present were visited on the head of Sir James,
who sought to throw the responsibility on higher powers; and in
reference to this, Sir James Graham and Sir Robert Peel figure
respectively as _Sairey Gamp_ and _Betsey Prig_, after Phiz's well-known
drawing. Sir James indeed seemed to have had rather a facility for
getting himself into trouble. There was much excitement in and out of
the House with reference to the additional grant to Maynooth College. In
the course of the debates, Sir James Graham retracted an expression
which he said had fallen from him in the heat of debate, viz. that
concession in favour of Ireland had reached its utmost limit, and hoped
that his actions had proved better than his words. Among the subsequent
cartoons by Leech, he figures as _Peel's Dirty Little Boy_. "Drat the
boy," says Dame Peel (as she chastises him), "he's _always_ in a mess."
Towards the close of the debate two remarkable speeches were delivered
by Lord John Russell and Sir Robert Peel, both of whom concurred in the
necessity of a conciliatory policy towards Ireland. This _rapprochement_
between the two leaders of the opposite camps, and the leanings of Sir
Robert in the direction of a Liberal policy, are referred to in Leech's
cartoons of _How do you Like the New Whig?_ and the _Premier's Fix_
(Peel between Free Trade and Protection), the last borrowed from one of
Cruikshank's drawings. _The Railway Juggernaut of 1845_ (also suggested
by Cruikshank's well-known etching), refers to the then mania for
dabbling in railway shares.

Between the two stools of Free Trade and Protection, Sir Robert, as
might have been anticipated, ultimately fell through; an event which is
chronicled in vol. x., the idea in this instance being taken from the
celebrated drawing in the late Mr. Clarke's "Three Courses and a
Dessert," the cartoon of Peel driving the vehicle of Protection, which
has broken down, bearing the title of _The Deaf Postilion_. A change of
ministry took place in 1846, little Lord John replacing Sir Robert Peel
as "First Lord of the Treasury." He cuts an amazingly queer figure (in
vol. xi.) in the ex-premier's huge hat, vast coat, and voluminous
waistcoat and inexpressibles. Little Lord John was an enduring subject
of _Punch's_ satire during that statesman's somewhat unsatisfactory
political career, and Leech was never weary of comparing him with his
far more brilliant and able contemporary. Here we have the pair figuring
as _Dombey