THE STATESMAN'S VALEDICTION.

493

concluded with words worthy of an English Minister, and an English statesman, worthier far than inflated appeals to national pride or selfish boasts of national wealth :-"In relinquishing power, I shall leave a name severely censured, I fear, by many who, on public grounds, deeply regret the severance of party tiesdeeply regret that severance, not from interested or party motives, but from the firm conviction that fidelity to party engagements-the existence and maintenance of a great party-constitutes a powerful instrument of government. I shall surrender power severely censured also by others who, from no interested motives, adhere to the principle of protection, considering the maintenance of it to be essential to the welfare and interests of the country; I shall leave a name execrated by every monopolist who, from less honourable motives, clamours for protection because it conduces to his own individual benefit; but it may be that I shall leave a name sometimes remembered with expressions of good-will in the abodes of those whose lot it is to labour, and to earn their daily bread by the sweat of their brow, when they shall recruit their exhausted strength with abundant and untaxed food, the sweeter because it is no longer leavened with a sense of injustice."

But Sir Robert Peel, in taking leave of office, did not take leave of power. The sympathy of the people went with him, and he was never so sure of their support as when resigning the position to which it had helped to raise him. As he left the House on the night of the memorable 29th, he was received outside by a respectful crowd,

494

PEEL'S LATER CAREER.

who bared their heads when he appeared, and escorted him to his house,—a retinue which any statesman might regard with pride.

"The most triumphant portion of Sir Robert Peel's political career," says Lord Dalling,* "was that which followed his exclusion from official life. I know of no statesman who ever occupied so proud a position as that in which a greater commoner than even the first William Pitt stood from 1846 to July, 1850, when an unhappy accident filled with patriotic sorrow every heart in England. Above all parties, himself a party, he had trained his own mind into a disinterested sympathy with the intelligence of his country. He never during this period gave a vote to court democratic influence, or to win aristocratic favour. Conscientiously and firmly attached to the religion of the State, he flattered none of its prejudices, and repudiated boldly its exclusive pretensions; and his speech on the Jewish Disabilities Bill, considering that it was delivered towards the close of a career which had begun under the intolerant patronage of Lord Eldon, is perhaps the most notable and the most instructive that he ever delivered, as marking the progress of opinion during forty years in the history of England."

Out of office Sir Robert was at leisure to cultivate that love of letters, and that sympathy with art and artists, by which he was always most honourably distinguished. He collected at his seat at Drayton Manor a gallery of paintings, which included many admirable

*Sir Robert Peel: an Historical Sketch,' pp. 140, 141.

HIS PARAMOUNT INFLUENCE.

495

His patronage of

specimens of the English school. artists and literary men was as generous and delicate as it was judicious. But in all the social relations of life the fine qualities of his character were highly conspicuous. As a father and as a husband, as a landlord, as a friend, it is impossible to write of him in other than terms of the most glowing praise. His house was always the centre of a refined and cultivated circle; and if his conversation had none of the geniality which marked that of Fox, or the brilliancy which marked that of Canning, it was rendered charming by its unaffected simplicity, its stores of information, and its high feeling for all that was good and beautiful.

During the closing years of his too brief life Sir Robert gave a general support to the Russell Ministry, which but for the aid of his powerful arm, must have succumbed to the attacks of an influential Opposition. Its principal legislative measure, the Irish Encumbered Estates Act, was framed upon the principles which he had laid down in one of his most powerful and cogent speeches. As session after session revealed the administrative weakness of the Government, and the little hold they had upon the confidence or respect of the country, men's eyes were more and more eagerly turned towards the ex-Minister as to a Deus ex machina, who alone could deliver the State from the difficulties that pressed upon it. The genuine liberalism of his policy was acknowledged by all thoughtful observers. As one of his critics remarks, he came to be believed in heart more "liberal" than the majority of those who assumed the name; and most men, at bottom, felt convinced that in

496

MEETS WITH AN ACCIDENT.

serving under Sir Robert the Liberal party would sacrifice nothing, excepting some false pride and a false character.

On Friday, the 28th of June, 1850, Sir Robert Peel delivered his last speech. Mr. Roebuck had brought forward a motion approving the foreign policy of the Government,* and more particularly its latest development in the shape of a ridiculous quarrel with the little state of Greece. The motion conveyed "an oblique censure" on the course which Lord Aberdeen, Sir Robert Peel's Foreign Minister, had pursued, and therefore called forth a defence from the late Premier. It was a consummately able address, vindicating the action of Sir Robert's Government, and authoritatively indicating the general lines on which the foreign policy of Great Britain should always be constructed. Next day, the 29th, Sir Robert left home on horseback, about five o'clock in the afternoon, to take his usual airing. After calling at Buckingham Palace, and inscribing his name in the Queen's book of visitors, he rode up Constitution Hill, and meeting Miss Ellis, a daughter of Lord Dover, who was also on horseback, stopped for a moment to exchange greetings. His horse, which was young and fresh, suddenly became restless, and plunging violently, threw its rider, falling at the same time with its knees upon his shoulders. Two gentlemen who were on the spot immediately raised him, and a carriage being procured, he was lifted into it and carried home. There he was so overcome by the grief and agitation of Lady Peel

* A motion condemning this policy had been introduced in the House of Lords by Lord Stanley, and carried by a majority of 35.

HIS ILLNESS AND DEATH.

497

and his family that he fainted. Sir Benjamin Brodie and some of the most eminent surgeons of London were quickly in attendance; but such was his excessive sensibility, and so terrible were his sufferings, that he was unable to bear the necessary medical examination, and not until after his decease was it discovered that one of his ribs had been fractured, and that the broken end had perforated the left lobe of the lungs.

He sank rapidly. Several bulletins were issued in the course of Sunday to satisfy the public curiosity. Deeply anxious crowds gathered in Whitehall Gardens eager to obtain the slightest information; and throughout the country prevailed a feeling of the profoundest grief and apprehension. The builetin on Monday morning announced that the sufferer had passed "a good night, and was on the whole better;" but the gleam of hope thus excited faded in the course of the day, as it became known that unfavourable symptoms had appeared. At ten P.M., the bulletin was ominous, for it confessed that the condition of the patient was less satisfactory than it had been in the morning. Sir Robert was now visited by his old friend, Dr. Tomlinson, Bishop of Gibraltar; and his family gathered round the dying statesman's bedside while the Bishop read the prayers for the sick. Sir James Graham, Lord Hardinge, and a few of his more intimate political friends and associates were also admitted. On Tuesday, he partook of Holy Communion; and calmly taking leave of his family and former colleagues, sank peacefully into his last sleep at nine ninutes past eleven in the evening.

At the time of his death, the House of Lords was

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