=Source.=—_Letters of Queen Victoria_: 1837-1861, vol. ii., p. 56.
(London: 1907.)
_Memorandum by the Prince Albert._
OSBORNE,
_December 7th, 1845_.
Yesterday, Sir Robert Peel arrived here, and explained the condition of
affairs.... Sir Robert proposed, by opening the ports, a preparation
for the abolition of the Corn Laws. His colleagues refused, and of the
whole Cabinet only Lord Aberdeen, Sir James Graham, and Mr. Sidney
Herbert voted with him. Sir Robert hoped that in time the opinions of
others would change, and therefore postponed a final decision. In the
meanwhile the agitation of the Anti-Corn-Law League began; in every
town addresses were voted, meetings were held, the _Times_—barometer
of public feeling—became violently Anti-Corn-Law, the meetings of the
Cabinet roused attention, a general panic seized on the mass of the
public....
When he (Sir Robert Peel) arrived here, he was visibly much moved....
On my observing that Sir Robert has a majority of one hundred in the
House of Commons, and asking whether it was not possible for him to
continue the Government, he said:
“The Duke of Buccleuch will carry half Scotland with him, and Lord
Stanley, leading the Protectionists in the House of Lords, would lead
to great and immediate defections even in Her Majesty’s household.
The Duchess of Buccleuch, Lord Hardwicke, Lord Exeter, Lord Rivers,
Lord Beverley, etc., would resign, and we should not be able to find
successors; in the House of Commons I am sure I should be beat, the
Tories, agriculturists, etc., in rage would turn round upon me and
be joined by the Whigs and Radicals, who would say: ‘This is _our_
measure, and we will not allow you to carry it.’ It is better that I
should go now, when _nobody has committed himself_ in the heat of party
contest, when no factions have been formed, no imprudent declarations
made.”
After we had examined what possibilities were open for the Crown, the
conclusion was come to that Lord John was the only man who could be
charged with forming a Cabinet. Lord Stanley, with the aristocracy as
his base, would bring about an insurrection (or riots), and the ground
on which one would have to fight would be this: to want to force the
masses of the people, amid the great poverty, to pay for their bread a
high price, in favour of the landlords.
It is a matter of the utmost importance not to place the House of Lords
into direct antagonism with the Commons and with the masses of the
people. Sir Robert says very correctly:
“I am afraid of other interests getting damaged in the struggle about
the Corn Laws; already the system of promotion in the Army, the Game
Laws, the Church, are getting attacked with the aid of the league.”