but, both in and out of Parliament, the public, still
thrilling with the recollection of their mighty con-
flicts, remained impassioned and hard to please; their
seconds, Grattan, Sheridan, Tierney, Romilly, Wind-
ham, and most of all, Canning, still held brilliant
possession of the stage. Brougham had just entered
the House. More judicious than energetic, and more
lucid than impetuous, Robert Peel did not, at the
first onset, win his due renown and rank in the
opinion of the mass of spectators.

The men engaged in the government and business
of the country appreciated him more truly. Mr.
Perceval, then prime minister, hastened to atttach him
to the administration as Under-Secretary of State for
the Colonies. Two years afterwards, in 1812, Lord
Liverpool, who had succeeded to the premiership,
appointed him Chief Secretary for Ireland; and in
1821, he became Secretary of State for the Home
Department, which office he held until the fall of the
Liverpool Cabinet in 1827. Thus, for seventeen
years, and from his very entrance into public life,
he was the constant defender and an active member
of the Government.

The first twelve years of this period, namely,
until the suicide of Lord Castlereauh in 1822, were
marked by the most absolute reign of the Tory party
-- of Tories far stricter than their master, Mr. Pitt,
had ever been. Superficial thinkers have expressed
surprise at this. Peace and pacific Governments had
been re-established throughout Europe; the external
or internal dangers by which England had been

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