South Carolina Temperance Advocate

SIR ROBERT PEEL.

"He is (1836) in the prime of life, being forty-seven years of age." His whole appearance indicates health. His constitution is excellent, and his temperate habits have seconded the kindly purposes of Nature. He is capable of undergoing great physical fatigue; I have known him remain in the House for three or four successive nights till one and two o'clock, not only watching with the most intense anxiety the progress of important debates, but taking an active part in the proceedings, and yet be in office, transacting business of the greatest moment, by ten o'clock on the following morning. Sir Robert is possessed of business habits of the first order. He can descend, when there is a necessity for it, to the minutest circumstances in a great question, and master them as fully as if he had never had a thought beyond the pale of such matters. He was never yet known to bungle any measure from ignorance of business details.

"Sir Robert is perhaps the best and most effective speaker in the House. He is always very fluent, even in his most extemporaneous addresses. His language is uniformly correct, and generally eloquent. He is never at a loss for words. These he has almost invariably at his command in abundance, even when he is deficient in every thing having the semblance of argument. He is remarkably dexterous in debate. I have often admired the wonderful expertness with which he has extricated himself from the awkward positions into which his opponents have thrust him. His self-possession, which scarcely ever forsakes him, is of vast importance to him, and, in conjunction with his singularly good tact enables him to make the most of a bad case.

"In his manner Sir Robert Peel is highly dignified, and his delivery is generally graceful. He usually commences his most important speeches with his left hand resting on his side. His utterance on such occasions is slow and solemn at the outset; but when he advances to the heart of his subject, he becomes animated, and speaks with some rapidity, but always with much distinctness. His enunciation is clear, and few speakers possess a greater power over their voice. He can modulate its soft and musical tones at pleasure. He is sometimes humorous, on which occasions his manner has an irresistibly comic effect.

"Sir Robert's manners, both in and out of Parliament, are most conciliatory. He treats every person with whom he comes into contact with the utmost respect. He has a wonderful command of temper; I never yet knew him, even in the heat of debate, use a single irritating word to any opponent. And the same courtesy and respect with which he treats others are, as it is right they should be reciprocated by them. Sir Robert has not only no personal enemies, but he is held in the highest esteem by the most virulent of his opponents. It is the abstraction—the peculiar class of opinions of which he is the most distinguished champion, and not himself, as an individual, against which the Liberal party direct their uncompromising hostility.

"Sir Robert Peel never speaks on any great question until immediately before the close of the debate, however often that debate may be adjourned. His object is two-fold: first, that he may hear all that may be urged on the opposite side; and, secondly, that he may have the benefit of the 'last word.' No man can be more conscious than he is of the advantage to the cause he espouses of a skilful reply, immediately before the decision, to the principal arguments of the leading speakers on the adverse side; and certainly no man that ever sat within the walls of parliament, could display more consummate tact than he does in turning that advantage to account.

"Never was a debater more acute in detecting the weak points of an adversary, nor more happy in exposing and placing them in the most prominent point of view. And all this he seems to do with the greatest ease; without any appearance of effort. What he does on the spur of the moment is as well and effectively done as if it had been the result of months of premeditation. In his replies to speeches which were delivered but a few hours before, there is a propriety of arrangement—a lucidness of manner—a vigor and closeness of reasoning—a purity and eloquence of style—a felicity in the delivery, and a fullness and completeness in the argument, which could not have been surpassed had the speech cost him weeks of the most careful preparation."