PREFACE.

THE SPEECHES OF SIR ROBERT PEEL, as delivered in the House of Commons, and faithfully recorded in these volumes, may be considered as the perfect reflex of this distinguished orator's Parliamentary career, and the political mirror of the eventful age in which he lived. During a period of forty years he was the moving spirit of every important public measure; and perhaps no statesman of ancient or modern times ever possessed a more commanding sway over the minds of men. His eloquence, possibly, was not of the first order. He had not the fire and energy of Chatham, the imagery of Burke, the versatile genius of Canning, or the brilliant oratory of Sheridan; but he displayed those requisites which are far more essential to a great statesman -a thorough knowledge of the various subjects on which his speeches were delivered, and the most perfect clearness in the development of his views; while dignity of expression, a purity of diction, and unaffected ease imparted a charm and a grace to all he uttered.

Sir R. Peel was born at Chambey Hall, near Bury, in Lancashire, in the year 1788; and in 1809 he entered upon his Parliamentary career by being returned to the House of Commons as M.P. for Cashel. The House was not then devoid of men of talent and power with whom he had to compete. There was Grattan, an orator who felt intensely the wrongs of the Catholics; and there were Windham, Tierney, Whitbread, Wilberforce, Percival, Canning, Castlereagh, Romilly, Parnell, Palmerston, Brougham, Rawlinson, and a-host of minor orators, amongst whom Peel had to rise. But circumstances were favourable. Canning and Castlereagh had just fought their celebrated duel, and resigned their offices. The Duke of Portland having also retired, the premiership devolved upon Mr. Percival, with whom the Earl of Liverpool, the Marquis Wellesley, and Lord Palmerston took office. Parliament was on the eve of assembling; and there was the disastrous Walcheren campaign to be defended. To young Peel, who had just entered into Parliament, was entrusted the seconding of the Address in answer to his Majesty. Thishis spirited maiden speech-forms the first of the voluminous series here presented to the world. He shortly afterwards addressed the House on the bringing up of the Report of Lord Porchester's committee, condemnatory of the expedition to the Scheldt; and again he spoke for the rejection of the

petition from the Livery of London as to the committal of Sir Francis Burdett. Neither of those speeches, however, equalled the promise of his first effort; but this was surpassed by his speech of March 18, 1811, upon the Peninsular war, in which he defended the conduct of Lord Wellington. This admirable address brought Peel, for the first time, into office. The Premier, Percival, was so pleased with it, that he expressed his determination to raise him to the cabinet; but his melancholy death defeated this intention. On the accession of Lord Liverpool to office, however, Mr. Peel was appointed, in 1812, to the Chief-Secretaryship for Ireland. In this position he soon displayed the highest capabilities for business, and brought in a bill, which was subsequently carried, for establishing the Constabulary force of Ireland,-a corps which has since been of great utility in the preservation of order in the Sister Kingdom.

About this period Mr. Peel changed his constituency from Cashel to Chippenham; but in 1817 a vacancy occurring in the representation of the University of Oxford, on the elevation of Lord Colchester to the peerage, he was honoured with the choice of his Alma Mater as the representative of that distinguished seat of learning. In 1818 he resigned the office of ChiefSecretary for Ireland, and assumed the position of an independent member of Parliament, but still continued to take part in all the important debates which arose from time to time. In 1819 he was appointed chairman of the great Bullion Committee, which consisted of some of the most distinguished statesmen of the day. As a consequence of the report of that committee he took charge of, and on the 5th of April, 1819, brought in a bill for authorising a return to CASH PAYMENTS; and the same night, by means of a suspension of the standing orders, that important measure of finance, which bears his name, passed through the House of Commons; although, at the time, it was strenuously opposed by his venerable and respected parent, Sir Robert Peel.

In January, 1822, Mr. Peel was appointed Secretary of State for the Home Department, which office he resigned when Mr. Canning became minister in 1827. But the Duke of Wellington having been called to the councils of the Sovereign, on the death of Mr. Canning, in 1828, Mr. Peel again resumed the office of Home Secretary, and held that important situation during the troublesome period that preceded the dissolution of the Tory ministry in 1830.

Up to this period of his Parliamentary career, Mr. Peel had been a strenuous opponent of CATHOLIC EMANCIPATION; and his junction with the Duke of Wellington, who was known to have become favourable to that measure, gave strong offence to many of his old supporters. Mr. Peel then averred that, although his feelings remained the same as they ever had been, the claims of the Catholics could no longer be withheld with safety to the State. Accordingly he brought in a bill for removing their political disabilities, which, after considerable opposition, passed through the two Houses of Par

liament. The sudden and unexpected change of sentiment, which the right honourable gentleman had evinced on so important a question, gave great offence to his Oxford constituency. Hence he lost his re-election for the University, and was compelled to accept the little borough of Westbury.

We now enter upon a most important period of Parliamentary history, which for a short time arrested the ministerial career of Mr. Peel, and placed him, as a simple member of the House of Commons, in direct opposition to the new cabinet. The French revolution of 1830 had imparted a sudden and almost universal impulse to the long-contested question of PARLIAMENTARY REFORM. It would be foreign to our purpose to enter upon the history of the great Reform movement of that period; but suffice it to say, that on the postponement of the King's visit to the city, and the defeat of the government on Sir Henry Parnell's motion on the civil list, the Wellington administration was annihilated, and Sir Robert Peel ceased to be Secretary of State for the Home Department. All his fervid eloquence, in opposition to the Reform Bill, proved unavailing; and the measure was triumphantly carried, under Lord J. Russell's administration, through both houses of Parliament. During the progress of these political struggles, the death of Mr. Peel's father took place; on which the honourable gentleman succeeded to the baronetcy, with an amount of property that rendered him one of the wealthiest Commoners in England. With the demise of his father he gained the seat for Tamworth, which he occupied to the time of his death.

On the dissolution of the Melbourne administration, in 1834, the Duke of Wellington was sent for to form an administration. His Grace at once despatched a messenger to Italy, where Sir R. Peel was then sojourning, and offered him the Premiership. He immediately returned to England; and, after forming an administration, dissolved the Parliament. The new Parliament assembled on the 9th of February, 1835. Sir Robert's government sustained several defeats, and on the 8th of April he and his colleagues resigned. The Whigs then returned to power, and retained their position until 1839, when they were virtually defeated on the Jamaica Bill, and retired from office. After an unsuccessful attempt, on the part of Sir Robert, to form an administration, the Liberals once more resumed their places on the Treasury benches, which, in defiance of frequent defeats, they continued to retain till 1841.

It was at this period that the Whigs, perceiving the great change that was taking place in public feeling on the subject of the CORN LAWS, determined, after sustaining a defeat, to assemble a new Parliament. The returns proved unfavourable to the free-trade cause; and in the autumn of 1841 the ministers had to meet a Parliament which presented a majority of nearly 100 members against them. On making this discovery the Whigs resigned; and Sir Robert Peel, as the leader of the Conservatives, and the great champion of