"Sir Robert was long an energetic and consistent enemy to Catholic Emancipation. He resisted the arguments of colleagues and opponents alike. Not even the persuasive eloquence of Canning availed to move him. Nor had he formed his judgment hastily and without experience. He had been Chief Secretary in Ireland; he was familiar with the facts and prejudices of either side. And then, having remained upright for some seventeen years, he threw a political somersault, turned his head in the air, and landed on his feet a staunch supporter of the Catholic claims. What argument and reason could not achieve, was achieved in a moment by Canning's death and the Clare Election. For Peel, being first minister of the Crown, might now claim the glory of all his actions, and O'Connell's majority spoke with an eloquence denied to Canning. But the minister cannot be extricated from both horns of the dilemma. Either his sincerity or his prudence was at fault. It was he who had changed, not the situation; and, leaving out of the question the justice of the case, his party had a perfect right to resent what seemed a betrayal."
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Prime Ministers of the United KingdomPoliticians from EnglandAcademics from the United KingdomConservative Party (UK) politiciansPeople from Manchester
Original Language: English
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Charles Whibley, 'Introduction', in Benjamin Disraeli, Lord George Bentinck: A Political Biography (1905), pp. xviii-xix
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Robert_Peel
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Robert Peel
Sir Robert Peel, 2nd Baronet (5 February 1788 – 2 July 1850) was a British Conservative statesman who served twice as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (1834–1835 and 1841–1846) simultaneously serving as Chancellor of the Exchequer (1834-1835) and twice as Home Secretary (1822–1827 and 1828–1830). He is regarded as the father of modern English policing, owing to hi
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