f able to guide the ship of state in stormy waters. Analogy
must not be too closely pressed; but we see that, while Canning for all
his ability established no durable influence, and his oratory burnt
itself out after a brief blaze, while Wellington's fame paled year after
year from his inability to control the course of civil strife, Peel's
light burnt brighter every decade, as he rose from office to office and
faced one difficult situation after another with coolness and success.
He stayed at his post in Dublin for six years: he worked at the details
of his office--education, agriculture, and police--and brought in many
practical reforms. His beneficial activity is still better seen in the
years 1821 to 1827 when he was Home Secretary. To-day he is chiefly
remembered as the eponymous hero of our police; but in many other ways
his tenure of the latter office is a landmark in departmental work. It
may be that he originated little himself: that Romilly was the pioneer
in the humanizing of law, that Horner taught him the doctrines of sound
finance, that Huskisson led the way in freeing trade from the shackles
with which it had been bound. But Peel in all these cases lent generous
support and made their cause his own. He had a cool head and a warm
heart, a knowledge of Parliament and an influence in Parliament already
unrivalled. He saw what could be done, and how it could be done, and so
he was able to push through successfully the reforms which his
colleagues initiated. The value of his work in this sphere has never
been seriously contested.

The point on which Peel's enemies fastened in judging his career was the
number of times that he changed his convictions, abandoned his party,
and carried through a measure which he himself had formerly opposed. To
understand his claim to be called a great statesman it is particularly
necessary to study these changes.

The first instance was the Reform of the Currency. Early in the French
wars the London banks had been in difficulties. The Government was
forced to borrow large sums from the Bank of England in order to give
subsidies to our allies, and was unable to pay its debts. The Bank could
not at the same time meet the demands of the Government and the claims
of its private customers. Since a panic might at any moment cause an
unprecedented run on its reserves, Pitt suspended cash payments till six
months after the conclusion of peace. The Bank was thus allowed to
circulate not