Peel's capacity as a statesman. Want of confidence in himself and others appears to me his weak point; I should, therefore, consider him better fitted for quiet than for stormy times; anyhow he will, in a far higher degree than his predecessor, be Prime Minister in the true sense of the word; and placing the confidence I do in his honesty, I hope that the Royal prerogative will be far better maintained by him than by Melbourne. I know for certain, however, that Peel does not yet believe that he possesses the confidence of the Queen to the extent he wishes and requires. The Prince, on the other hand, he considers as his friend. It is remarkable that the Prince should thus have the opportunity of heaping coals of fire on the head of Peel, who reduced the Prince's income by £20,000, and did his best to deprive him of his rank.' But the times were exceedingly difficult for any Ministry, and political affairs, unfortunately, were conducted with a bitterness which now, happily, is almost a thing of the past. But amongst those statesmen who invariably preserved the courtesy of true manliness in dealing with their opponents was the subject of our biography; and Mr. Trevelyan thus pays tribute to this quality in referring to a speech made by the right honourable gentleman in 1841 - Mr. Gladstone, who had early learned that habit of hightoned courtesy which is the truest presage of future greatness, introduced into the last sentences of a fine speech an allusion that pleased no one so much as he against whom it was directed.

"There is another name," he said, "strangely associated with the plan of the Ministry. I can only speak from tradition of the struggle for the abolition of slavery; but, if I have not been misinformed, there was engaged in it a man who was the unseen ally of Mr. Wilberforce, and the pillar of his strength-a man of profound benevolence, of acute understanding, of indefatigable industry, and of that selfdenying temper which is content to work secretly, to forego the recompense of present fame, and to seek for its reward beyond the grave. The name of that man was Zachary Macaulay, and his son is a member of the existing Cabinet." Although at the commencement of the session of 1842 the Conservative Administration was apparently very strong, as we have seen, the condition of the country, and the wide popular discontent, made it hazardous to predict the future of the Ministry.

On the 9th of February Sir Robert Peel, obeying a necessity which he could not avert, and hoping also to remove some of the causes of the existing dissatisfaction, brought forward his new sliding scale of corn duties in the House of Commons. He proposed that a duty of twenty shillings should be levied when wheat was at fifty-one shillings per quarter, to descend to one shilling when the price was seventythree, with rests at intermediate prices, intended to diminish the possibility of tampering with the averages. Having detailed the remaining portions of his plan, the Premier said he considered

the present not an unfavourable time for discussing the question of the Corn Laws. There was no great stock of foreign growth on hand to alarm farmers; the recess, notwithstanding the distress, had been marked by universal calm; there was no popular violence to interrupt legislation; and there was a disposition to view any proposal for the adjustment of the question with calmness and moderation.'

The Minister's view of the national situation was not altogether in accordance with the published facts; for her Majesty even, on her appearance at the London theatres, had been hooted. But Sir Robert Peel's opinion of what was comparative quietude was quickly and rudely disturbed. Great excite ment prevailed throughout the country; and, in order to give effect to the popular voice, on the 14th of February, on the motion for the Speaker to leave the chair, preparatory to a discussion in committee on the Corn Laws, Lord John Russell moved as an amendment, That this House, considering the evils which have been caused by the present Corn Laws, and especially by the fluctuation of the graduated or sliding scale, is not prepared to adopt the measure of her Majesty's Government, which is founded on the same principles, and is likely to be attended by similar results.'

It fell to Mr. Gladstone to lead the opposition to this motion. He denied that the proposed plan was founded on the same principle as the existing one, except, indeed, as both involved a sliding scale. The existing law was not

chargeable with the present mass of distress, which he attributed rather to the unavoidable fluctuation of the seasons. Four successive bad harvests must result in producing high prices of food. He adduced a series of illustrations to show that these unavoidable fluctuations were not aggravated by the Corn Laws, and he contrasted the working of Lord John Russell's plan with that of Sir Robert Peel, insisting upon the great superiority of the latter. As to the late drains of the currency, he did not believe that they could have been prevented by a fixed duty; they must have followed as the necessary consequence of bad harvests, whatever the rate of import duties had been. A uniform protection could not be given to corn, as it could be to other articles, because at high prices of corn no duty could be maintained; therefore, at low prices, it was just to give a duty which would be an effectual protection. 'Between the opposite extremes of those who thought with the Anti-Corn Law Convention and those who thought with the Agricultural Association of Boston, he believed that the measure of Government was a fair medium; and that it would give relief to consumers, steadiness to prices, an increase to foreign trade, and a general improvement of the condition of the country."

* See the Annual Register for 1842, and also Hansard's Parliamentary Debates. As the author, in every instance, quotes only from authentic reports of the speeches of Mr. Gladstone and other members of the Legislature, he has not deemed it necessary to burden his pages with foot-notes giving the formal references to pages and columns. In addition to the authorities above mentioned, he would also acknowledge the valuable aid he has received in regard to