1841-1846

THE political emancipation of the English middle class
was accomplished by the Whig party and its leaders; its
economical emancipation was accomplished by the Tory
leader in spite of his party. In the Parliament elected
in 1841 Peel could reckon on a majority of 90, but only
112 of his followers voted in favour of the repeal of the
corn laws in 1846, the rest of the majority being sup-
plied from the Opposition. The explanation is not far
to seek. The Tory party, though now called Conserva-
tive, and partially permeated with the more liberal ideas
of Peel, was still the party of the aristocracy. The
Reform Bill had deprived the aristocracy of its predomi-
nance in the State. But it had not changed its nature,
nor purged it of its characteristic ideas, sentiments,
interests, prejudices, and predilections. Peel, on the
other hand, was no aristocrat. It was his pride, as he
once boasted in the House of Commons, to lead and
represent the "gentlemen of England." But he belonged
himself by birth and temperament to the new social
order which the economical expansion of the last century

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