A POLITICAL CHARLATAN.
LIE Morning Chronicle asserts that Sir ROBERT PEEL has " risen in power in the Commons since his resignation of office,. but that " he well knows that his return to office could not be maintained, and that be would relapse into his old commonplaces and political weakness." No one can have paid attention to the proceedings in Parlia- ment during the present session, without being au-are that, whether the chances of Sir ROBERT'S reassumption of office be great or small, he is himself uneasy on the Opposition benches, and anxious to pass over to the other side of the Speaker. Upon all occasions, important or trifling, he puts himself forward : he never misses an opportunity for self-exhibition, or for displaying superior tact and talents for business to those of his successor in the Leadership of the Commons, Lord ALTHORP. Heaven knows, it only requires qualities, of a very mediocre character to come off triumphant from such a competition. A thorough- bred official, of very inferior d a _batin talents and political ac- quirements to those of Sir ROBERT PEEL, would be a formi- dable antagonist to the honest Lord. It is no wonder, therefore, that Sir ROBERT appears to advantage in the little skirmishes which he is perpetually provoking with his ill-prepared and self- distrusting antagonist, and that, to a certain extent, he gains in the opinion of the House what Lord ALTHORP undoubtedly loses. So far, then, we agree with the Morning Chronicle, that" Sir Ro- BERT PEEL has risen in power in the House since his resignation of office." But there have been some drawbacks to this advance in reputation ; and those, in our opinion, serious ones to a man who stands in the prominent situation of a candidate for the Pre- miership,—for it is not likely that he will again consent to act as a subordinate in any Ministry which be may join. We allude to the evident want of fairness and disregard of truth which are conspicuous in his Parliamentary conduct. He is so eager for dis- play on all occasions, so resolute in his design to keep himself constantly before the eyes of the public and of' their representa- tives in Parliament, that he not unfrequently commits himself in a very disreputable fashion. Nothing, for instance, could be more unworthy of a leading British statesman, than the tone of his remarks on Mr. HUME'S motion for a new House of Com- mons, and his pretended ignorance of the name of the Chairman who drew up the report. Every other man in the House knew Who the Chairman was; and as Sir ROBERT was himself a mem- ber of the Committee, no one could for a moment give credence to his assertion that he knew him not. It was a sneaking mode of hitting under cover at an opponent, and one which is very characteristic of this tricky debater. On Monday last, he ha- zarded a rub with Mr. O'CONNELL ; in which, however, he came cffi as he richly deserved to do, second best. The present Bishop of DERRY is well known to have been a friend to Catholic Eman- cipation, and belongs to a Liberal and Emancipating family • but Sir ROBERT raked up a story, some ten or twelve years old, of his having once signed a petition against the Catholics, and as- serted that be had small title to Catholic gratitude on account of his inconsistency. A pretty fellow, by the way, Sir ROBERT PEEL is to sneer at the inconsistency of others in regard to the Catholic question This assertion, however, gave Mr. O'CONNELL the opportunity of explaining, that the Bishop, then Dean of St. Patrick's, had been tricked, under false representations of its con- tents, into signing the petition—when recovering from severe ill- ness, in a darkened room. Sir ROBERT of course denied all know- ledge of this very notorious circumstance (the particulars of which were detailed in a letter published in the newspapers by the Bishop himself), and made a miserable attempt to turn the tables on Mr.
• O'Coexeee, by saying that it was his business to have mentioned the facts respecting the petition ; although why Mr. O'CONNELL should have mentioned the petition at all, does not appear, unless he thought it a fair opportunity to expose the dishonest manage- ment of Sir ROBERT'S allies.
These exhibitions, in the grand drama of Humbug, would scarcely, in themselves, be worth so much notice as we have taken of them; but, viewed in connexion with the fact that the chief actor in them—truly an actor—is a candidate for the first office in the State, they become of material import, as serving to illustrate his real character. The suspicions of his political integrity which his conduct on these occasions begets, will be confirmed by an exami- nation of his speeches on more formal and weighty discussions,—
the Slavery, Irish Church, and Bank questions, for example. We shall find the same selfish cunning at the bottom of all he has said and done during the session. Is such a man worthy to fill a prominent place in the Government of a great nation? We trust that the public will keep a scrutinizing eye upon the movements and professions of this political charlatan..
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