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SECOND TO CANNING.

stitution of the one for the other could have no effect on the course of the Administration. According to Sir James Mackintosh, he was the recognized "spokesman" of "the intolerant faction." In a Cabinet in which Canning was the leading spirit, Peel, with his brilliant gifts, necessarily occupied a subordinate place. Though, as M. Guizot says, far more influential with his party, and held, perhaps, in higher general estimation, he lacked that splendour and versatility as an orator, that attractiveness of character and fascination of success as a man, which had gained for Canning the enthusiasm of friends, and the admiration of the Public. Justice was done to Peel, to his zealous and laborious ability, to his practical intellect, to his wide and deep knowledge of facts and questions. He was admitted to be an excellent Home Secretary; but he was no longer regarded as the probable head of a new Administration. He was overshadowed by the superior genius of Canning, and the dazzling nature of his foreign policy. It was not that Peel fell back; but that Canning outstripped him. Some persons inclined to believe that he was fully aware of the fact, and quite contented to occupy the second rank. And this may very well be, for Peel was a patient man, and knew how to wait. Certainly, he betrayed no jealousy or ill-humour, either in his conduct or his speeches. Guizot observes that, in addition to the natural rectitude and equity of his mind, which would not permit him to underrate the merits and successes even of a rival, his reserve and susceptibility precluded his engaging in dubious conflicts for a personal object, or his putting himself forward with undue haste. With a modesty and a

CRIMINAL LAW REFORM.

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dignity which belonged to his character, he accepted the leadership of Mr. Canning; and if at times he may have felt wounded or aggrieved, all that the world saw was a wonderful calmness, patience, and perseverance. And for Peel's peculiar abilities no better sphere of work could have been found than the Home Office. The times were critical, and needed that caution directed by boldness, that firmness tempered by conciliation, which Peel knew so well how to display. To the discharge of duties of extreme delicacy and difficulty he brought an industry that never wearied, a tact that was never at fault, a courtesy that never failed, and a sweet serenity of temper that nothing disturbed.

The present tenure of his Home Secretaryship was distinguished by the considerable improvements which he introduced into the Criminal law. Accepting the principles, and gratefully availing himself of the labours of Sir James Mackintosh and Sir Samuel Romilly, he both simplified and humanized it. A hundred and thirty acts of Parliament he consolidated into five. His labours in this direction have hardly received the acknowledgment they deserved, because we have forgotten the severities which formerly disgraced our legislation. We have forgotten that the law deliberately set a value upon property which it refused to human life. From the Restoration to the death of George the 3rd, that is, in a period of 160 years, no fewer than 187 capital offences were added to the Criminal Code. In the reign of George the 2nd, thirty-three acts were passed creating capital offences; and in the first fifty years of George the 3rd, no fewer

300

PHILANTHROPIC LEGISLATION.

than sixty-three. To Peel belongs the credit of having brought practical statesmanship to bear upon this legislative enormity. He was the first Minister of the Crown who took up the work of philanthropy. It is true that he was not able to effect much in mitigating the rigour, though he so greatly simplified the complexity, of the Criminal law. Even under his revised code upwards of forty kinds of forgery still remained punishable with death. But his must be the honour of having dealt the first effective blow at the cruel policy of so many generations of legislators. His must be the honour also of having removed the restrictions which an arbitrary spirit of government had imposed upon popular freedom; so that he was able to say, Every law found on the statute-book when I entered office, which imposed any temporary or extraordinary restraint on the liberty of the subject, has been either repealed or suffered to expire."

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We have adverted, in our memoir of Mr. Canning, to the circumstances which attended the death of Lord Liverpool and the formation of the Canning Government. It was the object of Peel and Lord Eldon to re-constitute the Liverpool Cabinet, by the simple expedient of putting at its head a Premier under whom both the pro-Catholics and the anti-Catholics could continue to serve, as they had served under Liverpool. They were baffled by the ambition of Canning, who had long fixed his eye upon the Premiership, and perceived that his opportunity had come. It was with him a

* Sir T. Erskine May, 'Constitutional History,' ii. 595.

LETTER TO LORD ELDON.

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question of aut Cæsar aut nullus; he would fill the first place, or he would fill none. Peel felt convinced that no Government could stand from which Canning was excluded. At the same time he himself was not prepared to act under a pro-Catholic leader.* He explained his views very fully in a letter addressed to Lord Eldon:-t

"Differing on the Catholic question from every one of my colleagues in the Government who is a member of the House of Commons, still I have been enabled to act cordially with them, and much to my satisfaction, on other matters. I esteem and respect them, and should consider it a great misfortune, were his Majesty to lose the services of any one of them, but particularly of Canning. I can say with truth, that on all matters of domestic and general policy (with the exception of the Catholic question) my opinions are in accordance with theirs. In regarding the interests of the country, and the position of the Government, I cannot confine my views to the Catholic question alone. Our differences on that question are a great evil; but they ought not to make us forget that on other subjects,

* In 1825 Parliament agreed to a bill for suppressing the Catholic Association, which had been established two years before, and had acquired a dangerous amount of power. A bill for the removal of the disabilities of the Catholics was then introduced into the House of Commons, where it passed its third reading. Peel then tendered his resignation to Lord Liverpool, in order to facilitate a settlement of the question; but the Relief Bill being rejected by the Lords, he was induced to withdraw it. His course throughout was marked by thorough straightforwardness and honesty.

+ Twiss, 'Life of Lord Eldon,' ii. 589, 590.

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THE CANNING ADMINISTRATION.

some of not less importance-Parliamentary Reform, for instance-we are united . . . If I agreed with Canning on the Catholic question, or if his opinions had been the same with Lord Liverpool's, I should not have hesitated to remain in office, had his Majesty commissioned Canning to form a Government, and had Canning proposed to me that I should form a part of it. . .

"I have for many years taken a leading part in the House of Commons, in opposition to the Roman Catholic claims; and for the last five years (God knows not without serious difficulty and embarrassment) I have filled that office which is mainly responsible for the administration of affairs in Ireland. Can I see the influence of the office of Prime Minister transferred from Lord Liverpool to Canning, and added to that of leader of the House of Commons, without subjecting myself to misconstruction with respect to my views on the Catholic question? Can it be so transferred without affecting my particular situation as Secretary for the Home Department, and my weight and efficiency in the administration of Irish affairs? It is with deep and unaffected regret that I answer these questions in the negative."

To meet this personal difficulty, Mr. Canning offered Peel the Foreign Secretaryship; but the offer did not remove his objection to a pro-Catholic head of the Government. On the 9th of April he had an interview with Canning, and by the King's command, proposed the appointment of the Duke of Wellington to the Premiership as a settlement of all the points at issue. This was naturally rejected by Canning; and the King

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