Arthur George Villiers Peel

“ Two great organisations, the anti-corn law league and the chartists, were thundering against established laws. Deficits had become as annual as the harvest. There was intense distress among the working classes. Worst of all, the British government was discredited abroad.
The party that now found itself in power under Peel's guidance contained political talents unparalleled for splendour and promise. It could show seven men who had been or were to be prime ministers—Peel himself, Wellington, Ripon, Stanley, Aberdeen, Gladstone and Disraeli. ”

“ But the minister was reckless of himself, and continually pointed to the common good and to the verdict of the future. He did not attempt to stem the torrent of Disraeli's abuse; ‘every man has a right to determine for himself with whom and on what occasions he will descend into the arena of personal conflict. I will not retaliate upon the hon. gentleman’ (Speeches, iv. 709) . Emboldened by their impunity, Bentinck and Disraeli now drew nearer and accused him of having hounded Canning to death in 1827. Then at last they felt to the full the weight of Peel's hand. ”

“ In the second place, experience had shown that hitherto the sliding scale had actually encouraged the foreign importer to keep back his corn until corn in our market reached famine prices, at which point the law allowed him to import free of duty. Peel now devised a highly complicated plan. The chief point was that there were to be certain resting-places in the downward movement of the scale of duties, and it was hoped that at such resting-places the importer would send his corn into the market instead of waiting for the total abrogation of the duty in consequence of the famine price. ”

“ Since the death of Pitt the tories seemed to have alienated political ability; in 1828 it was held that there was not a single young tory of promise in the House of Commons. In a cartoon of 1830 by ‘H. B.,’ Wellington and Peel are drawn looking over ‘the Noddle Bazaar’ for ‘a few good heads.’ Now the most brilliant young men in England gathered under the banner of the conservative chief, among them Sidney Herbert and the future Lord Canning, and, above all, Gladstone and Disraeli, who entered parliament in 1837. ”

“ On 28 June 1850 he spoke for the last time in the House of Commons, on the affairs of Greece and the foreign policy of Lord Palmerston. His voice, as usual, was raised for peace and good will among the nations: ‘What is this diplomacy? It is a costly engine for maintaining peace. It is a remarkable instrument used by civilised nations for the purpose of preventing war.’ Next day, as he was riding up Constitution Hill, his horse grew restive, and he fell, sustaining mortal injuries. ”

“ Of the orators of that period, it may be said that Plunket was the most brilliant, and Canning the most charming, but that the weightest was Peel.
The motives of his life were simple. Among the chief was the excellence of civil government. In his view that end was to be attained by amending the laws without altering the constitution, so that the same minister who revolutionised the penal code could oppose the reform of parliament. At an age when most men are entering upon a profession he was set to rule Ireland. ”

“ From 31 Oct. to 5 Dec. a series of cabinet councils were held, at which Peel endeavoured to impress three things on his colleagues: that the crisis was urgent, that an order in council should at once be issued to suspend the duties on grain, and, that once those duties were suspended, they could never be reimposed. But the cabinet shrank from the vista of policy thus opened before them. No decision was taken. At last on 2 Dec. Peel clenched the question by stating that he himself was willing to introduce a measure ‘involving the ultimate repeal of the corn laws’ (ib. p. 221) . ”

“ Other political leaders may be credited with a more original eloquence, a greater obedience to the ties of party, or a stricter adherence in age to the political principles which animated their youth. But no other statesman has proved more conclusively that the promotion of the welfare of his countrymen was the absorbing passion of his life. ”

“ In the party ‘nobody expected such a sweeping measure, and there is great consternation among the conservatives. It is clear that he has thrown over the landed interest’ (Memoirs of an ex-Minister, p. 139) . The abolitionists, led by Cobden, were incensed on exactly opposite grounds. But Peel was opposed to total repeal for the twofold reason that protection duly compensated the agriculturists for the heavy burdens on land, and also that it would be wise as far as possible to make ourselves independent of foreign nations in respect of the supply of corn. ”

“ Peel resigned. Lord John Russell, who, by a letter dated from Edinburgh on 22 Nov., had declared for total repeal, tried to form a government, but failed owing to a dissension between Lords Grey and Palmerston. On 20 Dec. Peel resumed office, feeling, in his own words, ‘like a man restored to life.’ All his former colleagues stood by him, with the exception of Stanley.
Parliament met in January 1846, and the government introduced a protection of life (Ireland) bill in the lords, and a corn bill and customs bill in the commons. ”

“ While out of office his influence was steadily increasing. In 1820 it was noticed that ‘his talents, independent fortune, official habits, and reputation, and, above all, general character both in and out of parliament, have disposed more men to follow and more to unite with him than any other person’ (Buckingham, Memoirs of George IV, i. 102) . On 17 Jan. 1822 he rejoined Lord Liverpool's government, accepting the seals of the home office and cabinet rank. ”

“ Haworth, and a neighbour named Yates, a calico-printing firm, which may be considered the parent of that industry in Lancashire. He has been described as ‘a tall, robust, handsome man, of excellent constitution, with a character for uprightness and persevering industry, and possessing a mechanical genius.’ He married, in 1744, Elizabeth Haworth, and by her had seven sons, the third of whom was Robert Peel, first baronet. The boy was educated at Blackburn, and subsequently in London, whence he returned to enter his father's business. ”

“ It was in the first of these that he made the declaration that, as a conservative minister, he had done his best ‘to ensure the united action of an ancient monarchy, a proud aristocracy, and a reformed constituency.’ It was of the third that Bright said it was the most powerful ever made within living memory. The peroration contains the passage opening with the words, ‘This night you will select the motto which is to indicate the commercial policy of England.’ It is noticeable that Peel did not recommend free trade on the ground that other nations would imitate us. ”

“ In 1823 O'Connell had organised the Catholic Association; in 1825 Peel had been ‘left in minorities on three different questions immediately connected with Ireland—the catholic question, the elective franchise, and the payment of the catholic clergy.’ He had offered to resign, and had only consented to remain when told that his resignation would break up the ministry. In 1826, at the general election, the Irish priesthood had for the first time thrown themselves into the popular cause. ”

“ But this by no means exhausted his scheme of policy. In offering to William Gregory the conduct of Irish business in 1846, he used these words: ‘It will hereafter be a matter of pride to you to be associated with measures of a wide and generous character, which may entirely change the aspect of Ireland to England’ (Gregory, Autobiography, p. 129) . Unhappily Peel fell in 1846, before he could mature his plans. Too late, he pressed a portion of them on the whig ministry in the debate 30 March 1849. ”

“ But when he proceeded to claim permission to recommend certain changes in the household, by which he meant that some few ladies of the bedchamber closely connected with the outgoing ministers should be superseded, the queen declined to entertain the proposal, and Lord Melbourne and the whigs resumed office. Peel held that his view was not only constitutional, but also that the whigs had hitherto been so much in favour with the court that some overt act was needed to inform the public that the conservatives enjoyed an equal measure of the royal confidence. ”

“ From that time till the opening of parliament Peel was engaged in preparing three bills—one for the suppression of the Catholic Association, another for catholic emancipation, and the third for the regulation of the franchise in Ireland. When the first of these bills had been read a third time, Peel placed himself in the hands of his constituents by accepting the Chiltern Hundreds (20 Feb.) . He was defeated on seeking re-election at Oxford by 146 votes, but was elected for Westbury, and took his seat on 3 March. ”

“ After he had taken his degree his father bought him the seat of Cashel in Tipperary, and he entered the House of Commons in April 1809, at the age of twenty-one. A tory ministry, with the Duke of Portland as prime minister, was in power, and the whigs, utterly wrecked since the death of Fox, were in opposition. Peel, fresh from a tory home and a tory university, naturally gave his support to the government. ”

“ Famine intervened, and during August, September, and October, Peel watched and collected information, with feelings of which Wellington said ‘I never witnessed in any case such agony.’ He found that some three million poor persons in Ireland who had hitherto lived on potatoes would require in 1846 to be supported on corn. ”

“ He at first hailed the French revolution as a ‘temperate reformation,’ but when it grew more violent in character resisted it as far as with him lay. To the voluntary contribution of 1797 his firm gave 10,000l., and in 1798 he armed and commanded six companies of Bury royal volunteers. On 14 Feb. 1799 he spoke strongly for the union with Ireland, and his speech was printed in Dublin. In 1800 he was made a baronet, and assumed as his motto ‘Industria.’ On 7 May 1802 he defended Pitt, who when in office had constantly sought his opinion on financial and commercial matters. ”

“ In 1780 he wrote a pamphlet entitled ‘The National Debt productive of National Prosperity,’ in which he argued that a domestic public debt owed by the community to itself cannot impair the aggregate wealth of the community. ”

“ The author of the ‘Letters of Runnymede’ dedicated them to the opposition leader and summoned him to come from ‘the halls and the bowers of Drayton’ to ‘rescue the nation.’ As for tried men, Peel succeeded in winning over two men in the House of Commons of first-class ability—Stanley and Sir James Graham. They had seceded from the whigs soon after the Reform Bill. He had in vain offered them places in his government of 1835 ”

“ The reply he gave was, ‘we think that the privilege of issue is one which may be fairly and justly controlled by the state, and that the banking business, as distinguished from issue, is a matter in respect to which there cannot be too unlimited and unrestricted a competition’ (ib. iv. 361) . ”

“ Peel, however, decided not to remit but to renew the income-tax for three more years, and to employ the considerable surplus thus provided ‘for the purpose of enabling us to make this great experiment of reducing other taxes.’ In one sense Peel had been long a free-trader. In the debates that preceded the downfall of Melbourne's ministry in 1841 he had said: ‘If by the principles of free trade you simply mean the progressive and well-considered relaxation of restrictions upon commerce, I can say with truth that there was no man in this house from whom Mr. ”

“ Though in her own phrase ‘no politician,’ she became in time the closest or the only companion of the statesman in his inmost thoughts. She survived her husband till 27 Oct. 1859. They had two daughters and five sons. The eldest son, Sir Robert Peel, G.C.B. [q. v.] , the third baronet, and the third son, Sir William Peel, K.C.B. [q. v.] , are separately noticed; the second son, Sir Frederick Peel, K.C.M.G. (1823–1906) , was chief railway commissioner; the fifth son, Arthur Wellesley, was speaker of the House of Commons from 1884 to 1895, and was created Viscount Peel on his retirement. ”

“ PEEL, Sir ROBERT (1750–1830) , first baronet, manufacturer and member of parliament, was born at Peelfold, Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire, on 25 April 1750. His family, which has been obscurely traced to a Danish origin, had emigrated early in the seventeenth century from the district of Craven in Yorkshire to the neighbouring town of Blackburn in Lancashire. His father, Robert Peel, had founded the fortunes of the family in 1764, when, having mortgaged his family estates, he established at Blackburn, in conjunction with his brother-in-law, Mr. ”