19

LIFA OF (OBDEY.

[oHAT:

1846. you please, that there are not twenty men in that assembly
Fr. 42. Who in their hearts earnestly desire total repeal. Nay, 1e2
of opinion that not one hundred men in the Commons would
be more disposed for the measure, if they could obey thelr
own secret inclinations, without the influence of outward
considerations. Amongst all the converts and conforme™
I class Sir Robert Peel as one of the most sincere sud
earnest. I have no doubt he is acting from strong conv%
tion. His mind has a natural leaning towards politi”
economical truths. The man who could make it his hobPY
so early to work out the dry problem of the currency que®
tion, and arrive at such sound conclusions, could not fail 80
be equally able and willing to put in practice the other
theories of Adam Smith. It is from this that I rely upo®
his not compromising our principle beyond the three yesr™
But I must confess I have not the same confidence in Lord
John and the Whigs. Not that I think the latter inferior I»
moral sentiment, but the reverse. But Lord John end bus
party do not understand the subject so well as Peel. The
Whig leader ig great upon questions of a constitutions!
character, and has a hereditary leaning towards a popu?”
and liberal interpretation of the Constitution. But his mind
is less adapted for the mastery of economical questions, and
he attaches an inferior importance to them. Nor does he
weigh the forces of public opinion so accurately as Peel:
He breathes the atmosphere of a privileged clique. His
sympathies are aristocratic. He is sometimes thinking of
the House of Russell, whilst Peel is occupied upon Manchester.
 They are in a false position ; Peel ought to be the
leader of the middle class, and I am not sure that he is nob
destined to be so before the end of his career.”
London, March 12. (To Mr. T. Hunter.)— Many
thanks for your warm-hearted letter. I have often though?
of you, snd our good friends, Potter and Ashworth