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

MAT 91, 1856.

Mr. Doubleday, the author of " The Political
Life of Sir Robert Peel," belongs to a class of
writers nearly extinguished by the modern
organisation of journalism. He is a political
spectator, and not a partisan ; he is a philoso-
pher of the closet, and he does not seem to
h ive a practical appreciation of the volcanic
nature of political passions. He thinks and
writes like a sober disciple of the school of
William Cobhett, though his intellect has
r ceived much scientific culture. He exag-
g Tates the importance of mere economical
doses connected with the currency, and he
rigards the financial legislation of 1819 as the
m ester-cause of modern political effects in
E igland. His biography is rather financial
th in " analyti ;al." Mr. Doubleday reminds us
of double entry. He never suffers us to escape
from the influence of the ledger. Let him
discourse on what topic he may, we are sure
that reference will be made ere long to " fiscal
considerations," and to paper currency and
gold payments. We are to attribute the Re-
formation to the fiscal necessities of Henry
VIII., and the great social changes of Eliza. I
beth's reign to the influx of the precious
metals from America. The Great Revolution

was caused by the eagerness of the members
of the Long Parliament to relieve themselves
of their feudal burdens, and the Restoration
was brought about by the hatred of the people
to Parliamentary taxation. The progress of
the Dutch funding system introduced by
William 111. necessitated the attempt to tax
our American colonies ; the added burden
thus caused compelled the invention of spin-
ning jennies, and hence the origin of the Peel
family. The bullion committee of 1809 led to
the Currency Act of 1819, and to the corn laws.
whence followed the agitation for corn-law
repeal, the division of the Conservative
party, and the rise of Mr. Disraeli. In
all this Mr. Doubleday has obviously over-
stated his own side of the case. The
civilisation of England is too complex to be
affected exclusively by any one class of
moral causes. Neither is he well " up" in
the personal history of the contemporaries
with whom Sir Robert Peel had to deal, as
friends or rivals. In his estimate of the
special characteristics of his subject Mr.
Doubleday is sometimes quite wrong. He is
perfectly right when he enumerates " wonder-
" ful adaptation to business of every sort," and
" industry," amongst the resources of Sir
Robert Peel ; but it. is simply ridiculous to
give that eminent man credit for " unmateh-
" able knowledge of character;' a gift which is
rarely found in men without an apprehensive
imagination, and which certainly did not
belong to Sir R. P*'el. It was, indeed, remark-
able how often Sir R. Peel underrated some of
his most formidable antagonists. Many public
men must still remember the air of super-
cilious toleration with which Sir Robert Peel
regarded Lord John Russell when the noble
lord obtained the lead of the House of Coin
mona. He notoriously underrated the pro-
digious powers of political effect possessed by
Mr. O'Connell ; he never discovered the de-
bating talent of Mr. Ccbdeu until overthrown
by his " unadorned eloquence ;" and we might
cite many more instances.
The following passage teems with errors :
That Sir Robert Peel himself felt, and deeply felt,
the want of high birth and a noble descent, and was
aware bow far even talents like his own night be
neutralised by the want of aristocratic pretensions, is very
evident. He himself always said that the House of Com-
mons was his "element," and that in the Commons'
House he should remain; and he kept his word; and by
his last will forbade his heir to accept of a peerage, and
directed that his own funeral should be that of a private
gentleman merely. in this is to be discerned that innate
and true dignity of mind which involuntarily recalcitrates
against all distinctions, excepting those of talent and
virtue ; which made him know that the plain denomina-
tion of Robert Peel would he more illustrious in the page
of history and the eye of posterity than would have been
the Earl of Tamwortb or the Duie of Drayton ; and which
forced him to feel that, dressed in his plain blue frock nn-
blazoned with stars, or orders, or conventional decorations
of any sort, he was a more conspicuous personage than the
tinselled beings by whom he was surrounded.
The tone of that passage is altogether wrong.
Sir Robert Peel had many adventitious dis-
tinctions to enhance the force of " the talent
and virtue " mentioned by Mr. Doubleday.
He inherited a baronetcy and vast wealth;
he wt.s placed early in the House of Com-
Molls; b 7 h.i father's influence 110 was made