The Press.
London, England, 1857-01-17 00:00:00

JANUARY L 7, 1857.

they may so blend in parties as scarcely to
render it possible to separate their elements.
In England we have found the best remedy
for the confusion which their amalgamation
would produce in personal and political con-
nection. When this connection does not pre-
vail, the best security for good government
and for public freedom is lost.
Connection, in a thousand shapes, spreads
its roots throughout the soil of our social life.
It is prestige, it is wealth, it is power. It
survives accidents ; it remains firm amid
disturbing influences. Without connection,
political parties would be so wavering and
unstable that not the slightest reliance could
be placed on them ; the fluctuating opinions
of the day would never suffice to bind men
together, and make them consistent either in
government or opposition.
Sir Robert Peel broke up the political con-
nection of the Conservative party, but he did
not, and could not, break up the principle of
party. What he did was to annihilate the
labour of his life since the Reform Bill, and
restore to the Whigs the ascendancy they had
lost. Party was not weakened, but the Mane.?
of party was revolutionised. Ho took from
the Conservatives that he might give to the
Whigs. If any one supposes that the princi-
ple of party is weakened, let him imagine
what a howl would be raised by the present
possessors of power and their adherents, if the
reins of Government were transferred to Lord
Derby's hands. Of connection, as an element
of party power, M. Guizot has totally lost
sight, and hence his supposition that Sir
Robeit Peel had a ground of defence which
the statesman himself well knew did not
. _

•M. Guizot falls into some mistakes which
we should have thought his knowledge of
England would have averted. Of George IV.
on the question of Emancipation, he writes :

At heart he detested Wellington as one man detests
another by whom he feels he is despised, and with whom
he is nevertheless forced to treat.

There we have French theatrical sentiment in
place of English truth. The description of
Mr Cobden is pure burlesque. Among other
things we are told that he was "wealthy and
" popular," and that he was distinguished at
Manchester for " his honourable character
" and industrial success." his general or phi•
losophie remarks are, of course, more happy.
He says justly in one place :
Power goes, by its own inclination, to the men who love
it, and sustain it with the greatest ardour.

lie forcibly exhibits the evils of that reserve,
and to some extent faithlessness, which, whe-
ther the result of temperament or policy in
Sir Robert, were fatal in their results to his
party :
Thus were exhibited the inconveniences of Sir Robert
Peel's character, and of his mode of acting, as a party
leader, in a free State. This judicious politican, this skil-
ful tactician, this consummate financier, this reasoner who
hxd so marvellous a knowledge of facts, this orator who was
often so eloquent and always so powerful, did not know how
to live on intimate terms with his party, to imbue them
beforehand with his ideas, to animate them with his spirit,
to associate them with his designs as well as with his suc-
cesses, with the workings of his mind as well as with the
chances of his fortune. He was cold, taciturn, and solitary
in the midst of his army, and almost equally so in the midst
of his staff. It was his maxim that it was better to make
concessions to his adversaries than to his friends. The
day came when he had to demand great concessions from
his friends, not for himself, for he sought none, but for the
public interest, which he had warmly at henrz. He found
them cold in their turn, not prepared to yield, and strangers
to the transformations which he had himself undergone.
Be was not in a position to make them share his views, and
to bring them to a necessary compromise.
Old Sir Robert seems to have formed a just
estimate of his son's character :
An anecdote which I have from good authority would
give reason for believing that he had been long and naturally
inclined to the tendency to which he yielded when, after
having been a stubborn Conservative, he became an ardent
Reformer. It is said that, in 1809, wben he entered the
House of Commons. his father, old Sir Robert Peel, went to
Lord Liverpool, and said to hint : "My son, you may be
sure, is a young man of rare talent. and will one day play
an important part; hut I know hint well ; at bottom, his
tendencies are Whig ; if we do not immediately enlist him
in our ranks, he will escape front us; give him something
to do, he will serve you well, but you must make sure of
him without delay." Lord Liverpool observed the son, ro•
cognised his merit, and follo'ved the father's advice.

As a memoir of Sir Robert Peel, the work is
wanting in distinctness, but it is an eloquent
and discriminative exposition of his character