of his public career, was masked for a time after his
accession to power in 1841 by the irresistible glamour,
to which Englishmen are pre-eminently sensitive, of a
powerful majority led by a statesman of rare capacity
and unrivalled repute; by the prudent and successful
conduct of affairs both foreign and domestic; by the
facile but not arrogant mastery with which Peel asserted
and maintained his authority in the State, the Legisla-
ture, and the Cabinet; by his untiring industry in
administration, and his unrivalled ascendency in debate.
But it disclosed itself gradually, and from the outset
there were two formidable obstacles in the path of the
triumphant minister. One of these was Ireland, the
standing difficulty of every administration of the cen-
tury; the other was the corn laws and the growing
antagonism of the country to their maintenance. Neither
was insurmountable by itself to a statesman of Peel's
capacity, courage, and resource. But associated together,
and combined with that "supreme prejudice and sublime
mediocrity "--to borrow a memorable phrase of Disraeli's
--with which all governments strive incessantly, and
rarely strive successfully in the long run, they brought
about his overthrow.

Between Peel and O'Connell there had long existed
an almost personal antagonism, dating from the time
when Peel, as Irish Secretary, had sent a challenge to
the popular leader. Since those days, when both were
young, O'Connell had established his claim and that
of all other Catholics to civil equality in the State,
had made himself the trusted leader of the Irish people,
had fought his way to the House of Commons, over-
throwing one Ministry by shattering the party which

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