that he was
_eloquent_, but that he was _right_.... He seemed rather to aim at
gaining the doubtful, than mortifying or crushing the hostile.' These
qualities appealed especially to the practical men of business whom the
Reform Bill had brought into politics. They were suited to the temper of
the day, and his speaking won the favour of the best judges in the
House of Commons. Though he disappointed ardent crusaders like Lord
Shaftesbury by his apparent coldness and calculating caution, he
impressed his fellow members as pre-eminently honest and as anxious to
advance in the most effective manner those causes which his judgement
approved. He was not the man to lead a forlorn hope, but rather the
sagacious commander who directed his troops through a practicable
breach.

He was to be in opposition for another six years; but during these years
the Whigs were in constant difficulties, and, as Greville notes, it was
often obvious that Peel was leading the House from the front Opposition
bench. Had he imitated Russell's conduct in 1834 and devoted his chief
energies to overthrowing the Whigs, he could have found many an
occasion. Sedition in Canada and Jamaica, rivalry with France in the
Levant and with Russia in the Farther East, financial troubles and
deficits, the spread of Chartist doctrine, all combined to embarrass a
Government which had no single will and no concentrated resolution. The
accession of Queen Victoria, in 1837, made no change for the moment. But
Wellington's famous remark that the Tories would have no chance with a
Queen because Peel had no manners and he had no small talk, is only
quoted now because of the falsity of the prediction; both politicians
soon came to form a better estimate of her judgement and public spirit.
It was some years before this could be fairly tested. The Tories, while
improving their position, failed to gain an absolute majority in the
elections, and Peel's want of tact in insisting on the Queen changing
all the ladies of her household delayed his triumph from 1839 to 1841.
Meanwhile he spent his energies in training his party and organizing
their resources. He studied measures and he studied men, and he
gradually gathered round him a body of loyal followers who believed in
their chief and were ready to help him in administrative reform when
the time should come. Among his most devoted adherents was Mr.
Gladstone, at this time more famous as a churchman than as a financier;
and even