CHAP. 1847. 1 Life of 583, 584. Bentinck, 65. His family, history. as a means of fulfilling duty, and truly may it be said of him that he feared nothing but God. Upon calmly reviewing the course of his unfortunately too brief career, history must ratify this warm eulogium pronounced by an attached friend. His mind is not only interesting as an extraordinary example of the success of energy and perseverance in overcoming great natural disadvantages, but as the finest type of a character which has now become purely historical, from society having changed so much, at least in these Islands, that its reproduction has become impossible.1 Born of the ducal house of Portland, he inherited from his long line of ancestors the genuine Whig principles by and early which they have always been distinguished. Early in life he was for three years private secretary to Mr Canning, who was married to a sister of the Duchess of Portland, and under his tuition he combined with the old principles of his family the wide philanthropic views so eloquently supported by that brilliant parliamentary leader. He was accordingly a warm supporter of civil and religious liberty, desired not only emancipation, but even state establishment, for the Roman Catholics in Ireland, and he advocated the Reform Bill from having shared, as so many other of the Whig leaders did, the strange delusion that it was an aristocratic and conservative measure, which would prove protective to the great producing interests of the State. But no sooner did the reverse appear, and it became evident that Sir R. Peel, at the head of the commercial and urban interests of the empire, was about to make war on the agricultural and productive, than he went over with Lord Stanley to the other side, and became the determined opponent of the new Free-trade policy now adopted by the Government. This at once made a change in his position in Parliament. Though he had sat through eighteen years as the representative of King's Lynn, yet he had never taken an active part in the debates, and was almost entirely engrossed by sporting pursuits, of which XLIII. 1847. he was passionately fond. But on the breaking up of the CHAP. Conservative party by Sir R. Peel's proposal to repeal the Corn Laws, he was in a manner forced to the front by the desertion of its natural leaders; and his political friends, to whom his great abilities and indefatigable energy were well known, ere long gladly conceded to him, or rather compelled him to accept, the honourable position of leader. In the strife on the breach, or when the vessel is drifting on the breakers, the most capable seldom fails to find himself at the head. 66. qualities. It was the vigour and energy of his mind, joined to the fearless determination of his character, his quiet per- His mental ception and prompt decision, which procured for him this honourable distinction. He was, comparatively speaking, inexperienced in debate, was little skilled in oratory, and was by no means gifted by nature with the physical qualities which are generally so powerful in ruling popular assemblies. His person was tall, his figure fine, and his air commanding; but his voice was shrill and feeble, and when he began to speak he generally laboured under what was to his auditors a painful hesitation in expression. But these impediments, which would have been fatal to an ordinary speaker, were in his case, as they had been in that of M. de Villèle, compensated, and more than compensated, by the vigour of his understanding, the tenacity of his memory, the intrepidity of his character, and the indomitable energy of his will. Fearless of the consequences, he threw himself into the breach, when so many others more practised than himself held back, or retired in despair, and, supported by a sincere love of his country, and an entire devotion to its cause, renewed the conflict, when to all appearance it was hopeless, and soon acquired the lead of the Opposition, from the universal feeling that he deserved it. The great thing which so quickly gave him, though a young man, such an ascendancy among the veterans on both sides by whom he was surrounded or opposed, was XLIII. CHAP. that his mental qualities precisely suited the wants at that period of the House of Commons. He was a great statistician, and devoted the energies of his mind and his What gave immense powers of research, to deducing from the facts 1847. 67. him this rapid as cendancy. 68. character which he had collected the conclusions most serviceable to the industrial interests of his countrymen. He was therefore an invaluable advocate for the agricultural, West India, and shipping interests, which were threatened with invasion during the brief period of his active Parliamentary career. The pains which he took, and the labour which he underwent, in collecting and digesting from private sources information which he produced in his speeches, were almost inconceivable, and, beyond all doubt, brought him prematurely to the grave. He had one admirable quality, which is by no means universal among speakers and writers on statistical subjects: he was not only scrupulously correct in his facts, but still more cautious not to overstate his case, and even ready to mention on his own side all the considerations which went to diminish the weight or lessen the amount of the figures which he brought prominently forward. Thus he not only acquired a character for accuracy, and came to be referred to as an authority on matters of detail, but he deprived his opponents of the advantage, often so considerable in debate, of pointing out an unintended exaggeration, or an unobserved opposite consideration. His private character and turn of mind had procured His private for him the warm friendship, and almost romantic admiand habits. ration, of a large circle of private friends, composed of the first young men in the country. On the turf, to which in early life he was so much devoted, he was regarded as the model of honour, insomuch that many of the most delicate disputes between sporting characters were referred to his decision. In private life he was simplicity itself; he had the unassuming modesty which, when accompanied by great talents, is the invariable mark of a magnanimous mind. Utterly devoid of vanity, he was, XLIII. 1847. as such men generally are, naturally proud; he could CHAP. not stoop to conquer; and sometimes, by the unbending character of his mind, was obliged to forego advantages that might otherwise have been within his reach. His countenance was a model of manly beauty-his face oval, the forehead high, the nose aquiline and delicately moulded, the upper lip short, the eye keen and flashing. He sold his magnificent stud of racers, one of which soon after won the Derby, when he felt himself called on to engage in the greater race of political life, in defence of what he regarded as the best interests of the nation. Kind and affectionate in all the relations of domestic life, and indifferent to the ordinary excitements of society, he was absorbed in his last years entirely in the great contests going on in Parliament. Like Mr Pitt, he was 1 Disraeli, married to his country, and, like him, he fell a victim, Life of Benwhile still in the vigour of manhood, to his unceasing 39, 40. devotion to its cause.1 tinck, 38, of 1847. The Budget of 1847, brought forward on the 22d 69. February, and based on the experience of the current The Budget financial year, which was to expire on the 5th April next, Feb. 22. was much more favourable than might have been anticipated, and was remarkable chiefly for the utter insensibility to the approaching danger by which it was distinguished. "The current quarter, the first of 1847," said the Chancellor of the Exchequer on Feb. 22, "exceeds the corresponding quarter of last year by £500,000, and although circumstances obvious to the most unreflecting mind lead to the conclusion that we have arrived at the period when our onward progress may be checked, as it had been in the year 1825 and 1836, yet nothing warrants the belief that it will be attended with anything like the revolution which occurred on these occasions. The experience of the past has not been lost upon us, and trade is conducted now on sound, not on speculative principles. We have now truer notions of currency, and, instead of purchasing Mississippi stock and Pennsylvania bonds, have been 1847. CHAP. investing our capital in works of great importance at XLIII. home. I am therefore confident that no such results as had occurred formerly will follow any temporary check on our onward progress. Bullion, indeed, has been exported for the purchase of food, and that in its turn has produced a temporary pressure on the money market, which has checked enterprise. The demand for bullion, however, has not been very formidable, for there is only £1,200,000 less gold now in the Bank than there was on the 13th February last year. I therefore conclude that we have paid for the corn in manufactured goods; a circumstance on which I congratulate the country, as well as on the better position which the Bank of France has lately assumed-an event which must always be of importance to this country. On the 5th January there was a balance in the Treasury of £9,000,000, and, in 1 Parl. Deb. consequence, for the first time in the memory of the 318; Ann. oldest financier, it has been unnecessary to have recourse to deficiency-bills, and the quarterly balance in the Exchequer has been sufficient to pay the dividends."1 xc. 317, Reg. 1847, 87, 88. 70. The income of the financial year 1847-48 the ChanIts details. cellor of the Exchequer took at £52,065,000, and the expenditure at £51,576,000, exhibiting a probable surplus of £500,000.* In this statement, however, no mention was made of the advances to Ireland, which required. to be provided in the year, and which were of the most formidable amount. The sum hitherto advanced for Irish work was £2,000,000; and a farther advance of |