The Press. — London, England, 1856-05-31 00:00:00

520 impressed with a sons* of his own superiority, awl urged col oy a oonv►otion of his increasing influence with the Prince Regent, his desire took the form of a determina tion. The Marquis had not sagacity equal to his brilliant accomplishments. He overlooked the statesman who under an unpretending exterior hid the most commanding and deter mined intellect in the political world—Lord Castlereagh. To him was reserved the task of baffling all the adverse combinations which threatened the Government, and the glory of bringing the war to a triumphant conclusion. Early in February, 1812, Lord Wel!este) believed that the time had come for giving a death-blow to the Perceval Ministry. As the re strictions on the exercise of the royal authority by the Regent were on the point of expiring, the Marquis took advantage of that circum stance to intimate his views to the Prince, and to declare that many personal considerations rendered it imoossible for him to serve under Mr. Perceval any longer than it suited the Prince's wishes. The Prince thought the time favorable for forming an Administration ou broad basis. He wrote a letter to the Duke of York very creditable to his good sense and honest intentions (1. 225.7). He had waived his personal sentiments from respect to the King, whose recovery he should he the last person in the kingdom to despair of; he did justice to the policy and acts of the Govern ment; he was determined to vigorously pro secute the war in the Peninsula ; be had no predilections to indulge, no resentments to grstify ; he should feel greatly gratified if some of those persons with whom the early habits of his political life were formed would strengthen his hands and constitute a part of his Government. He desired that this letter might be communicated to Lords Grey and Grenville. The latter, writing to his brother, said, " Our answer will be 'No,' as nearly as " possible ;" and "No " was returned to the Duke, on the ground that Lords Grey and Grenville would find it impossible to unite with the existing Government. On this Wellesley resigned, and Castlereagh suc ceeded him in the administration of foreign affairs. The Ministry steadied from this time, but few thought it could hold together, and the hopes of the Opposition rose high. The Common Council, the Lumber Troop of politi clam+, had a field day, and called on the Regent to dismiss his Ministry. o.her allies of the Whigs were more mischievous. There were riots in the manufacturing districts, and mob orators took advantage of the alarming state of the country to inflame the mind of the country against the Government. The assassi nation of Mr. Perceval (May 11, 1812), ren dered some change necessary. and the ques tion was plainly put to members of the Cabinet whether they conceived it possible to carry on affairs without the assistance of either section of the Opposition. The answers returned were so characteristic that we quote them, though they are not now printed fur the first time : Are you of opinion that G. sad G. [Grey and Grenville') out, and W. and C. [Wellesley and Canning] out, you can carry on the Government? it elgrave eldmouth : No [ : bonbtfol. Camden : Very doubtful, not desperate. Castlereegia: Doubtful, to say the least, without a pro position. Bathurst: Dangerona to P[rince] and country. Ryder: Extremely difficult. Eldon : It might. Melville : Very improbable. Liverpool : Doubtful, not desperate. Castlereagh's answer implied, not without a proposition to some members of the Opposi tion, to show that no effort has been left untried to strengthen the Cabinet. His hint was acted on. Wellesley was again applied to. He agreed with Canning that the leading principles of an Administration should be 1. Concet,sion of Roman Catholic claims ; 2. Prosecution of Peninsular war. He applied to Dads Grey and Grenville—would they join an Admin.stration on those terms ? The par ticulars of the negotiation are given here. The most important point is that the Whig Lords hesitated as to the policy of confirming the contest in the Peninsula : Tim present UM of their opinions di:l not Incline them to think that it would be found practicsl,o to ingrease the 14 , 4 4 9011-ms44 THE PRESS. They did not appreciate either the resources or the spirit of the country. They thought the game was now in their hands, and that the Prince must submit. A resolution had been carried in the Commons (May 21) by a majo rity of four against Ministers for an address to the Regent, praying him to form a strong and efficient Administration. Lord Grenville writes to his brother (May 29): The violence and contempt expressed of [for?) the Prime Regent are beyond all imagination, and are truly shocking to hear of. It seemed that he must place 'timself abso lutely in the hands of Opposition, and ac• cordingly he empowered Lord Wellesley to form an Administration, leaving it to Lords Grey and Grenville to name four or five mem bers of the new Cabinet for his approval. This proposal they declined to entertain. " The times imperiously require an Adminis " tration united in principle ;" they must feel sure of support for those holding measures which the public safety demanded, and they could not consent to be opposed by influences which might counteract the totiforna they proposed. The neg. tiation fell to the ground. Lord Moira, to whom the Prince next applied, fared no better than Lord Wel lesley. The Regent had to retain an Admi• nistration of whose general policy he heartily approved, or to throw himself wholly into the arms of the Whigs with a probability that that policy ould be entirely reversed. He chose the former alternative, and of course got savagely abused by the disappointed faction. All the patriots flew at him, from Sir Samuel Romilly down to little Tommy Moore. I ord Liverpool was appointed Premier, and Lord Sidmouth Home Secretary. As Castle reagh had foreseen, the Legislature concurred in what seemed to be a necessity. The Ministry had a majority, and soon afterwards came intelligence of the glorious victory of Salamanca to raise the enthusiasm of the na tion, and to cast contempt on the party which looked coldly on the contest. The noble editor of these volumes appears swayed by adverse influences. He thinks the Regent should have resigned him self to Whig guidance, but he thinks it fortunate that Lord Castlereagh was in a position to carry out his war policy. If the Regent was right in cordially supporting Castlereagh, how could he be wrong in refusing to submit to the Grey- Grenville dictation? How greatly changed might have been the whole course of our national history had Grey instead of Castle reagh been the ruling spirit of the Govern ment in 1812! The disinclination of the Whigs to coalesce with the Ministerial party is intelligible. We can understand how Mr. Francis Horner might write that the Whigs had been saved front a great peril, "by the triumph of in " veterate duplicity and the low acts of a .‘ palace. over an inflexible and proud in " tegrity." But we don't understand how any one can endorse such opinions, while exult ingly recording the glorious consequences which resulted from a continuance of the Ministry in office, and from the splendid administrative talents of Lord Castlereagh Another negotiation to induce Canning to join the Ministry proved abortive, through the determination of Castlereagh to retain the lead of the Commons. The Ministry, in the swelling tide of victory, soon ceased to feel weakness, and Lord Liverpool's Administra tion—the weakest at its commencement ever known—brought the nation triumphantly through a crisis of great difficulty, and con ducted it to the zenith of greatness. It is to the credit of the noble editor that, with all his Grenville predilections, he does full justice to the genius and patriotism of Lord Castlereagh. The life of that great states man has yet to be written, and materials con tinue to accumulate for the task. - - The volumes, from the skilful eonneeting narrative of the editor, arc thoroughly readable. and let us behind the scenes of the transac tions to which they relate. The outlines and colours are here for masterly portraits of the Grenville family, but the artist to tit, them has yet to owe. SATURDAY, SIR ROBERT PEEL. I. Memoirs of Sir Robert Peel, Bart., Af.p. Published by the Trustees of his Papers, Earl Stanhope and Right Hon. E. Card- well, M.P. Part I.—The Roman Catholic Question. London : Murray. 2. The Political Lift of Sir Robert Peel. An Analytical Biography. By Thomas Double. day, Esq. Two Vuls. London : Smith, Elder, and CO. (Seoond Notloo.) _ AIDED even by Sir Robert Peel's own attempts at painting his character, it is extremely diffi cult to render critical justice to its mingled merits and defects. He was not, in our judg ment, a great original nature ; he had neither the sudden inspiration nor the deliberately creative faculties of genius. Yet the sustained force of his intellect, and the immense extent of his political accomplishments, command our willing admiration of his great powers. "He " was the greatest Member of Parliament that " ever lived." But when we consider his claims to be reputed as a great statesman of the first class, we see that even his posthumous apology painfully couviets him of being of a must wavtring disposition. It is curious to turn to Johnson's Dictionary, to look out for the verb " to waver," and then to think of Sir Robert Peel's career in association with the meanings of that word. "To waver," we are told by Johnson, is "to play to and fro—to move " loosely—to be unsettled—to be uncertain or " inconstant—to fluctuate—not to be deter " mined "; and the lexicographer concludes with the final equivalent, " to totter—to be in " danger of falling." There was, however, a strange sort of audacity in turning against his own long avowed opinions, and setting at nought all the precedents upon which British chiefs of parties have acted towards their sup porters. Even that kind of firmness was not so great as has been supposed. He acknow ledges in his apology that when at last he had made up his mind that the Catholic claims should be conceded, his fist intention was to resign office, to support the Govern ment in his private capacity, and to become a simple member of Parliament. If he had taken that course, he might have been exposed to some taunts about change of opinion, but he would not have placed himself in the highly invidious position of getting the laurels always given to a Minister who is said, or sup posed, to have carried a great question. On January 12, 1829, he wrote to the Duke of Wellington that his mind was made up upon retirement:— My retirement will not only be the single step which I can take that will be at all satisfactory to my own feelings, but followed, as it shall be, by the warmest support of any Government of which you are the head, and by an explicit declaration of the opirions which I have thus placed upon retard, it certainly appears to me to be the step better cal culated than any other which I can take to facilitate the settlement of the Catholic question by an Administration conducted by you. If I were to go out of office resisting the question and encouraging resistance by others, I can well conceive, in the present excited state of the country, that my retirement might be productive of serious embarrassment ; but I need not assure you that the course which I should take in a private capacity would be decidedly the opposite to that. I repeat, therefore, the proposal which I made to you in August last respecting my retirement. . _ Within less than seven days he came to an other conclusion. After receiving a letter from the Duke of Wellington, he wrote on 17th January : The Duke of Wellington brought this letter to me on the 17th of January. I read it in his presence, and at once told him that I would not press rry retirement from °Moe, but would remain in office and would propose (with the King's consent) the measures contemplated by the Government for the settlement of the Catholic question. And all this vacillation was upon a ques tion upon which Sir Robert Peel bad over and over again taken up the strongest ground, and with which he was more identified than any other contemporary statesman ! But we shall not re-argue this matter; it would be in some respects very painful, as we should have to express some severe disparagement of a celebrated man for whom (with all his grave political faults) we entertain feelings of high respect. We shall turn to broader views opened by a conoidersUoi4of his career.