was poorer by 300,000l. when he left than when he entered the Treasury; which, by the bye, he goes on to call, with a sneer at Walpole, "a most unministerial proceeding!" I had imagined that (waiving for a moment the different relative value of money) the salary and emoluments of a Prime Minister were not much more considerable in those days than in ours. Thus, then, it seemed very strange how Walpole, who from his profuse style of living, and especially his "meetings" at Houghton, was thought fully to live up to his income, could yet spare from it at least 240,000%. for buildings, lands, and pictures, that is, during his twenty years of Premiership, at the rate of 12,0007. annually. Sir Robert Peel to Lord Mahon. MY DEAR LORD MAHON, Drayton Manor, I am more than repaid if my observations on the character of Walpole have been of any use to you. One word more as to the charges of personal corruption which were preferred by Walpole's enemies. In the last century such charges against Ministers who built splendid houses, or lived expensively, were not unfrequent. If I recollect right, Lord Bute was subject to the same accusation on account of Luton: it was said he was bribed by France. 200,0007. is certainly a large sum for Walpole to have expended at Houghton; but observe, this sum includes purchase of land; and before there could be any well grounded suspicion of personal dishonesty, many inquiries should be made. The first and most material would be, What were the usual and legitimate emoluments of the offices which Walpole held, or which his immediate family held? In modern times the exact income of a Secretary at War, a Paymaster of the Forces, and a Chancellor of the Exchequer, is strictly regulated, and known to all the world; but in the time of Walpole the payment was mainly by fees, occasionally very large in their amount. I believe the gains of two of the offices above mentioned-the War Office and Pay Office to have been very considerable. Another inquiry would be, Whether the money for purchases of land was raised on the whole, or paid by mortgage on the land bought? The amount of the fortune of Walpole's first wife, and his legitimate gains by the open sale of South Sea Stock when out of office, must be taken into the account. A fourth subject of inquiry would be, the fortune left by Walpole. I doubt whether he did not die an embarrassed man; whether he had not spent by far the greater part of his emoluments. It is twice mentioned by Coxe that he lamented that he had built on so large a scale at Houghton, and Coxe has these expressions: "The embarrassed situation of his own affairs increased his dejection.". My general impression is, that he was profuse in his expenditure, and careless about money. I cannot say I think 30007. a year for the Prime Minister of England to spend in convivial entertainments at a magnificent country house, where he received, not only his personal, but his political friends, at all unreasonable. Other Ministers have laid by their emoluments and escaped notice. Walpole spent his income, and the evidence of profusion was daily seen, and created, I believe, unfounded suspicion. Nothing would surprise me more than to find Walpole convicted of personal dishonesty, when I look at his demeanour in the face of his enemies, his general habits, the scrutiny to which his conduct was exposed after his fall, and the warning he had in early life by a committal to the Tower on a charge of this nature. I am amused at one of Mr. Macaulay's criticisms on the conduct of Walpole. The charge is that he modified or withdrew unpopular measures; that, for instance, he abandoned the Excise Bill when he found it offensive to the great towns of England. Mr. Macaulay says that the language which he held about the Excise measure is "eminently characteristic." The language was that he thought the measure in principle right, but consented to abandon it in deference to popular opinion. Did you happen to read Mr. Macaulay's speech to the electors of Leeds about the repeal of the Corn Laws?-which Corn Laws are to be maintained (against principle in Mr. Macaulay's opinion) because the people are divided on the subject. 96 SIR ROBERT PEEL ON SIR ROBERT WALPOLE. 1833. Sir Robert Walpole might justly reply, if he had the power of reply: "I at least tried the measure which I thought right. I did not abandon it until success was proved to be hopeless, and opposition to be universal. But you, my accuser, when you are in office, shrink from even the proposal of what you think right. On your own showing you find public opinion not unanimous against your measure, but equally divided as to its merits; and yet, with all justice and half the people on your side, you do that without a struggle which you consider it disgraceful for me to have done after the battle and after defeat. "Cur indecores in limine primo Deficitis? cur ante tubam tremor occupat artus ?" 1 I suppose Sir Robert's quotation would have been from Horace. I am not saying whether the Government be right or wrong, but only that Ministerial critics on the conduct of former Ministers should make allowances if, in popular governments, right principles are occasionally sacrificed to the fear of popular discontents. Ever most faithfully yours, ROBERT PEEL. 1 Virgil, Æn. lib. xi. v. 423. THE DUKE OF WELLINGTON ON THE 1836. WHEN, in the autumn of 1836, I was writing the second volume of my 'History of England,' I had some thoughts of inserting a passage as follows, relative to the Duke of Marlborough. "The time is not come for comparing together the conquerors of Blenheim and of Waterloo. A parallel between the living and the dead can never be quite fairly drawn. This only I will say, that no man can entertain a higher respect and admiration for Marlborough than the only Englishman who could possibly be accounted his superior. I once heard the Duke of Wellington asked whether he thought Napoleon or Marlborough the greater General. It is difficult to answer that,' he replied. I used always to say that the presence of Napoleon at a battle was equal to a reinforcement of 40,000 men. But I can conceive nothing greater than Marlborough at the head of an English army. He had greater difficulties than I had with his allies; the Dutch were worse to manage than G |