PEEL, SIR ROBERT, BART. (1788-1850), English states man, was born on Feb. 5, 1788, at Chamber Hall, near Bury, Lancashire, or, less probably, at a cottage near the Hall. His grandfather, Robert Peel, first of Peelfold, and afterwards of Brookside, near Blackburn, was a calico-printer, who took to cotton-spinning with the spinning-jenny and grew a wealthy man. His father, Robert Peel (1750-1830), third son of the last-named, carried on the same business at Bury; he was AI.P. for Tamworth. was a supporter of Pitt, contributed munificently towards Pitt's war policy, and was rewarded with a baronetcy (1800).
Robert Peel was educated at Harrow School and at Christ Church, Oxford, where he took a first class both in classics and mathematics. On leaving Oxford he was entered at Lincoln's Inn, and in 1809, at the age of 21, entered the House of Commons. He sat at first for the close borough of Cashel, then for Chippenham.
He made his mark in the House by the closest attention to all his parliamentary duties, by a study of all the business of parlia ment, and by a style of speaking which owed its force to knowl edge of the subject in hand, clearness of exposition, close reason ing, and tact in dealing with a parliamentary audience. Young Peel's lot, however, was cast, through his father, with the Tory party. In his maiden speech in 181o, seconding the address, he defended the Walcheren expedition, which he again vindicated soon afterwards against the report of Lord Porchester's com mittee. He began official life in 1810 as Lord Liverpool's under secretary for war and the colonies under the Perceval administra tion. In he was transferred by Lord Liverpool (now premier) to the more important but unhappy post of secretary for Ireland. There he was engaged till 1818 in maintaining English ascendancy over a country heaving with discontent, teeming with conspiracy, and on the verge of rebellion. Peel plied the established engines of coercion and patronage with a vigorous hand. At the same time, he had to combat Grattan, Plunkett, Canning and the other movers and advocates of Roman Catholic emancipation in the House of Commons. He promoted joint education in Ireland as a means of reconciling sects. But his greatest service to Ireland as secretary was the institution of the regular Irish constabulary, nicknamed after him "Peelers," for the protection of life and property in a country where both were insecure. His moderation of tone did not save him from the violent abuse of O'Connell, whom he was ill advised enough to challenge—an affair which covered them both with ridicule. In 1817 he was elected member for the university of Oxford—an honour for which he was chosen in preference to Canning on account of his unwavering hostility to Roman Catholic emancipation, Lord Eldon lending him his best support. In the following year he resigned the Irish secretaryship,
of which he had long been weary, and remained out of office till 1821. But he still supported the ministers, though in the affair of Queen Caroline he stood aloof, disapproving some steps taken by the government, and sensitive to popular opinion; and when Can ning retired on account of this affair Peel declined Lord Liver pool's invitation to take the vacant place in the cabinet. During this break in his tenure of office he had some time for reflection, which there was enough in the aspect of the political world to move. But early office had done its work. It had given him excel lent habits of business, great knowledge and a high position; but it had left him somewhat stiff and punctilious, though he was no pedant in business ; in corresponding on political subjects he loved to throw off official forms and communicate his views with the freedom of private correspondence. Where his confidence was given, it was given without reserve.
At this period he was made chairman of the bullion committee on the death of Horner. He was chosen for this important office by Huskisson, Ricardo and their fellow-economists, who saw in him a mind open to conviction, though he owed hereditary alle giance to Pitt's financial policy, and had actually voted with his Pittite father for a resolution of Lord Liverpool's government asserting that Bank of England notes were equivalent to legal coin. The choice proved judicious. Peel was converted to the currency doctrines of the economists, and proclaimed his conversion in a great speech on May 24, 1819, in which he moved and carried four resolutions embodying the recommendations of the bullion committee in favour of a return to cash payments. This laid the foundation of his financial reputation, and his co-operation with the economists tended to give a liberal turn to his commercial principles. In the course he took he somewhat diverged from his party, and particularly from his father, who remained faithful to Pitt's depreciated paper, and between whom and his schismatic son a solemn and touching passage occurred in the debate. The author of the Cash Payments Act had often to defend his policy, and he did so with vigour. The act was hard on debtors, including the nation as debtor, because it required debts to be paid in cash which had been contracted in depreciated paper; and Peel, as heir to a great fundholder, was even charged with being biased by his personal interests. But the Bank Restriction Acts, under which the depreciated paper had circulated, themselves contained a provision for a return to cash payments six months after peace.