Went to India as Cadet in 1804, and became Major-General in the East India Company’s service. During his long sojourn in India he fulfilled many appointments. In 1841, selected by the Government to proceed to China as Plenipotentiary and Envoy Extraordinary for the adjustment of the differences then existing between the two empires. Amongst his other rewards for his success in this mission, he received from the House of Commons a pension of 1500l. a-year. Afterwards Governor of the Cape of Good Hope: now Governor of Madras.
[By J. E. Jones.]
471. Henry John Temple, Viscount Palmerston. Statesman.
[Born 1784. Still living.]
A Minister under many governments. Secretary-at-War from 1809 until 1828. Foreign Secretary, with a slight interval of repose, from 1830 until 1841. Again Foreign Secretary in 1846. At the present moment, Home Secretary in the administration of Lord Aberdeen. A statesman of vast knowledge and acquirements; of sterling business habits; quick and decided in action. An admirable debater, with a facile, ready, but not lofty eloquence. The upholder of constitutional government wherever his name and position have acquired influence in the world. Friendly to efforts made abroad for the recovery of liberty, he has been held in terror by those who would still keep liberty in chains. Of all living Ministers, Lord Palmerston is the most personally popular. He has served with many parties, and yet is no party man. The Whigs do not love him; the Conservatives cannot claim him; the Radicals own him not. Yet the eye of England glances involuntarily towards him as one with qualities to be exercised on great occasions, in the interests of his country. We cannot enumerate his followers; but his admirers are countless. He has many practical virtues that constitute a bond, uniting him to Englishmen, and make him an object of interest in the national mind. He is bold, outspoken, courageous, patriotic; genial in temper, and unaffected in intercourse. He has infinite “pluck.” When he strikes, he hits straight and effectually. In self-defence his “parry” is inimitable, and always successful.
[Executed in 1846 by Christopher Moore.]
472. Sir Robert Peel. Statesman.
[Born near Bury, in Lancashire, 1788. Died in London, 1850. Aged 62.]
The House of Commons was to Peel—what it had been to Pitt, his illustrious predecessor—his world of thought and action. Pitt was 20 when he took his seat in Parliament by the influence of Sir James Lowther. Sir Robert was 21 when he was returned for Cashel, by the influence of his father. Both lived, and, so to speak, died on that grand stage. If Pitt is to be recognised as the boldest and bravest Minister that ever conducted a country through the perils and disasters of a protracted war, Peel must be regarded as the most courageous statesman that ever dared to guide a busy nation through the peculiar dangers that environ a period of long peace. Pitt set up a principle of action as his guiding star, and steered his course by its light, against the bitterest opposition and the most vehement remonstrance, and died, still proclaiming the safety of his chosen path. Peel, in a later age, and under different circumstances, sacrificed, year after year, his strong convictions, in order to direct within safe channels the popular current which in spite of all his efforts to resist it, flowed on until it threatened to destroy and drown all obstacles—good or evil—that opposed its progress. Had Pitt lived in the days of Peel, his sagacity would have compelled the same policy. The proof of Peel’s sound wisdom was emphatically witnessed when he ceased to be Minister in 1846, but continued, until his cruel and untimely end, to exercise the greatest influence of all living men, over the destinies of his country. More potent than even the Prime Minister who had unseated him, was Sir Robert Peel, from 1846 until 1850. Many are the claims of Peel upon our gratitude. He reformed our criminal code; he advanced the cause of religious freedom; he repealed the corn laws. His attainments as a scholar were great, and he was a warm encourager of literature and art. His secret charities to men of genius—revealed since his death—declare the goodness of his heart. It is said that he had few friends in public life. It may be difficult for a politician to enjoy this luxury. In the bosom of his own family he was beloved.
[This fine colossal statue, which will be found at the south-west angle of the great Transept and Nave, is by Baron Marochetti. It is executed in bronze.]