Life of Sir Robert Peel

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Prefatory Note

The Diaterials for the life of a statesman are in part the same with the materials for the history of his State. It would be affectation to try to give a list of the principal sources of Euglish history in the first half of this century. They are extremely copious, and they are accessible to everybody.

For what relates more particularly to the career of Sir Robert Peel, his speeches and memoirs must take precedence of other authorities. No complete collection of his speeches has ever been made; but everything which he said in the Bouse of Commons has been reprinted in four stout volumes. Feel's memoirs are disappointing. They are not an autobiography, but a collection of materials for the justification of the author's conduct at three of the most memorable periods in his life — the period of Catholic Emancipation, the period of his first Administration, and the period of the repeal of the Com Laws. They fell flat upon the public, which had long since passed on to other topics of interest ; but

Ti PEEFATOBT NOTE.

they are valuable to the biographer, because we have so little except speeches from Peel himself.

Previous lives of Peel aflEbrd little help to the writer of a new Life. Sir Lawrence Peel's sketch contains some interesting particulars respecting the family, but does not tell much about the hero. Lord Dalling's sketch is brilliant and appreciative, but rather a criticism than a biography. M. Guizot's study of Sir Robert Peel is able, but errs in giving undue consequence to transactions in which Ouizot was personally concerned, and which he wished to justify to his countrymen. Beside these and other sketches of Peel, two voluminous Lives have been published. Doubleday's Life of Sir Robert Peel is the work of an industrious writer just acute enough to be eccentric. Cook Taylors Life of Sir Robert Peel is a wordy narrative, which tells next to nothing, and is swollen to a dropsy by interminable quotations from Hansard.

Many scattered facts respecting Peel may be gathered from the Lives of other statesmen more fortunate in their biographers. Among such Lives one may mention that of Liverpool, by Yonge; that of Althorp, by Le Marchant; that of Melbourne, by Torrens; that of Falmerston, by Bulwer; that of Gobden, by Morley; and especially that of Bentinck, by Disraeli. Still more information is to be gathered from such publications aa the Qreville Memoirs and the Croher Papers. The

PEEFATOBY NOTE. vii

Greville Memoirs tell as more about Feel than do all the published Lives of Feel put together. They give us that which is so valuable, the successive impressions of an acute and well-informed contemporary, who was neither superior to his age nor yet enslaved by its party spirit. The Croker Papers contain many letters which throw the strongest light upon certain critical moments of FeeFff career. To prolong the list of less useful authorities would need much more space than can be afforded here.

But the most precious of all authorities for the life of Peel as yet remains unused. Feel preserved every letter which he received and a copy of every letter which he wrote. His entire correspondence is now in the hands of the Peel trustees. But the huge size of the collection has defeated the collector's purpose. The selection from its contents, so long promised to the public, is stiU delayed from year to year. In the meantime, the papers remain inaccessible. The present sketch is offered to the public as a candid summary of the facts hitherto ascertained respecting Sir Robert Feel.

J. C. M.

Contents

CHAPTEE L

The Peel family— The first Sir Robert Peel— Birth of Robert Peel— His Early Education — His School Life — His College Life — ^Hia Election as Member for Gashel • p. 1

CHAPTER n.

Chapter I. Early Teabs

1788-1809.

The Peel family— The first Sir Robert Peel— Birth of Robert Peel— His Early Education— His School Life— His College Life— His Election as Member for Cashol.

The ancestors of Sir Eobert Peel had long been prosperous people in the middling walks of life. Their original home was in East Marten, in the district of Craven and county of York. About the year 1600 William Peel left this home to settle near Blackburn, in Lancashire. He was accompanied by three brothers and an aged father, and family tradition says that troubles arising out of religious differences led to their change of abode. About forty years later, Eobert Peel, the grandson of William, is known to have been a thriving manufacturer of woollen cloths at Blackburn. His greatgrandson, Eobert, founded the greatness of the family of Peel. Eobert Peel, who was educated at Blackburn Grammar School, married, in 1744, Elizabeth Hawortb,

2 LIFE OF SIB EOBEUT FEEL.

a descendant of the ancient family of that name. At first be gained a livelihood by farming, eked out by handloom weaving. It was not till he had reached middle life that he set up as a manufacturer and printer. His brother-in-law, Mr. Haworth, is reputed to have been the earliest calico-printer in Lancashire. Having mastered the business in London, Mr. Haworth returned to Lancashire and entered into partnership with Robert Peel, who mortgaged his land in order to raise the necessary capital. But finding their joint resources all too little, they took into the concern a Mr. Yates, who is said to have kept the " Black Bull " at Blackburn, and thus established the eminent firm of Messrs. Haworth, Peel, and Yates.

The firm printed the fabrics of its own manufacture, and established a warehouse for their sale in Manchester. Robert Peel had an inventive talent, and did much to improve the machinery used in the trade. But the premises were wrecked and the machinery was smashed by a riotous assemblage of handloom weavers, in whose eyes its perfection was its worst fault. Robert Peel used to repeat that, with allowance for accidents, a man might be what he chose. So without yielding to despair he removed from Blackburn to Burton-on-Trent, in Staffordshire, where he built three new mills ; and in. order to supply one of them with water, cut a canal, at a cost of £9,000 sterling. He was an excellent man of business, plain in his speech, and simple in his ideas, but shrewd and reflective. When he walked the streets of Burton, his abstract air, and eyes fixed upon the ground, drew the attention of the common folk, who dubbed him the Philosopher. Towards the close of his life he removed to Ardwick Green, then a pleasant suburb of Manchester, and there he died, in September 1795, at

EARLY YEARS. 3

the age of seventy-two years. A few months later his wife followed. Their grandson, the future Prime Minister, who often came to Ardwick Green while yet a child, always remembered them with reverence and afiFection.

OJd Mr. Peel's third son inherited his name, his energy, and his abilities. Whilst yet very young he joined his maternal uncle as a partner in the firm of Haworth and Yates. Haworth retired, and Uobert Peel became supreme in the management. When his innovations called forth remonstrance, Mr. Yates would reply, " The will of our Rubert is law here." He was indefatigable in labour. " He would rise at night from his bed, when there was a likelihood of bad weather, to visit the bleaching grounds, and one night in each week he used to sit up all night, attended by his pattern-drawer, to receive any new patterns which the London coach, arriving at midnight, might bring down — for at first they were followers and imitators of the London work. But they soon aspired to lead their masters, and it was soon apparent to the Londoners themselves that their trade would desert them and flow into these new channels."* Such men are made to achieve success, and success in the Lancashire of one hundred years ago meant unspeakable opulence.

When thirty-six years of age, the second Robert Peel married Ellen (the daughter of his partner, Mr. Yates), who bore him six sons and five daughters. Robert, their eldest son, but their third child, was born on the 5th of February 1788, it is said, in a cottage close by the family mansion of Chamber Hall, near Bury, which was then undergoing repair. This event was equally grateful to the father's affection and the rich

* *< Life of Sir Robert Peel," by Sir Lawrence Peel, p. 34.

I *

4 LIFU OF SIB ROBERT FEEL.

man's pride. When first he heard that he was \h^\ father of a son he fell on his knees in his closet andi^ returned thanks to Almighty God, vowing at the same I time he would give his child to his country. For some-*^? what of a nobler ambition tempered the practical nature ^ of Robert Peel. A near relative has told us that what many great men have owed to their mothers the states-^ man owed to his father — the inspiration of an early faith, a bent, a purpose, and an aim. Anxious to form the boy's mind, the father, although no scholar, kept hinj under his own supervision. Young Robert's progress in learning may have been as much hindered as assisted by ' this precaution. But his eager and aspiring mind was v early directed to the toils and glories of a public career. Almost too early he was taught to be an orator. Whilst he was yet a very little fellow his father would playfully lift him on to a small round table which stood beside the breakfast- table, and encourage him thence to recite some childish lesson. When he had reached the age or twelve years his father, each Sunday, would call him into the study and make him repeat all that he could remember of the sermon. He was taught not merely to repeat the discourse, but to give the substance of it in his own words, to ask questions, and to obtain solutions of any difficulties which it might suggest. By these exercises his memory, his command of words, and his dialectical power were developed to an unusual degree. But his political ambition was still more strongly developed by the conversation and example of his father, who was now a member of the House of Commons.

Mr. Peel had always taken a lively interest in public affairs. In 1780 he published a pamphlet designed to prove that the National Debt was favourable to national prosperity ; in 1790 he was elected by

EARLY YEARS. 5

Tamworth and entered Parliament, where he uniformly supported His Majesty's advisers, and in 1797 his firm subscribed £10,000 towards the voluntary contributions for the war with France. These services were rewarded in 1800 with a baronetcy. The good done by the first Sir Robert Peel in originating the two earliest Factory Acts has gained him a purer and more lasting honour. He was an active and spirited member of Parliament, but he was a vehement Tory. Like so many other men of that time, he had been frightened into violent reaction by the violence of the French Ecvolution. The long war completed what the French Revolution had begun, and for him blended inseparably the dislike of change and the love of his country. He was religious, also, according to the somewhat rigid and narrow piety of his class, and to him the maintenance of the Catholic disabilities was a fortieth article of faith. He revered Mr. Pitt as the perfect type of a »great Minister. But the Pitt whom he reverenced was not the Pitt of earlier years, the sober and rational reformer ; it was the Pitt of later years, Pitt hardened and blinded by the war with France and the struggle against French ideas.

To young Robert Peel all the prejudices of the time of reaction came thus recommended by the authority of a tender and loving father, a man irreproachable in all private relations, and generous and beneficent to his fellow citizens, a man of acute and vigorous understanding and of untiring energy. All these prejudices the boy welcomed to his mind ; yet his was not the mind that could rest content with them. He, like his father and grandfather, was too restless to remain for ever in the bondage of routine. He was destined to put forth in political life the inventive qualities which they had

^ LIFE OF SIB EOBEBT PEEL.

exercised in business. He was as quick as they had been to seize the ideas of a time of change. Nature had made him a great administrator, and circumstances were to make him a great reformer. But how painful was that forty years' struggle of nature and of circumstances with the habit of thought and feeling which circumstance had made almost as strong as nature ! How often amid the tearing of pnrty ties, the loss of private friends, the passionate invectives of those who thought that he had betrayed them, and the stinging compliments of those who congratulated him on reaping where they had sown, how often must that proud man have regretted that he had entered on political life with a creed to which events almost daily gave the lie ! It is thus that the fondest parents twine crowns of thorns for their children to wear.

Nor was the perversion of his intellectual development the only disadvantage of his early training. It had in one respect an unfortunate effect upon his character. As he had no childhood, he never possessed the unlaboured charm of those who have once been downright children. He was good and gentle, docile and studious, observant and thoughtful ; but he was morbidly sensitive, shrank from the rough ways of his equals in years, and preferred the society of his elders. He thus acquired a certain formality and stiffness, as of a self-conscious child, which remained with him all his life, and led those who did not know him to think that he had no heart. He also developed an egotism rather superficial than essential, such as we often see in persons who have been tenderly reared and carefully trained under the eye of loving parents, and away from the brusque democracy of school. With these failings he had, however, the virtues which redeem them. If he was

EARLY TEARS. 7

formal, he was ever courteous ; if he was sensitive to pain^ he was slow to inflict it upon others ; if he was somewhat of a pedant, he was correct in his morals and refined in his tastes. For these good qualities a good home is the best nursery. And after all, when we lay stress upon Peel's domestic training we must remember that he had the training of a public school and university as well.

Rather later than usual young Peel was sent to school at Harrow. He brought with him no extraordinary store of knowledge, nor did he display any miraculous powers. He did not endear himself to the schoolboy mind by feats of strength or daring, nor court a painful pre-eminence by original breaches of discipline. He disliked games, and had a habit of taking walks by himself He was as quiet and industrious as he had been at home. The capacity for taking pains, which made him one of the first men in England, made him one of the first boys in Harrow. Everybody remembers Byron's character of Peel : that he always knew his lesson and was never in a scrape. Byron thought that he had been quite equal to Peel in general information, and superior to Peel in acting and declaiming. Lord Bailing tells us that Mr. Mark Drury, his school tutor, whose pupil Peel had formerly been, preserved many of Peel's exercises, and would refer to them to show how tersely and how clearly Peel had expressed himself both in English and in Latin.

Peel left Harrow in the summer of 1805, when he was in his eighteenth year, and in October entered as a gentleman commoner at Christ Church, Oxford. That great foundation was then at the zenith of its fame. Cyril Jackson who had been Dean when Canning was an undergraduate, continued to be Dean during Peel's academical career. At Oxford, Peel, as so often happens, grew somewhat younger, indulged himself in hoating and riding, and dressed like a man of fashion. But he did not abate either his industry or his decorous behaviour.

I He was one of those admirable undergraduates who play

no pranks, have no adventures, give no trouble, are

j| always punctual at chapel, and never fail to be ready for

\an examination. With his tutor, the Kev. Charles Lloyd, who afterwards became Bishop of Oxford, Peel formed a close friendship, which continued unbroken till Lloyd's death. In the Michaelmas term of 1808, Peel achieved the distinction of a double first class in classics and mathematics. In the mathematical first class he stood alone. This double honour had not yet been gained under the modern system of examinations, which was then comparatively new. It was, no doubt, easier of attainment before the progress of knowledge and the fever of competition had enlarged the studies of the several schools. Still Peel's performance was a brilliant one. Aq he already had a great name among his fellow students, a numerous audience came to hear his examination, but did not disturb his uniform serenity. But who shall describe old Sir Robert's pleasure at this, the first achievement of his darling son ? For a long time he could not speak of his son's degree without shedding tears. Young Robert had justified his hopes, had repaid his anxiety, and was certain to prove a second Mr. Pitt. Children so generally disappoint the fond unreasoning hope of their parents, that even now one dwells with satisfaction on the joy and pride of the worthy old gentleman.

Nothing remained except to provide Robert with a seat in Parliament. Sir Robert Peel looked round for a snug borough, and saw the ancient Irish city of Cashel

EARLY TEARS. 9

with a constituency of twelve electors, in the patronage of Mr. Kichard Pennefather. A bargain was easily concluded. Robert was elected member for Casbel in the April of 1809, and took his seat in the House early in the session of that year. Richly endowed by nature and by fortune, tall, strong, and handsome in person, in mind vigorous and highly cultivated, with all the reputation that a youth can acquire, and with all the resources of inexhaustible wealth at his command, Robert Peel found himself on the highroad of power and of glory, at an age when most clever lads are beginning to think that it is almost time to choose a means of earning a livelihood.

Chapter II. Political Apprenticeship

1809-1819.

The Honse of Commonfl in 1809 — Peel's future ColleagTies and Opponents — Peel's First Year in Parliament — Peel seconds the Address in 1810 — Peel becomes Private Secretary to Lord Liverpool — Peel Under-Secretary for the Colonies— The First Bullion Committee — Peel Chief Secretary for Ireland — His Merits and Defects as Chief Secretary — The Irish Constabulary — Irish Education — Agitation for Catholic Emancipation — Quarrel with O'Connell — Peel Member for Chippenham — Peel Elected by tho University of Oxford — Peel's high reputation — He resigns the post of Chief Secretary and holds aloof from Office — Peel Chairman of the Second Bullion Committee — Resumption of Cash Payments.

When Peel entered the House of Commons there was no lack of eloquence and statesmanship among its members. Pitt and Fox, indeed, had been dead three years, and no man had been able to take the place of either. But on the minifeterial side, Canning was in the full flush of renown. Tierney, Sheridan, and Grattan were still numbered among the Opposition; and they were soon afterwards rejoined by Flunket. Althorp first distinguished himself in this very session. Brougham did not enter the House until the year following, and Mackintosh was still in India; but Eomilly and Horner

POLITICAL APPRENTICESHIP. 11

represented the cause of calm and philosophic reformation. Among the younger men whose names were to be linked with those of Peel, William Lamb, afterwards Viscount Melbourne, was now thirty years of age, a promising member. Lord Palmerston, a few years older, and Lord John Russell, a few years younger than Peel, had scarcely yet attracted public notice. Outside the House, Wellington, now in his fortieth year, was engaged in driving the French out of Portugal. O'Connell was a prosperous and Copley a promising barrister. Stanley had reached the beginning and Graham the close of school life. Richard Cobden was a little boy of five, and Benjamin Disraeli was slightly younger. Lord Aberdeen had risen high in the diplomatic profession, and about this time had the honour to be laughed at by Byron.

During his first year in Parliament, Peel spoke seldom and never more than a few words at a time. He was regular and close in his attendance, and devoted himself to acquiring that knowledge of the House and its business, in whicli he at length surpassed all other men. Industry and influence brought him to the notice of the ministers, and he was chosen to second the Address in reply to the Speech from the Throne at the opening of the Session of the year 1810. The occasion was not a happy one. In the preceding year the whole naval strength of England had been exerted in vain, and a g.illant army, such as might have supported a struggle for freedom in North Germany, or might have carried Wellington in triumph to the gates of Madrid, had perished uselessly in the marshes of Walcheren. The genius and fortune of Napoleon had gained their last decisive triumph on the field of Wagram, and Europe had sunk back into uneasy rest. Only in the Peninsula

12 LIFE OF SIE ROBERT PEEL.

the British and the Portuguese still stood at hay. Incompetence and discord had put an end to the Duke of Portland's ministry. Perceval became Premier; Canning and bis friends went out of ofiBoe; Lord Liverpool succeeded Lord Castlereagh at the Colonial OfiQce; and Lord Palmerston became Secretary at War. So weak a ministry has rarely governed in a crisis so perilous. Under these circumstances the youngest orator could scarcely rise to glowing eloquence; the most skilful orator could scarcely do more than veil in neat, plausible phrases the follies of the late, and the mediocrity of the present, ministers. This Peel did with a modest assurance, which was the more conspicuous by contrast with the nervous embarrassment of Lord Barnard, the mover of the Address. Biographers tell us that this, his maiden speech, assured preferment to Peel ; but maiden speeches seldom obtain anything more than praise from the ladies of one's own family. When Lord Liverpool chose Peel to be his private secretary, he doubtless rested his good opinion on grounds more solid than this speech affords.

In this post Peel attracted the favourable notice of George III., who had not forgotten old Sir Robert's loyalty. Lord Liverpool was so well satisfied with his secretary, that he promoted him to be Under-Secretary for the Colonies. Soon afterwards there came before Parliament the first of those great questions on which Peel began by siding with the party of resistance, and ended by carrying out the ideas of the party of reform. This was the question of the resumption of cash payments, a question which then shook the scientific and the commercial world. Its intimate connection with Peel's career makes necessary a brief sketch of its history before the year 1811.

s> i

POLITICAL APPBENTICESHIP. 13

When Great Britain engaged in war With France in the year 1793, her currency included, besides coin, the notes issued by the Bank of England and by the numerous country banks. At that time nobody contemplated the suspension of cash payments. But in 1796 the Government borrowed largely of the Bank of England, and then postponed payment of its debts. The Bank was thus reduced to contract its circulation of notes. About the same time, the rumours of a French invasion led to a run on the country banks. These, in turn, made large demands upon the Bank of England, and by the 27 th of February 1797 the specie held in reserve at the Bank had fallen to d£l,000,000 sterling. In this emergency, an Order in Council forbade the Bank to make any further payments in specie until the will of Parliament should be made known, and an Act passed the same year confirmed and continued the prohibition. By subsequent Acts the prohibition was continued until the expiration of one month after the close of the war.

During the twelve years following the prohibition of cash payments, the inconvertible paper was issued with such discretion that it was not at all depreciated in value. But in the year 1809 the value of bank-notes and of their nominal equivalent in gold began to show a divergence so marked as to attract the attention of Parliament. In the year 1810 a Committee of the House of Commons, since known as the Bullion Committee, and comprising many of the most eminent statesmen, economists, and financiers of the day, was appointed to investigate the subject, and produced an elaborate report recommending the resumption of cash payments within the space of two years. On the 6ih of May 1811, Mr. Horner, who had acted as Chairman, moved a series of sixteen resolutions embodying the conclusions of the Committee. These resolutions gave rise to a brisk debate. The change from an inconvertible to a convertible currency, although salutary, must always be painful, since most of the transactions which have been made in the depreciated currency are thrown out of gear by the attempt to restore its value. A powerful opposition amongst men of business was supported by the Government, still engaged in a terrible war, and afraid of impairing its resources. Mr. Horner's resolutions were rejected, and in their stead, Mr. Vansittart, Chancellor of the Exchequer, moved and carried three resolutions, affirming, amongst other things, the gross and palpable falsehood that the currency had undergone no depreciation. It is thus that governments restore confidence. On this occasion young Peel voted with his father and the Ministers — a fact which he was never allowed to forget.

Always equal to his work, and never above it, Peel, whilst he was yet little known to the public, had firmly established himself in the good opinion of those who held power. The murder of Perceval in May of 1812 Jed to a remodelling of the Cabinet, which opened up new prospects to Peel. Lord Liverpool became Prime Minister, and Peel rose with Lord Liverpool. The place of Chief Secretary lor Ireland, which hail been offered to Palraerston and declined by him, was accepted by Peel, who held it for six years, under three successive Viceroys, the Duke of Richmtrnd, Lord Wliitworth, and Lord Talbot. Important though the place was, it was then, as now, the most disagreeable in the gift of a Premier.

During his tenure of it Peel displayed some admirable qualities. In a jovial court, and at a time of life when

POLITICAL APPBENTIGESHIP. 15

men are rarely averse to dissipation, he was punctual, methodic, and laborious. He was upright himsell^ and he discouraged jobbery in others. Inventive and practical, he was the first to establish an efficient police in Ireland. His claim to the invention may be disputed, for it has been ascribed to Sir Arthur Wellesley, when he organized the Dublin police. He cannot be denied the praise of ingenious adaptation. No country in Europe needed a police more. Wide tracts of bog and mountain, the scarcity of good roads, the want of education, the prevalence of misery and discontent, all contributed to make certain offences easy and certain offenders difficult of capture. In default of a civil police the military were often called in. At every turn the soldiers were called upon to seize an illicit still or to arrest a criminal. For such duties soldiers are ill suited, and the performance of such duties is unfavourable to the excellence of the soldier in his own profession. It wears out his spirits, relaxes his discipline, and lessens his credit with the people. These considerations led Peel to introduce, in 1814; a Bill which empowered the Lord Lieutenant in Council to appoint stipendiary magistrates for the disturbed districts, and to place under their orders a regular constabulary. When passed, this measure was applied to parts of the counties of Tipperary, Louth, Clare, and Cavan. It answered its purpose, but was partial in its operation. In the session of 1817 Peel introduced a new Bill for the extension of the constabulary system, which may therefore be dated from that year, although some time elapsed before it became universal in Ireland.