IRON. HORSE . 91

beneficient one—as an unchanging principle of government-.
But this no economic proposition can ever be, for economics are
governed by the rules of mathematics, and politics by those of
inconstant human nature.

. It is the highest function of the parliamentary statesman to
correct the volatile tendency of public opinion to fall a prey to
the ephemeral. To do so he must possess a mind which is proof
against plausible fallacy and the clamour of the hour. He must
possess the courage of his convictions, the prudence and patience
necessary to translate them into achievable policies and the
genius to expound them to his countrymen. The more demo-
cratic a constitution and the more sensitive its machinery to
the changing gusts of popular feeling, the greater becomes the
necessity for true leadership and the harder its exercise. It was
the misfortune of Britain that at a crisis "of her history she did
not possess a leader of such calibre. In 1846 she stood, breath-
less and eager to proceed, at a turning of the'road. Without
reflection she took what at that moment in time seemed the
easiest,

The change in Britain's historic policy came with startling
suddenness. Early in November, 1845, Peel proposed in Cabinet
that the ports should be opened by immediate Order of Council
and that a bill for the permanent modification of the corn lav£
should be introduced in the new year. Before this decision
became public, the leader of the Opposition, Lord John Russell,
fearing that the Tories by reversing their policy would steal the
electoral tide to power a second time, issued a hasty manifesto
to his constituents abandoning the old Whig principle of a fixed
duty on corn and declaring for total repeal. This was capped
in early December by a Cabinet decision for immediate repeal
and an unauthorised announcement in next day's fimes which
precipitated such a crisis in the betrayed Tory ranks that the
Government resigned and the Queen sent for Russell. But the
latter, prevented from forming an administration by party
intrigues centring round the stormy personality of Palmerston,
was unable to make use of his opportunity. Instead he "handed
back with courtesy the poisoned chalice to Sir Robert."

Peel took it gratefully. He was convinced that he, as the
most experienced administrator in the country and the leader'
of its strongest party, was the proper man to carry the measure.
That he had been accredited by the electorate and his own