8 AUGUST 1835, Page 13

THE DUKE AND PEEL.

IN January last, we told Sir ROBERT PEEL, when the TorieS set him up as the man whom befine all others they delighted to ha, flour, that he was the tool, not the chief of the party-their slave, not their leader. The Duke of WELLINGTON yieldetl preeminence to him ; the Tory aristocracy joined with the plebeian portion of their party in pulling his superhuman talents, his unrivalled knowledge and skill in the conduct of public affairs ; it was declared to be hazardous to move a step without his direction; the machine of Government was stopped until his arrival from Italy ; it seemed as if he were the " breath of their nostrils," and the whole party were eager to fall down and worship him. We were not duped by all this palaver, but saw through the trickery of the Tory protestations. The great man was only conditionally great, after all. He was to be allowed to talk like a Liberal, provided he supplied the needv scioTis of the Oligarchy with pelf and place. Sotnebody tt as wanted to mystify the People, and Sir ROBERT PLAUSIBLE was retained for that purpose. His fee was the Premiership: but his clients were hard taskmasters, and as be failed to obtain a verdict in their favour from the House of Commons and the Country, he has been discarded from his post with insult.

Yes—Sir ROBERT PEEL may still be the nominal, but he is not the actual leader of the Tory party. Even in the House of Commons his authority was net at nought by Sir RICHARD VVVYAN, Sir ROBERT INGLIS, and some others: : but the Peers have thrown him quite overboard. The latter have broken out in unmitigated hatred of Reform; they have resolved to run a "neck or nothing" race, and to marshal their " order" against the National Representatives; and so they have no need of Sir ROBERT PLAUSIBLE. He was only wanted when trickery was to be tried, and political charlatanism was the order of the day. When men are resolved to move stiaightforward, they never think of Sir ROBERT for their leader.

The Duke of WELLINGTON has fared little better with the zealots who compose the majority of the Oligarchical Opposition. His leadership has been disowned in the House of Peers; the arrangements he entered into on behalf of his plesumed followers

hate been disregarded : he was outvoted at Apsley House, and would have been cashiered from the ranks, had he not, with in

conceivable meanness, truckled to the NEWCASTLES and WmCHILSEAS of the faction. The speeches of Sir CHARLES WETHERELL and Mr. KNIGHT against the Corporation Bill were finished on Saturday last ; and it was on the Monday following that the Duke urged upon the Tory conclave the necessity of allowing the bill to go into Committee: lie was beaten, and a few hours afterwards declared in the House of Peers, that "the arguments of the counsel" had altered Isis original opinion. In future, the Duke would do better to follow the advice old Lord ELDON gave to did. Magistrates—never to offer a reason for what they said 01' At present, the Duke of NEWCASTLE and Lord WINCHILSEA seem to be the leaders of the Tories; WELLINGTON and PEEL having been laid on the shelf. The Duke, we have seen, gulped down the insult offered to him, and winked at the mutiny of his troops. What will PEEL do? Will he fight in the ranks he once commanded? We believe it. He dares not quit the Tory camp, though its inmates kick and cuff him. Besides, he knows full well that the attempt of the violent blockheads of his party to bully the People out of Church and Corporate Reform will fail : they must then give way to the Trimmers, and " plausibility" will again be in requisition. The prince of impostors will again be patted on the back, and reengage& on the old terms, to try once more the effect of the soothing system.

In the meanwhile, there is not a man of spirit in the country, whatever may be his party, who would not be ashamed to change places either with the Duke or PEEL.