1850.] Resignation of Sir Robert Peel to his Death. 353 for, a direct inducement to, the desertion of active support to the national cause. The opposition of other Radicals was so strong, and the inconsistency of the Government so striking, that the measure had speedily to be abandoned. On the /th of August the intention of ministers was announced in the Commons; the second reading of the Arms Bill was carried on the loth by a majority of thirty-three; and on the i/th Lord John Russell announced its abandonment. He had done just enough to prove that his Government would be feeble in action as well as indecisive in policy. The Parliament as well as the Ministry was disorganized. The Tory party was broken up, and the main body of the opposition formed by the protectionists, and led in the Peers by Lord Stanley and in the Commons by Lord George Bentinck, was not strong enough to threaten the existence of the Government. The Peelites, whilst almost bound to sup- port the Cabinet which their own policy had put in office, were yet Conservative in feeling, and were a check, if one had been wanting, to anything like a forward policy by the Whigs. The Radicals, therefore, were relegated to their old place, where they had the duty of originating Liberal policy, of in- structing and arousing public opinion upon it, and of gradually forcing it upon the attention and the acceptance of Parliament. One great disadvantage of this position was, that it gave their leaders no opportunity of obtaining an active acquaintance- ship with the practical work of administration, and enabled the privileged classes, taking the benefit of their own injustice, to refer to the men who were really wise politicians as mere theorists, not qualified to undertake the responsibilities of government. It was a comfort to members, and no loss to the country, when the session closed. It had seen the per- formance of one of the greatest works which an English Parliament has ever accomplished, but it had passed out of the guidance of the statesman who had directed its policy, and was exhausted by the labour which he had induced it to undertake. The instrument itself was out of tune, and smaller performers could not restore the tone which it had produced 2 A
