Sir Robert Peel

After studying this section you should be able to:

explain why, by 1830, Peel was regarded as a traitor by many Tories
show how he rebuilt the Tory party after the split of the late 1820s and the passing of the Reform Act
evaluate the reforms of Peel’s second ministry
assess the achievements of Peel

Peel’s early career

Peel first gained prominence as Chief Secretary for Ireland from 1812–1818. In 1819 he was Chairman of the Bullion Committee which recommended a return to the gold standard. This upset landowners, who blamed this decision for a sharp fall in agricultural prices. As one of the Liberal Tories, he was Home Secretary 1822–7 and 1828–30. In 1829 he played a crucial role, with Wellington, in bringing about Catholic emancipation, even though he was a staunch Anglican who had previously opposed it. Many Tories attacked him for betraying the Church. The Tory Party represented the landowners and the Church. By 1829 Peel had ‘betrayed’ the party twice.

Peel opposed the 1832 Reform Act, but then went on to re-shape the Tory Party to appeal to the new electorate. In December 1834 he issued the Tamworth Manifesto. This set out two basic principles for the Tory Party, which was renamed the Conservative Party: But in 1834 he saved it from being marginalised.

it accepted that the Reform Act could not be reversed;
it would reform proved abuses while preserving what was good about the British system.

Peel was briefly Prime Minister in 1834–35. Despite the Tamworth Manifesto, the Whigs returned to power after the 1835 election, but Peel won a convincing victory in the election of 1841. By then he had won the confidence of the new electorate.

The Whigs had lost their reforming impetus after 1835 and they had failed to balance the budget.

Peel’s second ministry, 1841–46

Reform

Peel’s budgets of 1842 and 1845 were a major step towards free trade. Peel believed that free trade would make imports cheaper and boost exports. Industry would benefit and the cost of living would be reduced. Thus free trade would make Britain ‘a cheap country for living’. The case for free trade was based on the work of Adam Smith. Huskisson had made some progress in this direction in the 1820s. By reducing duties on over 600 articles and reducing many others, Peel’s budgets helped to bring about a trade revival. To make up for the revenue lost, he reintroduced income tax – for three years at first, but it was then renewed and has never been abolished. Make sure you understand the arguments for free trade. Remember that Britain was the leading industrial nation at the time.

Two other Acts were important for the economy. The Bank Charter Act (1844) stabilised the banking system and the currency under the control of the Bank of England. The Companies Act (1844) established better regulation of companies. There were two social reforms. The Mines Act (1842) prohibited the employment of women, girls and boys under the age of ten underground. This resulted from the report of a Royal Commission which shocked public opinion. The Factory Act (1844) lowered the age at which children could be employed in textile factories to eight but also reduced hours of work to 6 for children aged up to 13.

Ireland

Peel had played a major role in bringing about Catholic emancipation in 1829 because he feared civil war would result if O’Connell were not allowed to take his seat after the County Clare election. By 1843 O’Connell’s leadership was challenged by a new Irish organisation, ‘Young Ireland’. O’Connell tried to reestablish his authority by holding a series of meetings to demand repeal of the Act of Union, culminating in a mass meeting at Clontarf in 1843. Peel banned the meeting, rightly judging that there was no real danger that the agitation would develop into rebellion. At the same time he appointed the Devon Commission to investigate problems of Irish land tenure, but was unable to act on its report before the fall of his ministry. More controversially, he increased the government grant to Maynooth College, a training college for Catholic priests, in the face of opposition from some of his own party, including Gladstone. In 1845 a more serious problem arose in Ireland: the potato famine. Remember that the Tory Party was the party of the Church of England.

The repeal of the Corn Laws

The Irish famine brought a new urgency to the issue of the repeal of the Corn Laws. Throughout Peel’s ministry the Anti-Corn Law League had been campaigning for repeal. The League was formed in Manchester in 1839. Its sole aim was the repeal of the Corn Laws, which were the last main obstacle to free trade. It had middleclass leadership (Cobden and Bright, both of whom became MPs), and gained support from both the middle and working classes. It ran a highly organised campaign, making good use of the press.

Its arguments were that free trade would:

reduce the price of bread and thus improve living standards;
enable British manufacturers to expand exports, thus increasing employment;
make agriculture more efficient by exposing it to foreign competition;
promote international peace through trade.

Repeal was opposed by the landed interest, which dominated the Conservative Party. They argued that repeal would lead to an influx of cheap foreign corn, ruining farmers and causing unemployment in the countryside.

The campaign against the Corn Laws, therefore, had a political as well as an economic significance: it was a struggle by the industrial middle classes against the continuing influence of the landed aristocracy.

Although the Anti-Corn Law League’s campaign was highly effective, it was Peel himself who played the decisive role in bringing about repeal. He was already committed to free trade but knew that repeal of the Corn Laws would split the Conservative Party. The Irish famine made him decide to act. The Repeal Bill was passed with the support of the Whigs and a minority of Conservatives. Peel was accused by Disraeli of betraying his party. Shortly afterwards his ministry was defeated and he was forced to resign. You need to make a balanced assessment of the potato famine and other factors which influenced Peel.

The repeal of the Corn Laws was a turning point in British politics. It was disastrous for the Conservatives, who held office for only three short periods between 1846 and 1874. Peel’s followers, the Peelites, led by Gladstone, eventually joined the Whigs to form the Liberal Party. The Whigs held office for most of the next twenty years. British agriculture, contrary to the landowners’ fears, entered a period of prosperity – until the depression of the 1870s. The political results were just as important as the economic. 1846 was particularly important for Gladstone and Disraeli.

KEY POINT - The repeal of the Corn Laws was the decisive step in Britain’s development into a free trade country.

Assessment of Peel

There are two main points of view about Peel. On the one hand, some historians argue that he was a great statesman because he put the national interest before the Conservative Party. They claim that his free trade policies and the repeal of the Corn Laws brought economic prosperity and probably saved the country from revolution in 1848. The alternative view is that he was a poor party leader, failing to win support for his policies and accused of betraying the party on the issues of corn, cash and Catholics.

KEY DATES

1830–41 Whig ministries
1832 Reform Act
1834 Poor Law Amendment Act; Tamworth Manifesto
1839 First Chartist Petition; Anti-Corn Law League founded
1841–6 Peel’s second ministry
1842 Free trade budget; Second Chartist Petition
1845 Irish potato famine
1846 Repeal of the Corn Laws

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