New York Daily Tribune

Sir Robert Peel.

Sir Robert Peel was the eldest son of a wealthy manufacturer, and was born Feb. 5, 1788, in the village of Tamworth, Staffordshire County. He received his early education at the celebrated Harrow School, and afterwards entered at the University of Oxford. He became a member of the House of Commons in 1809 where he acted with the Tories, whose political principles he had inherited from his father. In 1810 he was made Secretary for the Colonies, and in 1812 received the appointment of First Secretary for Ireland during the administration of the Duke of Richmond. In 1817 he was elected to Parliament by the University of Oxford. Disapproving of the measures against Queen Caroline, he resigned his Secretaryship in 1818. At the termination of these proceedings, however, he accepted the office of Home Secretary in the place of Lord Sidmouth. Although remaining steadfast to his party, he favored certain important legal reforms, and thus gained ground with the liberal Whigs.

On the accession of Canning to the Premiership in 1827, Peel resigned his office, and acted with the Tory opposition. When that party came into power in 1828, Peel resumed the office of Home Secretary, and thus made himself responsible for the Catholic question. On this subject, he first took the ground that he adhered to the old views of his party, but that he was led by the condition of Ireland, and the apprehension of a Whig victory, to yield certain concessions. In 1828, he made no strenuous opposition to the Abolition of the Test and Corporation Acts, as moved in the House of Commons by Lord Russell. This course excited general surprise. On the opening of the Session in 1829, he resigned his office as Representative for the University of Oxford, which he owed to his zeal against the claims of the Catholics. He now took the most decisive steps in their favor, and thus brought no small degree of odium on himself. The demand for Parliamentary Reform becoming more urgent, he resigned the helm of State into the hands of the Whigs, Nov. 2, 1830. He became the leader of the opposition in the House of Commons, and contested with great energy the Reform bill proposed by the Grey ministry. In the midst of this struggle, when Wellington was commanded to form a new Ministry, he refused his cooperation, believing that a Tory administration was impossible in the existing state of public sentiment.

On the assembling of the first Reform Parliament in 1833, he found the number of his adherents dwindled to about one-third. He at once set about the work of disciplining his party. In a short time he found himself at the head of a powerful interest, which held a middle ground between the obstinate Tories and the radical Whigs, introducing a new element into British politics, that of Conservatism, properly so called. When the Melbourne Ministry was dismissed in 1834, Peel was summoned from Italy, where he was traveling for recreation, and, in connection with Wellington, commanded to form a new Administration. He combined with the section of the Whigs under Stanley and Graham, and after long delays, succeeded in composing a Cabinet, of which he was the Premier and Wellington the Minister of Foreign Affairs.

On the opening of the new Parliament in 1835, the Ministry was defeated in the choice of Speaker as well as on the Address. The next April he was compelled, together with his colleagues, to resign on the passage of the appropriation clauses in the Irish Church Bill. He again found himself the leader of the aristocratic opposition in the House of Commons. At the same time, he supported the Ministry in certain reforms that were not inconsistent with his principles. In 1839, the Ministry being dismissed, he attempted to form a new Cabinet, but soon resigned his power, on account of a misunderstanding with the Queen in relation to her household. The Whigs, who had taken the reins were again discharged in 1841, and he formed a new Cabinet on compromise principles. After carrying several important measures he took such decided ground in 1846 in favor of free trade, that he found it necessary to send in his resignation in November, but returned to office during the next month. He at once proposed his plans in regard to the Corn Laws and the Irish question. Being defeated on the last, he resigned his office on the 29th of June and the Cabinet was dissolved.

But he had previously carried through both Houses, by the aid of the Duke and his numerous proxies, the Repeal of the Corn Laws, with which, for good or ill, his name will ever be identified. None but he could have carried that important measure, and he could hardly have done it at any other juncture than the season of scarcity and panic which followed the failure of the Potato and other crops in 1846.

Since his retirement from office consequent on the severance of his party by the Corn-Law abrogation, Sir Robert has remained in Parliament, and held an influential but anomalous position. He stood aloof from the Tory Opposition led by Bentinck and D'Israeli, was distrusted and hated by them, and frequently saved the Whig Ministry from defeat, though never adhering to their party. Nearly a hundred Tory Members acted with him, and were known as 'Peelites.' These generally aided the Ministry to carry through their recent relaxation of the Navigation Laws and kindred measures. Peel himself avowed his indisposition to return to power and his wish to withdraw altogether from public life. His death makes a great blank in England, where he was widely regarded as the ablest Minister, politics apart, since Earl Grey's decease. His admirers are confined to no country, and his death will be severely deplored throughout the civilized world. He was 62 years old last February, engaging in manner, comely in person, and possessing rare forensic abilities.