PEEL'S FAULTS AND MERITS.
OF all Sir Robert Peel's measures the one now before Parliament is the greatest ; and never has he been so abused as since its intro- • duction. The fact is anomalous and perplexing ; very discredit- able, on the surface to one side or the other ; and yet perhaps not telling so strongly against either side if you look beneath the surface.
The accusers are of all parties. By the Tories, the charge is, that Peel has deceived and betrayed them, once and again. On the question of the day, he occupies a position the very opposite of that which he held when they helped him to power in 1841. It is true that he refused, even at that time, to pledge himself to the literal support of the old Corn-law ; whence some of the party inferred his coldness towards protection and his approaching aban- donment of that policy : it is true that, to his mind, the subject of the struggle by which he actually overthrew the Whig Ministry was their inability to tarry on the Government but the occasion of their overthrow was their Free-trade attempt, and a large section of the public understood him to be the champion of that protec- tion which the Whigs were assailing when he vanquished them. Technically, he reserved himself against pledges of any sort ; but in effect, be did not speak so explicitly as to disclaim the general interpretation put upon his actions. His position was somewhat that of a conformist in religious matters, who avoids a public profession of his real faith, but suffers to be inferred from his acts a different faith, which he has no vocation to watch and defend.
This charge, when put only in general terms, is undeniable. The use of reiterating it, however, is not so evident. It may in- deed be retorted on the accusers. They knew that Sir Robert Peel was given to that kind of conformity, but they chose to blink the fact. Some of them really shut their eyes, and voluntarily abstained from "looking the gift horse in the mouth." Others— and they are the most reprehensible, as being the most knowing —saw clearly enough, but pretended to be deceived. If Sir Robert Peel conformed to their faith, conscientiously doubting it in his own mind, they too, less excusably, conformed to him. They did so for their own interest. They would not have re- posed that trust in him if they had possessed a single man of- their own views capable of taking their head ; but they were destitute, and they consented to employ a man whom they now reproach for the character which was then as well known to them as it is now. Their conformity was more hollow than his ; the motives of a party who could thus, for the purpose of the day, " truckle " to one man, were mean : but now they pretend to throw into the charge against him the affected "delusion" which was the work of their own hypocrisy. The case of the Liberal party against Peel is not more tenable. The accusations fall back upon the party, either for their idleness or, their self-damaging character. Peel is a convert to Liberal doctrines : the Liberals do not in terms commit the absurdity of reproaching him for his conversion, but many of them are so idle as to reproach him with inconsistencies between the doctrines which he maintained before and after conversion ! Others censure the way in which the process of conversion worked : their com- plaint is tantamount to this—that it was in itself slow, and that it was not avowed soon enough. But the more difficult the process, the more valuable the convert ; and as to the avowal, all con- versions must be accomplished before they can be avowed. The objection of this set would cease if Sir Robert Peel had been born and bred a Whig : in which case, the leader of the Whig party would have been called "Robert Peel" instead of "John Rus- sell "; and the real difference to the world would have been, that there would not have been such a person as that Robert Peel among the Tories, to form an accessible and signal exemplar for conversion—the Constantine among the Infidels to Free Trade— the effect of whose conversion will be seen in the vote of the ma- jority in the Commons for the principle of making free trade the law of the land.
However, there is some merited blame to the statesman for not being more bold, prompt, and explicit, in the avowals of his actual opinions at certain critical times. Even now, by imperfect de- clarations on minor points, by making too much of trivialities, he mars the effect of those bold and ingenuous declarations which he really does make. For instance he has declared against pro- tection; he has not refrained from braving the personal conse- quences of a step notable for its courage in one of his original party connexions, and for its momentous influence on the future of the country. In part excuse for that avowal of change, he lays undue stress on "the experience of the last three years." He obtains scant credit for the real openness of the great avowal —redundant discredit for the small equivoque which is the blemish on his frankness.
It is not difficult, by a process of criticism, to account for the "inconsistency." It may be imputed to a fault, less perhaps, in i
his understanding than n the conduct of his mind; and that, again, may be ascribed to the incongruity of his early position, among Tories, and prematurely committed to a public adoption of their principles. Then, he exaggerates the distinction which every man of the world draws between "abstract" reasoning and " prac- tical " action. As a well-read and accomplished gentleman, he has long been a disciple of the great Free-trade apostle, Adam. Smith ; but he fell in -with the " practical " working of things as he found them. Even when the process of conversion became more strongly pronounced, he hesitated, as conscientious men -will hesitate, before he suffered a change in his individual opinions -to " disturb " existing arrangements, perhaps to alarm and injure large sections of the community. The habit of neglecting that
priori reasoning to which he alluded, in terms so equivocal that
that they might pass either for homage or slight, deprives a public man of a fixed star in the dark hours of his course, when the landmarks of event and circumstance fail to guide him. With that fixed star, the man who has once satisfied himself of his principle steers on in confidence, not obliged to await the event ; and the next dawn of light exhibits him still pursuing his stead- fast career. Without that guide, his course in doubtful times is 'difficult and devious, and he becomes obnoxious to reproach for want of honest competency. To neglect a priori reasoning, is no boast: the " practical " sailor might as well sneer at " abstract" mathematics and "stargazing." But in truth, the experience of the last three years has been important. It must be remembered that Sir Robert has not had to meddle, practically, with such 'questions, since 1819. The experience has served to show him, tangibly, in the convincing work of his own hands, that the ab- stract and the practical may be reconciled with safety. It has taught to others the same lesson, perhaps where it was more needed. Its fruit is seen in the many conversions which have taken place in Parliament, some of which have been eagerly avowed, while others will be exhibited in future votes ; and our own correspondence makes us aware that the same process of conversion is going on in private life.
But there is another way of bringing the accused to judgment, by the ordeal of the facts. Suppose we assume him to have been as bad a man as party detractors would paint him. It seems that Sir Robert Peel is, overtly or by implication, accused of these things. He has formerly defeated Liberal efforts of policy, out of some malignant motives, not expressly alleged. We say ma- lignant, because it is presumed by his assailants that be could not have been sincere at those times, since he acts differently now. We do not stop to inquire whether the acts of mature age test the motives to opposite acts in greener years; but if he really defeated Liberal measures which his own convictions approved on the whole, he must have done so either from corrupt motives
or from sheer love of mischief; and either influence is sufficiently malignant. He engaged in the service of the Tory party, CUt MOIC cognomen additur Protectionist, merely to betray it. He had defeated Liberalism, which he approved, to serve his own selfish purposes ; he now affected to adopt Conservatism in order to betray it. Still malignant! Then again, he delayed mea- sures for the good of the country as long as he could ; but when those measures appeared to be useful to himself, he adopted them, with profuse assurances of patriotism : he was first a traitor to his country, then a hypocrite. He still does good deeds under false pretences ; affecting to have some regard for the agricultural interest, which he despises ; pretending desire to serve his country, when he only seeks to serve himself: he says that he was in- fluenced by Lord John Russell's letter, though he must have made up his mind before he saw it; he avows that he is convinced by the experience of the last three years, though the experience of the previous twenty was before him, and was equally cogent. With undeviating perversity, he has approved of the measures which he defeated from evil desires ; and his good deeds are prompted by corrupt motives. We are not aware that this sum- mary omits any essential count in the aggregate bill of indictment against Sir Robert Peel. And this is the man that remains at the head of Parliament— of the country—that is Viceroy over the Queen Why, if he is so bad, how base are we all that suffer his existence for a single instant? We, the wisest, most powerful, most " sensible " people in the world, knowing how we are treated, still suffer ourselves to be the sport of one malignant, capricious, transparent knave. The disgrace and shame are ours a hundredfold. Why have we not all united as one man to drive the unblushing traitor from public life?
Because we do not believe it. Even those who pour forth all the charges in detail do not believe in the inevitable conclusion When it is put before them. They disbelieve their own evidence. i
They disbelieve it because it s incredible. So much and so systematically bad conduct without motives is incredible ; and no motives appear. They are not asserted ; though they would be asserted fast enough if they could be invented. Motives may be inferred from the results of the acts, when those results are direct and not disturbed by any unforeseen impediments. What has Sir Robert Peel obtained by the conduct imputed to him ? Is it wealth, personal "honours," station, anything whatever? His wealth consists in his private fortune, and is quite independ- ent of his public conduct. Honours have been within his grasp, year after year, day by day, and he has not reached out his hand for them. He still bears the title to which he was born. If he were to assume a whole heap of "honours," they would have been attainable simply by his personal ability, without need for the superfluous manceuvering alleged : but he has not taken them at all. He has shown, as in 1839, that he has no extraordinary diness for office—not more, to say the most, than what is by any on the Ministerial or Anti-Ministerial bench ; and he has never shown himself unwilling to retire into the character of a private English gentleman. What, then, has he secured to himself? Nothing. Was it political power that he sought? That might have been attained without all the tortuous strate- gems imputed : they would have been mere surplusage—hin- derances ; and what is more, any knave with half the wit allowed to the Premier must have known as much. Had he been a mere Pericles or Sylla, or Wolsey, he would have chosen easier paths. No motives appear, if we except mere love of mischief; which, apart from all considerations of the man's character, is simply incredible.
We do not believe our own charges against him—we are con- tent to use him as we find him, without any tenderness of con- science for condescending to a bad instrument. Our acceptance of service it his hands is condonation of the offences imputed : and it is reasonable. You must judge of men by their acts : Sir Robert Peel's public services are great—greater, any one of them, than has fallen to the lot of most among statesmen of the highest celebrity. He gave the deathblow to political intolerance on religious grounds, and made that the principle of a nation which was before but the profession of a party : he destroyed that political hydra which was called " Absolutism " or "Toryism,"—reconciling that " Conservatism " which represents the spirit of stability in society with the spirit of advancement : he is now inducing the dissen- tient half of the community to adopt the great pacific principle of Free Trade. These are services which it becomes generous poli- ticians to recognize with heartiness, and not to mar in their effect by inopportune reproach for flaws and imperfections incidental to human character.
Previous page
