e Nineteenth Century_, January 1890, p. 50.

[12] 'The Corn Law of 1815 was a copy of the Corn Law of 1670--so little
had economic science grown in England during all those years. The Corn
Law of 1670 imposed a duty on the importation of foreign grain which
amounted almost literally to a prohibition.'--_Sir Robert Peel_, by
Justin McCarthy, M.P., chapter xii. p. 136.

[13] _The Croker Papers_, edited by Louis Jennings, vol. iii. p. 35.

[14] _Life of the Prince Consort_, by Sir Theodore Martin, vol. i. p.
317.

CHAPTER VII

FACTION AND FAMINE

1846-1847

Peel and Free Trade--Disraeli and Lord George Bentinck lead the
attack--Russell to the rescue--Fall of Peel--Lord John summoned to
power--Lord John's position in the Commons and in the country--The
Condition of Ireland question--Famine and its deadly work--The
Russell Government and measures of relief--Crime and coercion--The
Whigs and Education--Factory Bill--The case of Dr. Hampden.

LORD STANLEY'S place in the 'organised hypocrisy,' as the Protectionists
termed the last Ministry of Sir Robert Peel, was taken by Mr. Gladstone.
Sir Robert Peel resumed office in the closing days of December, and all
the members of his old Cabinet, on the principle of bowing to the
inevitable, returned with him, except the Duke of Buccleuch and Lord
Stanley, who resolutely declined to have part or lot in the new
departure which the Premier now felt called upon to make. The Duke of
Wellington, though hostile to Free Trade, determined to stand by Peel;
but he did not disguise the fact that his only reason for remaining in
office was for the sake of the Queen. He declared that he acted as the
'retained servant of the monarchy,' for he did not wish her Majesty to
be placed under the necessity of taking members of the Anti-Corn-Law
League, or, as he put it, 'Cobden & Co.,' for her responsible advisers.

[Sidenote: THE QUEEN'S SPEECH]

The opening days of 1846 were full of political excitement, and were
filled with all kinds of rumours. Wellington, on January 6, wrote: 'I
don't despair of the Corn Laws,' and confessed that he did not know what
were the intentions of Sir Robert Peel concerning them.[15] Peel kept
his own counsel, though the conviction grew that he had persuaded
himself that in boldness lay the chance as well as the duty of the hour.
Peel, like Russell, was converted to Free Trade by the logic of events,
and he determined at al