but to guide and enlighten ; but they who, in those somewhat lax eff'usions which in these days are honoured with the holy name of theology, speak of the morality of the Gospel as a thing apart and of novel revelation, would do well to remem- ber that in promulgating such doctrines they are treading on very perilous ground. There cannot be 850 A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. two moralities ; and to hold that the Second Person of the Holy Trinity could teach a different morality from that which had been already revealed by the First Person of the Holy Trinity, is a dogma so full of terror that it may perhaps be looked upon as the ineffable sin against the Holy Spirit. When the lawyer tempted our Lord, and inquired how he was to inherit eternal life, the great Master of Galilee referred him to the writings of Moses. There he would find recorded " the whole duty of man ;" to love God with all his heart, and soul, and strength, and mind, and his neighbour as himself. These two principles are embalmed in the writings of Moses, and are the essence of Christian morals."^ It was for something deeper than this, higher and holier than even Moses could fulfil, that angels an- nounced the Coming. It was to accomplish an event pre-ordained by the Creator of the world for countless ages. Born from the chosen house of the chosen peo- ple, yet blending in his inexplicable nature the Divine essence with the human elements, a sacrificial Mediator was to appear, appointed before all time, and puri- fying with his atoning blood the myriads that had preceded and the myriads that will follow him. The doctrine embraces all space and time — nay, chaos and eternity ; Divine persons are the agents, and the re- demption of the whole family of man the result. If the Jews had not prevailed upon the Romans to crucify our Lord, what would have become of the Atonement? But the human mind cannot contemplate the idea that the most important deed of time could depend -upon human will. The immolators were pre-ordained like the victim, and the holy race supplied both. Could that be a crime which secured for all mankind eternal * "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the Lord." — Leviticus six. 18. A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. 351 joy — whicli vanquislied Satan, and opened the gates of Paradise? Such a tenet would sully and impugn the doctrine that is the corner-stone of our faith and hope. Men must not presume to sit in judgment on such an act. They must bow their heads in awe and astonishment and trembling gratitude. But, though the opinion that the dispersion of the Jewish race must be deemed a penalty incurred for their connection with the crucifixion has neither his- torical nor doctrinal sanction, it is possible that its degrading influence upon its victims may have been as efficacious as if their present condition were indeed a judicial infliction. Persecution, in a word, although unjust, may have reduced the modern Jews to a state almost justifying malignant vengeance. They may have become so odious and so hostile to mankind, as to merit for their present conduct, no matter how occa- sioned, the obloquy and ill-treatment of the communi- ties in which they dwell and with which they are scarcely permitted to mingle. Let us examine this branch of the subject, which, though of more limited interest, is not without in- struction. In all the great cities of Europe, and in some of the great cities of Asia, among the infamous classes therein existing, there will always be found Jews. They ai'e not the only people who are usurers, gladiators, and followers of mean and scandalous occupations, nor are they anywhere a majority of such, but considering their general numbers, they contribute perhaps more than their proportion to the aggregate of the vile. In this they obey the law which regulates the destiny of all persecuted races : the infamous is the business of the dishonoured; and as infamous pursuits are generally illegal pursuits, the persecuted race which has most ability will be most successful in combating the law. The Jews have never been so degraded as the Greeks 353 A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. were tlirougliout the Levant before the emancipation, and the degradation of the Greeks was produced by a period of persecution which, both in amount and suf- fering, cannot compare with that which has been endured by the children of Israeh This pecuharity, however, attends the Jews under the most unfavourable circumstances ; the other degraded races wear out and disappear; the Jew remains, as determined, as expert, as persevering, as full of resource and resolution as ever. Viewed in this light, the degradation of the Jewish race is alone a striking evidence of its ex- cellence, for none but one of the great races could have survived the trials which it has endured. But, though a material organization of the highest class may account for so strange a consequence, the persecuted Hebrew is supported by other means. He is sustained by a sublime religion. Obdurate, malig- nant, odious, and revolting as the lowest Jew appears to us, he is rarely demoralized. Beneath his own roof his heart opens to the influence of his beautiful Arabian traditions. All his ceremonies, his customs; and his festivals are still to celebrate the bounty of nature and the favour of Jehovah. The patriarchal feeling lingers about his hearth. A man, however fallen, who loves his home, is not wholly lost. The trumpet of Sinai still sounds in the Hebrew ear, and a Jew is never seen upon the scaffold, unless it be at an auto dafe. But, having made this full admission of the partial degradation of the Jewish race, we are not prepared to agree that this limited degeneracy is any justification of the prejudices and persecution which originated in barbarous or mediseval superstitions. On the contrary, viewing the influence of the Jewish race upon the mo- dern communities, without any reference to the past history or the future promises of Israel; dismissing from, our minds and memories, if indeed that be possi- ble, all that the Hebrews have done in the olden time A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. 353 for man and all which it may be their destiny yet to fulfil, we hold that instead of being an object of aver- sion, they should receive all that honour and favour from the northern and western races, which, in civilized and refined nations, should be the lot of those who charm the public taste and elevate the public feeling. We hesitate not to say that there is no race at this present, and following in this only the example of a long period, that so much delights, and fascinates, and elevates, and ennobles Europe, as the Jewish. We dwell not on the fact, that the most admirable artists of the drama have been and still are of the Hebrew race : or, that the most entrancing singers, graceful dancers, and exquisite musicians, are sons and daughters of Israel : though this were much. But these brilliant accessories are forgotten in the sublimer claim. It seems that the only means by which in these mo- dern times we are permitted to develop the beautiful is music. It would appear definitively settled that excellence in the plastic arts is the privilege of the earlier ages of the world. All that is now produced in this respect is mimetic, and, at the best, the skilful adaptation of traditional methods. The creative faculty of modern man seems by an irresistible law at work on the virgin soil of science, daily increasing by its in- ventions our command over nature, and multiplying the material happiness of man. But the happiness of man is not merely material. Were it not for music, we might in these days say, the beautiful is dead. Music seems to be the only means of creating the beautiful, in which we not only equal, but in all pro- bability greatly excel, the ancients. The music of modern Europe ranks Avith the transcendent creations of human genius ; the poetry, the statues, the temples, of Greece. It produces and represents as they did whatever is most beautiful in the spirit of man and 2 a 354 A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. often expresses what is most profound. And who are the great composers, wlio hereafter will rank with Homer, with Sophocles, with Praxiteles, or with Phidias ? They are the descendants of those Arabian tribes who conquered Canaan, and who by favour of the Most High have done more with less means even than the Athenians. Forty years ago — not a longer period than the children of Israel were wandering in the desert — the two most dishonoured races in Europe were the Attic and the Hebrew, and they were the two races that had done most for mankind. Their fortunes had some simi- larity : their countries were the two smallest in the world, equally barren and equally famous ; they both divided themselves into tribes : both built a most famous temple on an acropolis ; and both produced a literature Avhich all European nations have accepted with reverence and admiration. Athens has been sacked oftener than Jerusalem, and oftener razed to the ground ; but the Athenians have escaped expatria- tion, which is purely an Oriental custom. The suffer- ings of the Jews, however, have been infinitely more prolonged and varied than those of the Athenians. The Greek nevertheless appears exhausted. The creative genius of Israel, on the contrary, never shone so bright ; and when the Russian, the Frenchman, and the Anglo- Saxon, amid applauding theatres or the choral voices of solemn temples, yield themselves to the full spell of a Mozart, a Meyerbeer, or a Mendelssohn, it seems difficult to comprehend how these races can reconcile it to their hearts to persecute a Jew. We have shown that the theological prejudice against the Jews has no foundation, historical or doctrinal; we have shown that the social prejudice, originating in the theological but sustained by superficial observations, irrespective of religious prejudice, is still more unjust, and that no existing race is so much entitled to the A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. 355 esteem and gratitude of society as the Hebrew. It remains for us to notice the injurious consequences to European society of the course pursued by the commu- nities to this race ; and this view of the subject leads us to considerations which it would become existing states- men to ponder. Tlie world has by this time discovered that it is impossible to destroy the Jews. The attempt to extir- pate them has been made under the most favourable auspices and on the largest scale ; the most considerable means that man could command have been pertina- ciously applied to this object for the longest period of recorded time. Egyptian Pharaohs^ Assyrian kings, Roman emperors, Scandinavian crusaders, Gothic princes, and holy inquisitors, have alike devoted their energies to the fulfilment of this common purpose. Expatriation, exile, captivity, confiscation, torture on the most ingenious and massacre on the most extensive scale ; a curious system of degrading customs and de- basing laws which would have broken the heart of any other people, have been tried, and in vain. The Jews, after all this havock, are probably more numerous at this date than they were during the reign of Solomon the "Wise, are found in all lands, and, unfortunately, pros- pering in most. All which proves, that it is in vain for man to attempt to baffle the inexorable law of nature, which has decreed that a superior race shall never be destroyed or absorbed by an inferior. But the influence of a great race will be felt; its greatness does not depend upon its numbers, other- wise the English would not have vanquished the Chinese, nor would the Aztecs have been overthrown by Cortez and a handful of Goths. That greatness results from its physical organization, the consequences of which are shown in its energy and enterprise, in the strength of its will and the fertility of its brain. Let us observe what should be the influence of the Jews, 2 A 2 356 A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. and then ascertain how it is exercised. The Jewish race connects the modern populations with the early ages of the world, when the relations of the Creator with the created were more intimate than in these days, when angels visited the earth, and God himself even spoke with man. The Jews represent the Semitic principle ; all that is spiritual in our nature. They are the trustees of tradition and the conservators of the religious element. They are a living and the most striking evidence of the falsity of that pernicious doc- trine of modern times — the natural equality of man. The political equality of a particular race is a matter of municipal arrangement, and depends entirely on poli- tical considerations and circumstances ; but the natural equality of man now in vogue, and taking the form of cosmopolitan fraternity, is a principle which, were it possible to act on it, would deteriorate the great races and destroy all the genius of the world. What would be the consequence on the great Anglo-Saxon republic, for example, were its citizens to secede from their sound principle of reserve, and mingle with their negro and coloured populations? In the course of time they would become so deteriorated that their states would probably be reconquered and regained by the abori- gines whom they have expelled, and who would then be their superiors. But though nature will never ulti- mately permit this theory of natural equality to be practised, the preaching of this dogma has already caused much mischief, and may occasion much more. The native tendency of the Jewish race, who are justly proud of their blood, is against the doctrine of the equality of man. They have also another character- istic, the faculty of acquisition. Although the European laws have endeavoured to prevent their obtaining pro- perty, they have nevertheless become remarkable for their accumulated wealth. Thus it will be seen that all the tendencies of the Jewish race are conservative. A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. 357 Their bias is to religion, property, and natural aristo- cracy : and it should be the interest of statesmen that this bias of a great race should be encouraged, and their energies and creative powers enlisted in the cause of existing society. But existing society has chosen to persecute this race which should furnish its choice allies, and what have been the consequences ? They may be traced in the last outbreak of the de- structive principle in Europe. An insurrection takes place against tradition and aristocracy, against religion and property. Destruction of the Semitic principle, extirpation of the Jewish religion, whether in the Mosaic or in the Christian form, the natural equality of man, and the abrogation of property, are proclaimed by the secret societies who form provisional govern- ments, and men of Jewish race are found at the head of every one of them. The people of God co-operate with atheists; the most skilful accumulators of pro- perty ally themselves with communists; the peculiar and chosen race touch the hand of all the scum and low castes of Europe ! And all this because they wish to destroy that ungrateful Christendom which owes to them even its name, and whose tyranny they can no longer endure. When the secret societies, in February, 1848, sur- prised Europe, they were themselves surprised by the unexpected opportunity, and so little capable were they of seizing the occasion, that had it not been for the Jews, who of late years unfortunately have been con- necting themselves with these unhallowed associations, imbecile as were the governments, the uncalled-for outbreak would not have ravaged Europe. But the fiery energy, and the teeming resources of the children of Israel maintained for a long time the unnecessary and useless struggle. If the reader throw his eye over the provisional governments of Germany and 358 A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. Italy, and even of France, formed at that period, he will recognise everywhere the Jewish element. Even the insurrection, and defence, and administration of Venice, which, from the resource and statesmanlike moderation displayed, commanded almost the respect and sympathy of Europe, were accomplished by a Jew — Manini, who, by the bye, is a Jew who professes the whole of the Jewish religion, and believes in Calvary as well as Sinai, — " a converted Jew,^^ as the Lombards styled him, quite forgetting, in the confusion of their ideas, that it is the Lombards who are the converts — not Manini. Thus it will be seen, that the persecution of the Jewish race has deprived European society of an impor- tant conservative element, and added to the destructive party an influential ally. Prince Metternich, the most enlightened of modern statesmen, not to say the most intellectual of men, was, though himself a victim of the secret societies, fully aware of these premises. It was always his custom, great as were the difficulties which in so doing he had to encounter, to employ as much as possible the Hebrew race in the public service. He could never forget that Napoleon, in his noontide hour, had been checked by the pen of the greatest of political writers ; he had found that illustrious author as great in the cabinet as in the study ; he knew that no one had more contributed to the deliverance of Europe. It was not as a patron, but as an appreciating and devoted friend, that the High Chancellor of Austria appointed Frederick Gentz secretary to the Conerress of Vienna — and Frederick Gentz was a child of Israel. It is no doubt to be deplored that several millions of the Jewish race should persist in believing only a part of their religion ; but this is a circumstance which does not affect Europe, and time, with different treatment, may remove the anomaly which perhaps may be accounted for. It should be recollected, that the A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. 359 existing Jews are perhaps altogether the descendants of those various colonies and emigrations which, volun- tary or forced, long preceded the advent. Between the vast carnage of the Roman wars, from Titus to Hadrian, and the profession of Christ by his countrymen, which must have been very prevalent, since the Christian religion was solely sustained by the Jews of Palestine during the greater part of its first century, it is impro- bable that any descendants of the Jews of Palestine exist who disbelieve in Christ. After the fall of Jeru- salem and the failure of Barchochebas, no doubt some portion of the Jews found refuge in the desert, return- ing to their original land after such long and strange vicissitudes. This natural movement would account for those Arabian tribes, of whose resistance to Moham- med we have ample and authentic details, and who, if we are to credit the accounts which perplex modern travellers, are to this day governed by the Pentateuch instead of the Koran. When Christianity was presented to the ancestors of the present Jews, it cc.me from a suspicious quar- ter, and was offered in a questionable shape. Centu- Ties must have passed in many instances before the Jewish colonies heard of the advent, the crucifixion, and the atonement ; the latter, however, a doctrine in perfect harmony with Jewish ideas. When they first heard of Christianity, it appeared to be a Gentile reU- gion, accompanied by idolatrous practices, from which severe monotheists, like the Arabians, always recoil, and holding the Jewish race up to public scorn and hatred. This is not the way to make converts. There have been two great colonies of the Jewish race in Europe ; in Spain and in Sarmatia. The origin of the Jews in Spain is lost in the night of time. That it was of great antiquity we have proof. The tradition, once derided, that the Iberian Jews were a Phoenician colony has been favoured by the researches of modern 360 A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. antiquaries, who have traced the Hebrew language in the ancient names of the localities. It may be observed, however, that the languages of the Jews and the Philis- tines, or Phoenicians, were probably too similar to sanc- tion any positive induction from such phenomena ; while on the other hand, in reply to those who have urged the improbability of the Jews, who had no seaports, coloniz- ing Spain, it may be remarked that the colony may have been an expatriation by the Philistines in the course of the long struggle which occurred between them and the invading tribes previous to the foundation of the Hebrew monarchy. We know that in the time of Cicero the Jews had been settled immemorially in Spain. When the Romans, converted to Christianity and acted on by the priesthood, began to trouble the Spanish Jews, it appears by a decree of Constantine that they were owners and cultivators of the soil, a circumstance which alone proves the antiquity and the nobility of their settlement, for the possession of the land is never conceded to a degraded race. The con- quest of Spain by the Goths in the fifth and sixth cen- turies threatened the Spanish Jews, however, with more serious adversaries than the Romans. The Gothic tribes, very recently converted to their Syrian faith, were full of barbaric zeal against those whom they looked upon as the enemies of Jesus. But the Spanish Jews sought assistance from their kinsmen the Saracens on the opposite coast; Spain was invaded and subdued by the Moors, and for several centuries the Jew and the Saracen lived under the same benignant laws and shared the same brilliant prosperity. In the history of Spain during the Saracenic supremacy any distinction of reli- gion or race is no longer traced. And so it came to pass that when at the end of the fourteenth century, after the fell triumph of the Dominicans over the Albigenses, the holy inquisition was introduced into Spain, it was reported to Torquemada that two-thirds of the nobility A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. 361 of Arragon, that is to say of the pro.prietors of the land, were Jews. All that these men knew of Christianity was, that it was a religion of fire and sword, and that one of its first duties was to avenge some mysterious and inexplicable crime which had been committed ages ago by some unheard of ancestors of theirs in an unknown land. The inquisitors addressed themselves to the Spanish Jews in the same abrupt and ferocious manner in which the monks saluted the Mexicans and the Peruvians. All those of the Spanish Jews, who did not conform after the fall of the Mohammedan kingdoms, were expatriated by the victorious Goths, and these refugees were the main source of the Italian Jews, and of the most respectable portion of the Jews of Holland. These exiles found refuge in two republics ; Venice and the United Pro- vinces. The Portuguese Jews, it is well known, came from Spain, and their ultimate expulsion from Por- tugal was attended by the same results as the Spanish expatriation. The other great division of Jews in Europe are the Sarmatian Jews, and they are numerous. They amount to nearly three millions. These unquestionably entered Europe with the other Sarmatian nations, descending the Borysthenes and ascending the Danube, and are according to all probability the progeny of the expatriations of the times of Tiglath-Pileser and Nebu- chadnezzar. They are the posterity of those " devout men,'^ Parthians, Medes, and Elamites, who were attending the festivals at Jerusalem at the time of the descent of the Holy Spirit. Living among barbarous pagans, who never molested them, these people went on very well, until suddenly the barbarous pagans, under the influence of an Italian priesthood, were converted to the Jewish religion, and then as a necessary consequence the converts began to harass,, persecute, and massacre the Jews. 362 A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. These people had never heard of Christ. Had the Romans not destroyed Jerusalem^ these Sarmatiau Jews would have had a fair chance of obtaining from civilized beings some clear and coherent account of the great events which had occurred. They and their fathers before them would have gone up in customary pilgrimage to the central sacred place, both for purposes of devotion and purposes of trade, and they might have heard from Semitic lips that there were good tidings for Israel. What they heard from their savage companions, and the Italian priesthood which acted on them, was, that there were good tidings for all the world except Israel, and that Israel, for the commission of a great crime of which they had never heard and could not comprehend, was to be plundered, massacred, hewn to pieces, and burnt alive in the name of Christ and for the sake of Christianity. The Eastern Jews, who are very numerous, are in general the descendants of those who in the course of repeated captivities settled in the great Eastern monarchies, and wliich they never quitted. They live in the same cities and follow the same customs as they did in the days of Cyrus. They are to be found in Persia, Mesopotamia, and Asia Minor ; at Bagdad, at Hamadan, at Smyrna. We know from the Jewish books how very scant was the following which accom- panied Esdras and Nehemiah back to Jerusalem. A fortress city, built on a ravine, surrounded by stony mountains and watered by a scanty stream, had no temptations after the gardens of Babylon and the broad waters of the Euphrates. But Babylon has vanished and Jerusalem remains, and what are the waters of Euphrates to the brook of Kedron ! It is another name than that of Jesus of Nazareth with which these Jews have been placed in collision, and the Ishmaelites have not forgotten the wrongs of Hagar in their conduct to the descendants of Sarah. A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. 363 Is it therefore wonderful^ that a great portion of the Jewish race should not believe in the most important portion of the Jewish religion ? As, however, the con- verted races become more humane in their behaviour to the Jews, and the latter have opportunity fully to com- prehend and deeply to ponder over true Christianity, it is difficult to suppose that the result will not be very diflFerent. Whether presented by a Roman or Anglo- Catholic, or Genevese divine by pope, bishop, or pres- byter, there is nothing, one would suppose, very repug- nant to the feelings of a Jew when he learns that the redemption of the human race has been effected by the mediatorial agency of a child of Israel : if the ineffable mystery of the Incarnation be developed to him, he will remember that the blood of Jacob is a chosen and peculiar blood ; and if so transcendent a consummation is to occur, he will scarcely deny that only one race could be deemed worthy of accomplishing it. There may be points of doctrine on which the northern and western races may perhaps never agree. The Jew like them may follow that path in those respects which reason and feeling alike dictate ; but nevertheless it can hardly be maintained that there is anything revolting to a Jew to learn that a Jewess is the queen of heaven, or that the flower of the Jewish race are even now sitting on the right hand of the Lord God of Sabaoth. Perhaps, too, in this enlightened age, as his mind expands, and he takes a comprehensive view of this period of progress, the pupil of Moses may ask himself, whether all the princes of the house of David have done so much for the Jews as that prince who was crucified on Calvary. Had it not been for Him, the Jews would have been comparatively unknown, or known only as a high Oriental caste which had lost its country. Has not He made their history the most famous in the world? Has not He hung up their laws in every temple? Has He not vindicated all their wrongs? 364 A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. Has not He avenged the victory of Titus and conquered the Csesars? What successes did they anticipate from their Messiah? The wildest dreams of their rabbis have been far exceeded. Has not Jesus conquered Europe and changed its name into Christendom ? All countries that refuse the cross wither, while the whole of the new world is devoted to the Semitic principle and its most glorious offspring the Jewish faith, and the time will come when the vast communities and count- less myriads of America and Australia, looking upon Europe as Europe now looks upon Greece, and wonder- ing how so small a space could have achieved such great deeds, will still find music in the songs of Sion and still seek solace in the parables of Galilee. These may be dreams, but there is one fact which none can contest. Christians may continue to perse- cute Jews, and Jews may persist in disbelieving Chris- tians, but who can deny that Jesus of Nazareth, the Incarnate Son of the Most High God, is the eternal glory of the Jewish race ? A POLITICxVL BIOQRAPnT. 365 CHAPTER XXV. It would seem to follow from the views expressed in the preceding chapter, that in communities professing a be- lief in our Lord, the Jewish race ought not to be subject to any legislative dishonour or disqualification. These views, however, were not those which mainly influenced Lord George Bentinck in forming his opinion that the civil disabilities of those subjects of her Majesty who profess that limited belief in divine revelation which is commonly called the Jewish religion, should be removed. He had supported a measure to this effect in the year 1833, guided in that conduct by his devoted attach- ment to the equivocal principle of religious liberty, the unqualified application of which principle seems hardly consistent with that recognition of religious truth by the state to which we vet adhere, and without which it is highly probable that the northern and western races, after a disturbing and rapidly degrading period of atheistic anarchy, may fatally recur to their old national idolatries, modified and mythically dressed up according to the spirit of the age. It may be observed that the decline and disasters of modern communities have gene- rally been relative to their degree of sedition against the Semitic principle. Since the great revolt of the Celts against the first and second testament, at the close of the last century, France has been alternately in a state of collapse or convulsion. Throughout the awful trials of the last sixty years, England, notwithstanding her deficient and meagre theology, has always remembered Sion. The great Transatlantic republic is intensely Semitic, and has prospered accordmgly. This sacred principle alone has consolidated the mighty empire of 366 A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. all the Russias. How omnipotent it is cannot be more clearly shown than by the instance of Rome, where it appears in its most corrupt form. An old man on a Semitic throne baffles the modern Attilas, and the recent invasion of the barbarians, under the form of red republicans, socialists, communists, all different phases which describe the relapse of the once converted races into their primitive condition of savagery. Austria would long ago have dissolved but for the Semitic prin- ciple, and if the north of Germany has never succeeded in attaining that imperial position which seemed its natural destiny, it is that the north of Germany has never at any time been thoroughly converted. Some perhaps may point to Spain as a remarkable instance of decline in a country where the Semitic principle has exercised great influence. But the fall of Spain was occasioned by the expulsion of her Semitic population : a million families of Jews and Saracens, the most distinguished of her citizens for their industry and their intelligence, their learning and their wealth. It appears that Lord George Bentinck had offended some of his followers by an opinion expressed in his address to his constituency in ^47, that in accordance with the suggestion of Mr. Pitt, some provision should be made for the Roman Catholic priesthood of Ireland out of the land. Although this opinion might offend the religious sentiments of some, and might be justly looked upon by others as a scheme ill-suited to the character of an age adverse to any further religious endowments, it must be acknowledged that no member of the Protectionist party had any just cause of com- plaint against Lord George for the expression of an opinion which he had always upheld, and of his con- stancy to which he had fairly given his friends notice. This was so generally felt that the repining died away. The Jewish question, as it was called, revived these religious emotions. These feelings, as springing from A POLITICAL BIOGllAPHY. 367 the highest sentiment of our nature, and founded, how- ever mistaken in their application, on religious truth, are entitled to deep respect and tenderness ; but no one can indulge them by the compromise of the highest principles, or by sanctioning a course which he really believes to be destructive of the very object which their votaries wish to cherish. As there are very few Englishmen of what is com- monly called the Jewish faith, and as therefore it was supposed that political considerations could not enter into the question, it was hoped by many of the fol- lowers of Lord George Bentinck that he w^ould not separate himself from his party on this subject, and very earnest requests and representations were made to him with that view. He was not insensible to them ; he gave thera prolonged and painful consideration; they greatly disquieted him. In his confidential cor- respondence he often recurs to the distress and anxiety which this question and its consequences as regarded his position with those friends to whom he was much attached occasioned him. It must not, therefore, be supposed that, in the line he ultimately took with re- ference to this question, he was influenced, as some have unkindly and unwarrantably fancied, by a self- willed, inexorable, and imperious spirit. He was no doubt, by nature, a proud man, inclined even to arro- gance, and naturally impatient of contradiction ; but two severe campaigns in the House of Commons had already mitigated these characteristics : he understood human nature, he was fond of his party, and, irre- spective of other considerations, it pained his ardent and generous heart to mortify his comrades. It was there- fore not in any degree from temper, but from principle, — from as pure, as high, and as noble a sense of duty as ever actuated a man in public life — that Lord George Bentinck ultimately resolved that it was impossible for him to refuse to vote for the removal of what are com- 368 A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. monly called Jewish disabilities. He had voted in this particular cause shortly after his entrance into public life; it was in accordance with that general principle of religious hberty to which he was an un- compromising adherent ; it was in complete agreement •with the understanding which subsisted between him- self and the Protectionist party, when at their urgent request he unwillingly assumed the helm. He was entreated not to vote at all ; to stay away, which the severe indisposition under which he was then labouring warranted. He did not rudely repulse these latter representations, as has been circulated. On the con- trary, he listened to them with kindness, and was not uninfluenced by them. Enfeebled by illness, he had nearly brought himself to a compliance with a request urged with affectionate importunity, but from which his reason and sense of duty held him aloof. After long and deep and painful pondering, when the hour arrived, he rose from his bed of sickness, walked into the House of Commons, and not only voted, but spoke in favour of his convictions. His speech remains, one of the best ever delivered on the subject, not only full of weighty argument, but touched with a high and even tender vein of sentiment. This vote and speech of Lord George Bentinck no doubt mortified at the moment a considerable portion of his followers, and occasioned great dissatisfaction among a respectable though limited section of them. This latter body must either have forgotten or they must have been strangely unacquainted with the distinct understanding on which Lord George had undertaken the lead of the party, or otherwise they could not have felt authorized in conveying to him their keen sense of disapprobation. Unfortunately he received this when the House had adjourned for the holidays, and when Mr. Bankes, who had been the organ of communication with him in '4:6, was in the A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. 3G9 country, and when the party was of course generally dispersed. Lord George did not take any pains to ascertain whether the representation which was made to him Avas that of the general feeling of a large pai*ty, or that only of a sincere, highly estimable, but limited section. He was enfeebled and exhausted by indis- position ; he often felt, even when in health, that the toil of his life was beyond both his physical and moral energies ; and though he was of that ardent and tena- cious nature that he never would have complained, but have died at his post, the opportunity of release coming to him at a moment when he was physically prostrate was rather eagerly seized, and the world suddenly learnt at Christmas, with great astonishment, that the renowned leader of the Protectionist party had re- linquished his trust. The numerous communications which he received must have convinced him that the assumed circum- stances under which he acted had not been accurately appreciated by him. He was implored to reconsider his course, as one very detrimental to the cause to which he was devoted, and which would probably tend to the triumph of those whose policy he had attempted to defeat, and whose personal conduct he had at least succeeded in punishing. " The prophesied time has come," he wrote to his friend Mr. Bankes, on the 23rd of December, 1847, "when I have ceased to be able to serve the party, the great cause of Protection, or my country, by any longer retaining the commission bestowed on me in the spring of 1846. You will remember, however, that when unfeignedly and honestly, but in vain, trying to escape from being raised to a position which I foresaw I must fail to maintain with advantage to you or honour to myself, I at last gave my consent, I only did so on the express understanding that my advancement should be held to be merely a pro tempore appointment, waiting 2 B 370 A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. till the country sliould have the opportunity of sending to Parliament otiier men better fitted to lead the country gentlemen of England. I have recalled these circumstances to your mind with no other purpose than that the party may feel how entirely free they are, with- out even the suspicion of doing an injustice to me or of showing me in this any disrespect, to remodel their ar- rangements, and to supersede my lieutenancy by the appointment of a superior and permanent commander." And again on Christmas-day, to the same gentleman, in reply to an acknowledgment of the preceding, he says, while thanking Mr. Bankes " for his warm- hearted letter as very grateful to his feelings," — " Con- fidentially I tell you, that far from feeling in the least annoyed, I shall feel greatly relieved by a resto- ration to privacy and freedom. I worked upon my spirit in '46 and '47 ; but I have learnt now that I have shaken my constitution to the foundation, and I seriously doubt my being able to work on much longer." He wrote on the 24th of December to one of his most intimate friends and warmest supporters, Mr. Christopher, the member for Lincohishire, who had remonstrated with him as to his decision : " It is not in my nature to retain a station one moment after I get a hint even that any portion of those who raised me to it are wearied of seeing me there. The old members of the party will all recollect how clearly I foresaw and foretold that I should be found a very inconvenient as well as a very inefficient leader, so soon as the great protection battle was brought to a close. I predicted all that has since occurred ; and no one more cordially agrees than I do in the wisdom of the present decision, the spirit I presume of which is that no great party or large body of men can be successfully, or to any good purpose, led except by a man who heart and soul sympathizes with them in all their feelings, partiahtics, and prejudices. Cold reason A POLITICAL BlOUllAl'HY. 371 lias a poor chance against such influences. There can be no esprit de corps and no zeal where there is not a union of prejudices as well as of commercial opinions. The election of a leader united with the great body of the party in these respects, will tend greatly to reunite its scattered particles, even on those questions where I shall be able to give my aid with all my wonted zeal, which will not be the less spirited because it will be free and independent," At a later period, acknowledging an address signed \>j the great body of the Protectionist part}'-, and pre- sented to him by the present Earl Talbot, then a mem- ber of the House of Commons, Lord George wrote, "The considerations which obliged me to surrender a post of honour which every independent and high- minded English gentlevnan has at all times prized above the highest rewards in the gift of the crown, 'the leadership of the country gentlemen of England,' will never influence me to swerve from any endeavours of which my poor abilities and bodily energies are capable in the promotion of the prosperity of ail classes in the British empire at home and in the colonies, any more than they can ever make me forget the attachment, the friendship, and the enthusiastic support of those who stood by me to the end of the death struggle for British interests and for English good faith and political honour, and to whose continued friendship and con- stancy I know I am indebted for this graceful and grateful compliment." If Lord George Bentinck were inexorable to the entreaties of his friends, it must not be supposed that he was influenced in the course which he pursued, as was presumed by many at the time not acquainted with the circumstances, by any feeling of pique or brooding sullenness. No high-spirited man under vexatious and distressing circumstances ever behaved with more magnanimity. In this he was actuated in a great o ,, 9 t^ a li 372 A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. degree by a sense of duty, but still more by that pecu- liar want of selfishness which was one of the most beautiful traits of his character. The moment he had Jit all recovered from the severe attack by which, to use his own language, he had been "struck down in the first week of the session/' and from the effects of which it may be doubted whether he ever entirely recovered, he laboured zealously to induce some com- petent person to undertake the office which he had thought it expedient to resign, offering in several instances to serve in the ranks, and to assist with his utmost energies, both in and out of the House, the individual who would undertake the responsible direc- tion in the Commons. These efforts, though indefatigable, were not success- ful, for those who were competent to the office cared not to serve under any one except himself. About this time, a personage of great station, and who very much admired Lord George Bentinck, wrote to him, and recommended him not to trouble himself about the general discipline of the party, but to follow his own course, and lead that body of friends who under all circumstances Avould adhere to him, instancing the case of Mr. Canning, under circumstances not altogether dissimilar. Lord George replied : "As for my rallying a personal party round myself, as Mr. Canning did, I have no pretension to anything of the kind; when Mr. Canning did that, the House of Commons, and England too, acknowledged him to be the greatest orator who had survived Pitt and Fox; he had been Secretary of State for foreign affairs, and had taken a conspicuous part in rousing the country to carry on the war against France." The nature of the subject, dealing as it necessarily does with so many personal details, renders it impossi- ble to make public the correspondence in which Lord George Bentinck was engaged at this time in his A POLITICAL BIOGRArSY. 373 attempts to place the Protectionist party under the guidance of one who would unite all sympathies ; but were that publication possible, it would place Lord George Bentinck in a noble and amiable light, and prove a gentleness and softness in his nature for which those who were not intimate with him did not sive him credit. Not that it must be for a mo- ment supposed that he was insensible to what was occurring. He was the most sensitive as well as the proudest of men. When the writer called at Harcourt House, to bid him farewell, before the Christmas holi- days, and, conversing very frankly on the course which he was then pursuing, inquired as to his future pro- ceedings, Lord George said with emotion : " In this cause I have shaken my constitution and shortened my days, and I will succeed or die." In the course of the year 1848, walking home, talking together, from the House of Commons, he twice recurred to this terrible alternative. But all considerations were merged at this moment in the predominant one which was to keep the party together. He wrote to a friend at the end of January, who ui'ged him, as the hour of work approached and the injurious inconveniences of his abdication would be more felt, to confer with his former followers and re- consider his position, that no personal feeling prevented his taking that course, but that he felt any resumption of responsibility on his part would not be pleasing to a section of those who formerly served with him, and that there would be a " split " in the ranks. " As far as I am personally concerned," he added, " I could submit to anything short of having my ears cut off and appearing as a ' Croppy,' to be free again. My pride cannot stand leading an unwilling party ; I would just as soon thrust myself into a dinner-room where I was at once an uninvited and an unwelcome guest." In the meantime, according to his custom, the 374 A POLITICAL BlOGRAPnY. moment that lie had sufficiently recovered from his illness^ he prepared with the utmost zeal for the coming struggle respecting the fate of our sugar colo- nies^ in which subject he was soon absorbed. " The other subject on which I am going to bother jon," he wrote to a friend towards the end of January, " is the sugar question. I move for my committee on Thursday next, but although Government grant the committee, I plainly see that a very spirited debate will be got up on the question, and not unlikely an amendment in some shape moved, recording the opinion of the House that some relief should be imme- diately given or guaranteed. " It is a subject on which you, Granby, and I have good reason to pride ourselves, and I clearly perceive that it is the question now upon which the commerce of the country is most alive, and the weak point in the defences of free trade. There is no use speaking to the country on matters about which it does not feel, but its nerves are just now very sensitive upon this subject, and if well managed are very assailable to new impressions. " The West-Indian and colonial interests are strong-lv impressed with a notion that Peel means to pirouette again and fly to their rescue. If so he would lay him- self open to a most terrific and cruel dissection at your hands. Free-trade will break down, and Protection eventually triumph through the sugar duties. " Pray give your mind a little to this subject, and let us be prepared for all comers, and rouse the country. " P.S. Recollect, however, that we cannot deny that in the first instance the revenue has gained ^6400,000, and that the consumers have saved nearly two millions and a half in the price of their sugar; but with all this the balance of imperial ruin is so great as to be intolerable.^^ A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. 375 He wrote also to Mr. C. Henry Chapman, of Liver- pool : " My motion for a committee to inquire into the state of the sugar-planting colonies will come on the day Parliament meets. I must write to "^ '^ "^ "^ ■^. My own illness, the arrear I fell into with business, and, since the adjournment, the bother of correspondence about the leadership, have combined to prevent my doing so earlier. I propose beginning with the East Indies, which I expect will be only two or three days' business : then taking the Mauritius, which cannot be a long affair; and concluding with the West Indies, which I suppose may take a good while,^' He wrote also to Mr. Wright, of Nottingham, on the i st of February. " I am just now engaged with the sugar question, but after Thursday, I shall be happy to see you any day you happen to come to town. " The anti-gold league goes further tlian I should like to accompany them, and I have avoided mixing myself up with them. " Perhaps a private circulation of your pamphlet might be better than publishing for sale; but why not combine both? Privately circulating it to all members of Parliament, newspaper and periodical writers, and letting the multitude have the chance of purchase. " Herries has some resolutions which stand for the 8th, but with thirteen millions of gold and silver in the Bank coffers, Consols bordering on 90, and money a drug in the city, we may be said to have let the bird get out of shot before we pulled the trigger. We ought to have moved an amendment on the Address : when the Bank usury was eight per cent., and half the world doubted if the next dividends would be paid. " We are always two months too late in every move we make." 376 A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. Parliament reassembled on the 3rd of February, and on that night Lord George Bentinck brought forward his motion for " a select committee to inquire into the present condition and prospects of the interests con- nected with and dependent on sugar and coffee plant- ing in her Majesty's East and West Indian possessions and the Mauritius, and to consider whether any and what measures can be adopted by Parliament for their relief." When he entered the House, Lord George walked up to the head of the second bench below the gangway, on the opposition side, and thus significantly announced that he was no longer the responsible leader of the Pro- tectionist party. It was the wish of the writer of these pages, who had resolved to stand or fall by him, to have followed his example and to have abdicated the prominent seat in which the writer had been unwil- lingly and fortuitously ])laced ; but by the advice, or rather at the earnest request, of Lord George Bentinck, this course was relinquished as indicative of schism, which he wished to discourage ; and the circumstance is only mentioned as showing that Lord George was not less considerate at this moment of the interests of the Protectionist party than when he led them with so much confidence and authority. The session, however, was to commence without a leader, without any recog- nized organ of communication between parties, or any responsible representative of opinion in debate. All again was chaos. There is, liowever, something so vital in the Conservative party that it seems always to rally under every disadvantage. Lord George spoke well to his resolution : the House soon recognized he was master of his case, and though few foresaw at the moment the important consequences to which this motion would lead, the House was inter- ested from the first; and though there was no division, the debate lasted two days, and was sustained on both sides with great animation. A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. 377 The mover vindicated himself very successfully for only proposing a committee of inquiry. " It has been represented to me," he said, " by the colonies and by persons in this country who are interested in them, that the course which I am proposing is not consistent with tlie necessities of the case ; that there is something pusillanimous in the motion which I am going to make; that in point of fact the interests connected with sugar and coffee planting are m extremis; and that while the question of their redress is being discussed in a committee above-stairs, these great interests will perish. They say to me that a committee of inquiry will be to them of the nature of that comfort which, • Like cordials after death, come late ; ' and that before the committee shall have reported, the West Indian interest will be altogether past recovery. But, sir, it is for me to consider what my power is to obtain any substantial relief by a direct vote of this House ; and when I remember that in July 1846, I moved a resolution the purport of Avhich was, to maintain the protection for the West-Indian and the East-Indian free-labour colonies which they now seek, and that I had but one hundred and thirty gentlemen to support me, while two hundred and sixty-five votes were recorded in favour of the measure of the Govern- ment admitting slave-labour sugar, I feel that it is hopeless for me to endeavour in this House, where I have no reason to suppose any addition has been made to the members acquiescing in my views, to convert that minority into a majority; and more especially when I recollect that on that occasion but five gentlemen connected with the West-Indian and East-Indian interests recorded their votes with me, I think the West-Indian interest has not a good case against me when they blame me for not taking a more resolute step on this occasion." 878 A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. He was not, however, without hope from the course which he had decided to pursue. " Looking:, as I have done, at the deploral)le state of the West Indies, the East Indies, and the Mauritius, and holding, as I do, in my hand a hst of forty-eight great houses in Engknd — twenty-six of the first commercial houses in London, sixteen in Liverpool, and six elsewhere — which have failed, and whose liabilities amount in the whole to .€6,300,000 and upwards, none of which I believe would have fallen had it not been for the ruin brought upon them by the change in the sugar duties and the consequent reduction in the price of their produce, — I do hope, through the intervention of a cominittee of this House, I may be able to prevail upon the House to change its policy with regard to this great ques- tion/' Lord George was supported in this debate by Mr. Thomas Baring, in one of the best speeches ever made in the House of Commons. Few more combine mastery of the case with parliamentary point than this gentleman. It is not impossible to find a man capable of addressing the House of Commons who understands the subject ; it is not impossible to find a man who can convey his impressions on any subject to the House in a lively and captivating manner, though both instances are rarer than the world would imagine ; but a man who at the same time understands a question and can handle it before a popular assembly in a popular style, who teaches without being pedantic, can convey an argument in an epigram, and instruct as the Mexicans did by picture, possesses a talent for the exercise of which he is responsible to his sovereign and his country. Mr. Baring said that he could not perfectly agree either with Lord John Russell or Lord George Ben- tinck, that Protection or Free Trade must be in what they called a circle, round which in their legislation they must always move; that they must either give A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. 379 protection to everytliing or free trade to everything. He could not say that because sugar claimed protection, coals must have protection also. Neither ^vould he, on the other hand, apply free trade to every article. He acknowledged the advantage of competition as a stimulus : he thought that, placing things on equal grounds, competition was undoubtedly a great advan- tage. He could understand a competition to try the mutual speed of race-horses ; but there could be no competition between a race-horse and a steam-engine, for the power of the animal could bear no comparison with that of the machine ! Mr, Baring could look back to no legislation more humiliating than the legislation regarding our colonies. No great interest was ever so much trifled with, so much sacrificed to the cry of the day ; at one moment to no slavery and another to cheap sugar. The committee was granted, and it was generally felt that the question was consequently quieted for the session. Let us see whether that anticipation was realized. 380 A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. CHAPTER XXVI. When Lord John Russell, in 1846, endeavoured to reconcile our sugar-producing colonies to the inferior position in which his government placed them, by representing to them that the duties under the new law would be permanent, not leaving the question to yearly debate with all the uncertainty and anxiety which then attended it, he could have little antici- pated that before twelve months had elapsed the consi- deration of ParHament would again be challenged to the subject, and under circumstances which made almost all persons feel that renewed deliberation was required. The dissolution of Parliament then pre- vented Lord George Bentinck from bringing the subject of these colonies before the House. The black rod arrived on the very day that he made a statement of their condition, and time was only afforded to receive from the lips of the minister who represented in the House of Commons the colonial office, a report of the prosperous condition of the island of Mauritius. The session of 1848, one of the longest on record, may be said to have commenced with sugar and to have con- cluded with sugar ; and although, in the course of that session, the whole world was involved in revolution ; though the navigation laws were vainly attacked, and the income tax threatened to be nearly doubled ; though at such a crisis the Government were discomfited in their financial policy, sugar was the subject which really shook them in their saddles, and feom the conse- quences of which they escaped, in a fall House and after protracted debates, by only a bare majority. Singular article of produce ! What is the reason of A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. 381 this influence? It is that all considerations mingle in it; not merely commercial, but imperial, philanthropic, religious ; confounding and crossing each other, and confusing the legislature and the nation, lost in a maze of conflicting interests and contending emotions. It was expected, we will not say it was hoped, that the committee would have disposed of the question for the year, and so it would have done under ordinary circumstances and with an ordinary man. The com- mittee was named on the 7th February. It consisted, besides the chairman, of three members of the Protec- tionist party, Mr. Miles, of Bristol, Sir John Pakington, and Lord George Manners, and of a sugar protec- tionist. Sir Edwai'd Buxton; of two followers of Sir Robert Peel, namely, Mr. Goulburn and Mr. Cardwell ; of a cabinet minister, Mr. Labouchere, and six fol- lowers. Sir Thomas Birch, Mr. ViUiers, Mr. Milner Gibson, Mr. Wilson, Mr. Ewart, and Mr. Matheson, and of a free trader not connected with any section^ Mr. Henry Hope : of these fifteen gentlemen only three had voted against the Act of 1846 ; namely, the chair- man, Mr. Miles, and Sir John Pakington; five had voted for it, namely, Mr. Goulburn, Mr. Labouchere, Mr. Gibson, Mr. ViUiers, and Mr. Ewart. The other members had not sat in the parliament of '46, with the exception of Mr. Cardwell, who, we believe, was absent from the division of that year. The committee commenced its sittings on the 9th of February, and received evidence until the 22nd of May, during which period it sat thirty-nine days, always three times a week, and, on one or two occasions, four times a week. The committee sat long beyond the par- liamentary hours, and sometimes so late as six o'clock. Eighty-three witnesses were called, of which sixty-five were summoned by Lord George Bentinck, individuals of every class connected with the subject; merchants, planters, brokers, distillers, members of Parliament, 382 A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. secretaries of state, East-India directors. More than seventeen thousand questions were asked, and it is agreed on all hands that the examination was never permitted for a moment to wander from the point at issue. The minutes of evidence were reported from time to time to the House, and ultimately took the shape of seven folio volumes. The efficient conduct of a parliamentary committee mainly depends upon its chairman. A body of men, however zealous and intelligent, of peculiar views and injudicial habits, are soon lost in idle controversies on trifling questions, if there be no dominant spirit who, by his complete acquaintance with the subject, and by the firmness, precision, and vigilance of his character, is capable and resolved to guide them. Lord George Bentinck, in the present instance, had mastered all the facts of a case involving a vast amount of details with which he had not been previously familiar ; and those only who have busied themselves with a great commer- cial question, can know what correspondence, what interviews, what communications of all kinds such an undertaking entails upon a member of Parliament ; he had to preside over an inquiry admitting a great variety of evidence of very conflicting character; he was re- sisted in the purpose of the investigation by the Govern- ment and strongly also by the free-trade party, and he was not cordially supported by those whom he intended to serve. But he succeeded in establishing from the first good order and discipline in the committee. He prevailed upon them in the beginning to consent to cer- tain rules as to the order in which the inquiry should be taken and the witnesses examined, and to make it clear for what purpose any evidence was to be called, and then he never allowed any member, whether friend or foe, to depart in the least from what had been agreed upon. Nor did he, in his own conduct of the business, manifest any of those deficiencies which are too often A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. 383 apparent in the chairmen of committees. He was intelli- gent, just, and firm, aiding instead of puzzling the group over which he presided in doing their work. Although the proceedings were in fact a race against time, in order that their report might form the foundation of measures to be adopted within the session, Lord George never hurried the inquiry. He endeavoured to obtain his object of a comparatively speedy report by punc- tuality of attendance, strictness of reference^ and inde- fatigable energy in getting through with the work. Never was so much evidence taken by a committee in so short a space of time — never was such a degree of exhaustion experienced by short-hand writers, clerks, and members, all sustained by the energy of their chief. The writer of these remarks was not a member of the committee on sugar and coffee planting, upon which he had felt it his duty, though unwillingly, to decline to act, as he had been appointed a member of the secret committee on commercial distress, and also at that time was subject in the House to a greater pressure in debate than his experience warranted ; but although, therefore, he had not the advantage of per- sonal observation in the details which he has given of the sugar and coffee planting committee, he has great confidence in their truth and justness. For he sought the aid, under the circumstances, of two of his friends, who were members of that committee, and neither of whom was a political adherent of Lord George Bentinck ; one of them, indeed, an eminent member of the free-trade party. Independently of their oppor- tunities of forming an opinion, both of these gentlemen are particularly qualified for adopting a sound one, one of 'them being distinguished for his quick perce^jtion, and tlie other for the accuracy of his judgment. The writer, therefore, has had the advantage of being guided in his narrative by the impressions of Mr. Charles Villiers and Mr. Henry Hope. 384 A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. It should here, perhaps, be remarked, as illustrative of the capacity of labour by which Lord George Bentinck was distinguished, that the conduct of the sugar and coffee committee, which seemed alone to require the devotion of his time, did not prevent him from simul- taneously acting as a member of the secret committee on commercial distress, of which he was a regular attendant, and where he examined at great length the governor of the Bank of England. Nor was he ever more regular in his attendance in the House than throughout this laborious spring ; always ready in his place to vindicate his own peculiar views or to assail those who differed from him whenever the opportunity arose. ' It should also be recollected, that every morning before he attended the committee he had preliminarily to receive at home and to hear the state- ments of those who were to give their evidence, and whom, in the great majority of instances, he had afterwards to examine in chief. None of these wit- nesses left him without being impressed with admira- tion and astonishment at his knowledge of the subject and the perseverance which he displayed. Nor must it be omitted, that during all this period, he Avas also laboriously digesting the evidence received, and pre- paring that remarkable report which remains one of the most singular and valuable productions of our par- liamentary literature, pouring a flood of light upon the position of our sugar colonies which they never had received, and which concluded with no less than two hundred and thirty-four resolutions, in none of which is there any repetition, and in all of which are references to the evidence where anything, however minute, is alleged or asserted. This was the period of his life when he was frequently in the habit of working eighteen hours a day. That might indeed be said of Bentinck, which Tully said of Marcus Brutus, quidquid vult, valde vult. After the evidence was concluded, on the 22ud of A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. 385 May, the committee on sugar and coffee planting, sat for one week on their report. The resolutions of the chairman, which, as regards sugar, recommended that the duty on foreign sugar should be maintained at 20*. per cwt., and the duty on British colonial sugar should be reduced to lOs., were negatived by a majority of nine to five. This would not have been a disap- pointment to any one less sanguine than Lord George Bentinck; but notwithstanding the elements of the committee, he had indulged in hopes ; and he frequently mentioned, that he never knew a committee of which the members were universally so anxious to ascertain the truth and to arrive at a just conclusion without reference to their preconceived opinions. On the reso- lutions moved by Mr. Wilson, which recommended relief, but threw the selection of the remedies on the government, the numbers were equal, and they were negatived by the casting vote of the chairman. The draft of resolutions moved by Mr. Goulburn, conceived generally in the spirit of the preceding ones, was then read a second time by a majority of eight to six against the free-trade party; but after two days' severe dis- cussion, the numbers became equal on the vital point of these resolutions, and they were negatived by the casting vote of the chairman. The exercise of this peculiar sufi'rage was invoked during this committee on five or six critical occasions, and ultimately on the 29th of May, the casting vote of the .chairman carried the resolution of Sir Thomas Birch, recommending a differential duty of 105., in favour of sugar the produce of British possessions, for a period of six years : " being of opinion that this temporary encouragement would have the effect of preventing the immediate and other- wise inevitable abandonment of the majority of the estates, and secure time for bringing into operation the intended measures of relief." Puring the first six ^yeeks of this famous committee. 2 386 A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. the attendance of its members was not very regular, and its labours attracted little attention. The evidence on the East-India part of the question was closed and reported to the House by the end of February; after that period the evidence was reported to the House every week or ten days. Towards the end of March, rumours began to circulate of the extraordinary vigour and ability with which this investigation was pursued, and of the novel, authentic, and striking evidence that had been elicited. The proceedings were talked of in the House of Commons and on the Eoyal Exchange ; the City men who were examined went back to their companions with wondrous tales of the energy and acuteness of Harcourt House, and the order, method, and discipline of the committee-room at Westminster. As time elapsed, the hopes of the colonial interest again revived. It was generally felt that Lord George had succeeded in establishing an irresistible case. It was rumoured that the government could not withstand it. Those who had originally murmured at the course which he had adopted of moving for a committee of inquiry, instead of proposing a specific measure of relief, and had treated an investigation as a mere means of securing inaction, now recanted their rash criticism, and did justice to his prescience and superior judgment, as well as to his vast information and inde- fatigable exertions. The week during which the com- mittee sat on their report was a very anxious one ; the divisions were known every day in the House of Commons ; the alternations of success and discom- fiture, and the balanced numbers that so often called for the interposition of the chairman, were calculated to sustain the excitement; and when, on the 29th of May, it was known that the report was at length agreed to, and that a committee of free traders had absolutely recommended a differential duty of 10^. in favour of our own produce, one might have fancied A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. 387 from the effect visibly produced, that a government was changed. A few days before — it was the day after tlie Derby, May 25th — the writer met Lord George Bentiuck in the library of the House of Commons. He was standing before the book-shelves, with a volume in his hand, and his countenance was greatly disturbed. His resolutions in favour of the colonial interest after all his labours had been negatived by the committee on the 22nd, and on the 24th, his horse Surplice, whom he had parted with among the rest of his stud, solely that he might pursue without distraction his labours on behalf of the great interests of the country, had won that paramount and Olympic stake, to gain which had been the object of his life. He had nothing to console him, and nothing to sustain him except his pride. Even that deserted him before a heart which he knew at least could yield him sympathy. He gave a sort of superb groan : — " All my life I have been trying for this, and for what have I sacrificed it ! " he murmured. It was in vain to offer solace. " You do not know what the Derby is," he moaned out. " Yes, I do ; it is the blue ribbon of the turf." " It is the blue ribbon of the turf," he slowly re- peated to himself, and sitting down at the table, he buried himself in a folio of statistics. But on Monday, the 29th, when the resolution in favour of a \Qs. differential duty for the colonies had at the last moment been carried, and carried bv his casting vote, " the blue ribbons of tlie turf" were all forgotten. Not for all the honours and successes of all the meetings, spring or autumn, Newmarket, Epsom, Goodwood, Doncaster, would he have ex- changed that hour of rapture. His eye sparkled with fire, his nostril dilated with triumph, his brow was 2 c 2 388 A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. elate like a conqueror, his sanguine spirit saw a fature of continued and illimitable success. " We have saved the colonies/^ he said, — '' saved the colonies. I knew it must be so. It is the knell of free trade." A few days after the report of the committee on sugar and coffee planting was presented by its chairman to the House, the first minister announced that imme- diately after the Whitsun holidays, then impending, he would state on the part of the government the course they proposed to take " with respect the West-Indian distress." Thus was the prophecy of reaction made in 1846, with respect to the Sugar Duties Act fulfilled, and fulfilled, too, in the person of the author of that act. The House adjourned on the 9th until the loth of June, and on the following day, pursuant to his notice, the first minister made the promised statement. He acknowledged that with respect to the West Indies, "the operation of the Act of '40 had been too rapid." The proposition of the minister, though it fell short of the wishes, and perhaps the hopes, of the colonial interest, and though it did not fully realize the recom- mendation of the committee, was, considering the antecedents of the ministry and the general principles which they represented, a temperate and statesmanlike one. Its pith was to maintain the scale of '4i6, as to the duty on foreign sugar, but to reduce immediately the duty on colonial sugar, so that a differential duty might be secured to the colonies without raising the price to the consumer. This differential duty, however, gradually diminishing, was to cease altogether in the year 1855, Avhen both foreign and colonial sugar would be admitted at a duty of 10s. per cwt. This latter part of the scheme seemed very objectionable. The plan of the government seemed to please no one; the protectionists and free-traders alike assailed A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. 389 it. Mr. Hume " confessed he could not understand how the government^ after protesting as they had re- peatedly done that nothing would induce them to alter or meddle with that act, could now come down to the House and unblushingly propose an alteration almost equivalent to its repeal/' Mr. Herries noticed later in the evening that not a single member who had spoken had approved of the proposition of the government. Every one of them had intimated his intention of opposing it on one ground or another. "After a committee, conducted with such extraordinary ability by Lord George Bentinck, had sat for such a length of time, and had produced such a mass of information as never yet had been laid on the table of the House on any one subject, — after it had issued reports and come to resolutions, the government brought forward a measure which did not meet one of the requisites they recommended." It was on this night that Lord George Bentinck made " a grave charge " against the Colonial Office, which led to very warm and repeated discussions. It appeared that on the 27th of March a despatch had been received by the Secretary of State from a free- trade govei'nor of Jamaica, recommending, " upon the most comprehensive and painstaking review of the whole subject,^' a permanent differential duty of 10*. per cwt. in favour of the sugar of our West-Indian colonies. Without this, the governor " firmly believed that the greater portion of the sugar-cultivation of Jamaica would be abandoned." The Under-Secretary of the Colonies had been a Avitness before the sugar and coffee committee on the 5th of April following the receipt of this despatch, and had been asked by Mr. Goulburn whether any despatch had been received from the governor of Jamaica respecting the state of that island. The Under-Secretary had replied " that he was not aware of any despatch from the governor of 390 A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. any importance which had been withheld from the committee." Now this despatch was of paramount importance. " It was," as Lord George Bentinck observed, "to this point, as to the requisite amount of differential duty necessary to save the colonies, that for three months I may say, morning, evening, and night, we gave our study : and fortified by such evidences as that of the governor of Jamaica, without any concert of course with us, and himself a free-trader, I cannot doubt that the majority in the committee would have been much greater, and would have had proportionately greater influence in the country." On the 5tli of April, though subjected to a strict examination, the Under-Secretary persisted in his statement that there was no important despatch from the governor of Jamaica which had not been placed before the committee. The committee remained sit- ting, and came to no vote whatever until eight weeks after the receipt of the " missing despatch," but nothing was heard from the Colonial Office ; while on the 9th of June, after the proceedings of the committee had closed, a volume of papers was laid before the House, in which the despatch from Sir Charles Grey, governor of Jamaica, of the 25th March appeared for the first time. "1 repeat my conviction," said Lord George Bentinck, "that if that despatch of Sir Charles Grey had not been withheld at the critical moment for fifty-six days, instead of the narrow majority by which our resolution was carried, the report of the committee would have come out backed by a very considerable number." He said " it was a repetition of the trick played in the earlier part of the session. The sugar- planting interest has not had fair play in this transac- tion, and it has not been intended that it should have fair play. I now ask why that despatch was held back from the committee till their sittings were brought to an end?" A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. 391 The Under-Secretary was unable without inquiry to communicate satisfactorily to the House on the subject, but on the next night of the House meeting, which was Monday the 19th, he informed the House that he had made the requisite inquiries, that the despatch in question, " the missing despatch," had been minuted by himself, when received, to be laid before the com- mittee, and also minu.ted to that effect by the Secretary of State, but that, unfortunately, through the inadvert- ence of a subordinate officer, it had not been trans- mitted to the committee. After this statement, Sir John Pakington, who had undertaken the office at the request of Lord George Bentinck, and which he very effectively fulfilled, proposed in a comprehensive speech a counter-resolution on the sugar duties, expressing the opinion of the House, that considering the evidence taken before the sugar and coffee planting committee, the remedies proposed by the government for the great distress of the sugar-growing possessions of the crown, which the committee had unanimously declared to require an immediate application of relief, would neither effect that object nor check the stimulus to the slave- trade, which a diminution of the production of sugar in those possessions must inevitably occasion. This amendment was seconded by Sir Edward Buxton, and was prolonged with great oratorical display on all sides for five nights. On the third night, Mr. Hawes, the Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies, spoke, and his speech, among many other things, was remarkable for the frank admission that the change of policy on the part of the government had been greatly influenced by the investi- gation and the opinion of the committee presided over by Lord George Bentinck. On the same night also, Lord George spoke, and reiterated in detail his charge against the Colonial Office of suppressing the missing despatch. Nettled at these observations, and partly. 393 A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. perhaps, executing a design contemplated, the first minister took advantage of the motion for the adjourn- ment of the debate to make a severe personal attack on uord George Bentinck. The minister said that these mean frauds, these extremely dishonourable tricks, which Lord George Bentinck imputed, were not the faults and characteristics of men who are high in public office in this country; they were chai-acteristics of men who were engaged in pursuits which Lord George Bentinck long followed. Upon this there was a burst of disapprobation from all sides, in the midst of which the minister, feeling perhaps that the drift of his retort had been somewhat misapprehended, went on to say that Lord George Bentinck, some years ago, had greatly distinguished himself in detecting a fraud of that nature with respect to the name or the age of a horse, in which he showed very great quickness of apprehension. But the House would not be diverted from its first impression, and the minister, though he pursued his observations for some minutes, was continually interrupted. It was clear that the taste and feeling of the House were both off'ended. This unusual indiscretion from so eminent a person- age, and one who, both by temper and discipline, is acknowledged to be superior to passion, called forth a rejoinder from a friend of Lord George Bentinck, who reminded the minister that his brother, the duke of Bedford, had taken the lead in honouring Lord George Bentinck for his great services to public morality in this very instance. A scene of great and prolonged excitement occurred which did not terminate until half-past two o'clock on Saturday morning. Two cabinet ministers endeavoured to palliate the position of their chief, but the House was not appeased, and it was observed that Sir Robert did not come to the rescue of his successor. It was thought that if the A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. 393 division had been taken under the circumstances, the ministry would have been beaten. As it was, the debate was again adjourned until Monday, when the Under- Secretary of State again preceded the business of the night by an explanatory statement, and on this occa- sion, though with reluctance, gave the name of the gentleman through whose neglect the direction in the official minute had been disregarded. Lord George Bentinck, following substantially, retracted nothing, enforced his original charge, and then, as illustrative of the system pursued by the Colonial Office, intro- duced a new one into the debate of a very grave character. He charged Lord Grey, in the House of Lords, with reading an important memorial to prove the prosperous state of Jamaica and omitting the sequel of the same document, in which the memorialists declared that they were in a " desperate position.^' This unexpected discussion was not calculated to cool the fervid atmosphere of Saturday, and occupied seve- ral hours; and the subject was considered so grave that Lord Grey felt it necessary on the next night (the 2rth) to vindicate his conduct in the House of Lords, whereupon Lord Stanley, who was master of the case, enforced the charges of Lord George Bentinck against the Colonial Office, and vindicated his conduct and motives throughout these discussions in a manner which was felt and much appreciated by his friend. On the 29th, the fifth and last night of the debate. Sir Robert Peel spoke, and although the greater part of his followers, including Mr. Goulburn, Mr. Glad- stone, ]\Ir. Herbert, Sir George Clerk, and Mr. Cardwell, voted for the counter-resolution of Sir John Pakington, he thought fit to oppose it. It is due to the memory of two remarkable men that we should quote here a passage in the speech of Sir Robert Peel which was delivered with marked emphasis, turning as he spoke to Lord George Bentinck : — 394 A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. "I have read," said Sir Robert Peel, "the proceed- ings of the committee on sugar and coffee planting. Occupied as I have been b}'^ other committees and by other business, yet from the great importance of the noble lord's committee, I have read the whole of the evidence taken ; and no consideration shall prevent me from expressing the opinion that a flood of light has been thrown upon the position of the West-Indian colonies which could not have been thrown upon it unless that committee had been presided over by a chairman bringing to the performance of his duty the assiduity, the zeal, and the knowledge which were dis- played by the noble lord.-" The division was called at two o'clock, and the government had only a majority of 15 in a House of 509 members. The House sat four days in committee on the minis- terial resolutions. On the fourth day, the 10th of July, Lord George Bentinck delivered a speech on the question in all its bearings, which took three hours and a half in its delivery. This speech has been published, and is a repertory of all the facts of the case lucidly arranged. One of his great points was, that our manu- facturers were suffering not so much from the disturbed state of Europe, as from the ruin of our own colonies. The results of his active correspondence with Mr. Burn, the editor of the Commercial Glance, may be traced in this speech, whom he quoted with that respect which he sincerely felt for that painstaking and accurate commercial statistician. On the 15th of July the report of the resolutions was brought up, and a bill in pursuance of them brought in. Four days afterwards. Lord George found an informality in the bill, Avhich the Chancellor of the Exchequer disregarded. Nevertheless, on the 21st, Lord George returned to the conflict and entering into many impugning details, said the bill must be with- A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. 395 drawn. Ten days after tliis^ the government withdrew their bill and introduced a new one. Under these cir- cumstances it may be easily credited that Lord George Bentinck did not spare his opponents. Finally, the famous Sugar Bill of 1848 was not read a third time and passed until the 22nd of August, when Lord Bentinck, true to his mission, brought forward an additional clause, "the effect of which would be to place the English refiner on the same footing with foreigners." 396 A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. CHAPTER XXVII. The ministers had commenced tlieir financial career of 1848 with a proposition greatly to increase the income- tax, chiefly on the plea of the necessity of considerably enlarging our means of defence and armaments. It was understood, but sceptically received, that the dan- gerous designs of the French Bourbons occasioned this anxiety and justified this expenditure. The House of Commons, and no one more actively than Lord George Bentinck, could not, however, tolerate so great and so odious an increase of taxation from a government with- out a parliamentary majority. The ministerial propo- sitions were withdrawn, but, strange to say, before this retreat was sounded, the throne of the French Bourbons had fallen ; and in the midst of general convulsion, with four pitched battles fought in Euroj)e in eight weeks, and the Adriatic and the Baltic both blockaded, the government discovered that without the increased tax our armaments were sufficiently strong and our means of defence adequate. The subversion of the Orleans dynasty was a great misfortune for France and for Europe. After the over- throw of the king of the French, his former admirers in this country very freely criticized his conduct, and very satisfactorily accounted for his calamities. One eminent politician informed us that the basis of the suffrage in France was too narrow : it has been broad enough since, without producing an assembly more entitled to public respect ; another statesman deplored the parliamentary corruption by which the Chamber of Deputies was managed, as fatal to the dynasty, which however was not so flagrant as our own system in the early part of the last A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. 397 century, and which then saved the dynasty. The econo- mists traced the catastrophe in the most scientific manner to bad harvests and a restricted commerce. All these are the conclusions of superficial observers and of pedants. It was neither parliaments nor populations, nor the course of nature nor the course of events, that overthrew the throne of Louis Philippe. Amid one of those discon- tents which are appeased by the sacrifice of a favourite, or the change of a ministry, the sovereign and the subjects both in confusion, the king deprived of his wonted energy by a prostrating illness, and the citizens murmuring without convictions, the throne Avas surprised by the secret societies, ever prepared to ravage Europe. The oi^gin of the secret societies that prevail in Europe is very remote. It is probable that they were originally confederations of conquered races organized in a great measure by the abrogated hierarchies. In Italy they have never ceased, although they have at times been obliged to take various forms: sometimes it was a literary academy, sometimes it was a charitable brotherhood ; Freemasonry was always a convenient guise. The Inqui- sition in its great day boasted that it had extirpated them in Spain, but their activity in that country after the first French revolution rather indicates a suspension of vitality than an extinction of life. The Reformation gave them a great impulse in Germany, and towards the middle of the eighteenth century, they had not only spread in every portion of the north of that region, but had crossed the Rhine. The two characteristics of these confederations which now cover Europe like network, are war against pro- perty and hatred of the Semitic revelation. These are the legacies of their founders; a proprietary despoiled and the servants of altars that have been overthrown. Alone, the secret societies can disturb, but they cannot control Europe. Acting in unison with a great popular movement they may destroy society, as they did at tho 398 A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. end of the last century. The French disturbance of '48 was not a great popular movement. It was a dis- content which required nothing more for its solution than a change of ministry : but the sovereign and his subjects were in sudden confusion ; the secret associa- tions are always vigilant and always prepared ; they took society by surprise, but having nothing really to rely upon except their own resources, the movement how- ever disastrous has been an abortion. It is the manoeuvres of these men, who are striking at property and Christ, which the good people of this country, who are so accumulative and so religious, recognize and applaud as the progress of the liberal cause. It is very desirable that the people of England should arrive at some conclusions as to the conditions on which the government of Europe can be carried on. They will perhaps after due reflection discover that ancient communities like the European must be governed either by traditionary influences or by militaiy force. Those who in their ardour of renovation imagine that there is a third mode, and that our societies can be reconstructed on the great Transatlantic model, will find that when they have destroyed traditionary influences there will be peculiar features in their body politic which do not obtain in the social standard which they imitate, and these may be described as elements of disturbance. A dynasty may be subverted, but it leaves as its successor a family of princely pretenders ; a confiscated aristocracy takes the shape of factions ; a plundered church acts on the tender consciences of toiling millions; corporate bodies displaced from their ancient authority no longer contribute their necessary and customary quota to ths moral means of government ; outraged tradition in mul- tiplied forms enfeebles or excruciates the reformed com- monwealth. In this state of affairs, after a due course of paroxysms, for tlie sake of maintaining order and A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. 399 securing tlie rights of industry^ the state quits the senate and takes refuge in the camp. Let us not be deluded by forms of government. The word may be republic in France^ constitutional monarchy in Prussia, absolute monarchy in Austria, but the thing is the same. Wherever there is a vast standing army, the government is the government of the sword. H*lf a million of armed men must either be, or be not, in a state of discipline. If they be not in a state of disci- pline, but follow different chiefs, it is not government but anarchy; if they be in a state of discipline, they must obey one man, and that man is the master. England is the only important European community that is still governed by traditionary influences; and amid the shameless wreck of nations she alone has maintained her honour, her liberty, her order, her authority, and her wealth. Yet there is a party among us who yearn for the Transatlantic type. Let them remember that in the United States there are no elements of disturbance. Our kinsmen brought the experience of Europe to a virgin soil; they have never had to make war upon tradition, its various progeny and inexhaustible resources. The United States are not even troubled by the perplexity which would seem common to all communities — a surplus population. The United States are a territorial republic ; their lands are not yet half appropriated ; they are not only a colony but they are still colonizing. There may be sympathy of feeling between Great Britain and the Unifed States, but there is no analogy in their social or political con- ditions. If any party in this country become strong enough to force one, and so destroy the existing means of government, that party and their creations will succumb, after the usual paroxysms, beneath the irresistible law which dooms Europe to the alternatesway of disciplined armies or secret societies — the camp or the convention. But it is said that it is contrary to the spirit of the 400 A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. age that a great nation like England, a community of enlightened millions long accustomed to public liberty, should be governed by an aristocracy. It is not true that England is governed by an aristocracy in the common acceptation of the term. England is governed by an aristocratic principle. The aristocracy of England absorbs all aristocracies, and receives every man in every order and every class who defers to the principle of our society, which is to aspire and to excel. Notwithstanding the formal renunciation of the leadership of the Protectionist party by Lord George Bentinck, it was soon evident to the House and the country that that renunciation was merely formal. In these days of labour, the leader of a party must be the man who does.the work, and that work cannot now be accomplished without the devotion of a life. Whenever a great question arose, the people out of doors went to Lord George Bentinck, and when the discussion com- menced, he was always found to be the man armed with the authority of knowledge. There was, however, no organized debate and no party discipline. No one was requested to take a part, and no attendance was ever summoned. The vast majority sitting on the pro- tectionist benches always followed Bentinck, who, what- ever inight be his numbers in the lobby, always made a redoubtable stand in the House. The situation how- ever, it cannot be denied, was a dangerous one for a great party to persevere in, but no permanent damage accrued, because almost every one hoped that before the session was over, the difficulty would find a natural solution in the virtual chief resuming his formal and responsible post. Notwithstanding his labours on the two great committees of the year — those on colonial and commercial distress, — Lord George Bentinck found time to master the case of the shipping interest when the navigation laws were attacked, to impugn in a formal motion the whole of the commercial policy of A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. 401 Sir Robert Peel, even while the sugar and coffee planting committee was still sitting, and to produce, early iu March, a rival budget. It was mainly through the prolonged resistance which he organized against the repeal of the navigation laws, that the government, in 1848, was forced to abandon their project. The resist- ance was led with great ability by Mr. Herries, and the whole party put forward their utmost strength to sup- port him. But it is very difficult to convey a complete picture of the laborious life of Lord George Bentinck during the sitting of Parliament. At half-past nine o'clock there called upon him the commercial repre- sentatives of the question of the day; after these conferences came his elaborate and methodical corre- spondence, all of which he carried oii himself in a handwriting clear as print, and never employing a secretary; at twelve or one o'clock he was at a com- mittee, and he only left the committee-room to take his seat in the House of Commons, which he never quitted till the House adjourned, always long past mid- night, and often at two o'clock in the morning. Here he was ready for all comers, never omitting an oppor- tunity to vindicate his opinions, or watching with lynx- like vigilance the conduct of a public office. What was hot his least remarkable trait is, that although he only breakfasted on dry toast, he took no sustenance all this time, dining at White's at half-past two o'clock in the morning. After his severe attack of the influenza he broke through this habit a little during the last few months of his life, moved by the advice of his physi- cian and the instance of his friends. The writer of these observations prevailed upon him a little the last year to fall into the easy habit of dining at Bellamy's, which saves much time, and permits the transaction of business in conversation with a congenial friend. But he grudged it : he always thought that something would be said or done in his absence, which would 2d 402 A rOLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. not have occurred had he been there ; some motion whisked through, or some return altered. His prin- ciple was that a member should never be absent from his seat. TO ME. BUEN. Harcourt House, Felruary 15, 1848. We have had a witness before the secret committee who has propounded the monstrous dof^ma that the losses in 1825-26 exceeded those of 1847-48, and he relies for proof on the losses on produce, and especially on cotton. He said : " There are figures before one's eyes as to some of the prices ; you will there meet with a fall of Is. or Is. Qd. upon cotton, whereas Zcl. or 'i\cl. per pound now is the maximum. Cotton was sold at about 2s. per pound in 1825, according to my recollection, and I think it was even-^till higher; but it was sold in 1826 at Qd. per pound and \()d. per pound ; but in 1847, when it was highest, and had risen to sucli a fearful price, it had not risen above 7d. or 8c?. per pound. Therefore, there was a loss not only of a large amount of cotton, but there was a fall in the price to which the present bears no proportion." He was asked: "Was the stock of 1825 anything like the amount of stock in 1847 ? " Answer : " My impression is that it was larger ; the stock of 1847 was remarkably low." Now, upon referring to your cotton-statistics, I find quanti- ties and prices as stated in the enclosed return, which very much differs from the evidence given. Stocks on hand, instead of being larger in 1825-26, proving little more than half those of January, 1848, whilst the average fall, instead of Is. or Is. Qd. per pound, appears to have been b\d. or Q-f^d. — a very wide difference. But in the export the difference is still more striking, and it is there that England loses tJie whole amount of depreciation : 207,775 bags exported in 1847 against 68,741 bags in 1826. I believe too that bags in 1825-26 scarcely averaged 350 lbs. weight, whilst in 1847, I believe, you estimate them to weigh 400 lbs. Pray tell me how this is, and give me your comments on the evidence I have transcribed. A POLITICAL BIOGUAPIIY. 403 TO ME. EUEN. Harcourt House, Fehruary 26, 1848. I have only a moment before goinnj to my committee to lliank you for your admirable and most interesting statistics. The account of tlie fiats in bankruptcy is one that has been laid before the secret committee, and is of course official. What I want more particularly are the Scotch sequestrations, which the secret committee have not got ; and if you could by return of post fill up the bankrupt and sequestration list to the last week of the present year, it would, I suspect, tell a fearful tale. I think of calling you as a witness before the secret com- mitttee and before the sugar-planting committee. In the first, to draw the contrast between the distress of 1846-47-48 as compared with 1825-26, with 1837, and with 1839-40-41-42 ; and before the sugar-planting committee, to show the effect upon the manufacturing interests of transferring from the British East and West Indies and the Mauritius to foreign slaveholding countries the supply of this country with sugar. Before the committee we must begin accurately with the 22nd of August, 1846, and bring the period up, if possible, to the 22nd of February, and compare this enlarged period with an equal period under protection. To enable you to do this, I propose to call you as late as possible, say the middle of March. I should wish you also to make a comparative calculation of the porportion in each period which went in wages to operatives, and profits of manufacturers, that I may contrast what the manu- facturers and operatives lost by diminished employment with their savings by cheap sugar. TO MR. BUEN. Harcouit House, March 3, 1848. I thank you for this day's information, but I think we must have the goods reduced ; first, into money value, and next into wages and profits, and the number of fiimilies tliose lost wages would have sustained. ^ To get accurately at this, we must in each period of eigliteen months deduct the value of raw cotton, which I apprehend was far less in proportion in the first period of eighteen months than in the second. I want you then to be o p, o