" It follows, as a matter of course, that it is equally
contrary to those principles to allege his personal opinions in either
House on any measure before it, since, if alleged, they must be open to
criticism; unless, indeed, the mere allegation of the royal sentiments
were to be taken as decisive of the question, in which case all freedom
of discussion would be at once extinguished.
But this irregularity, into which the Prime minister was apparently
betrayed by his desire of victory, must not be allowed to affect our
verdict on the main question; and, now that the lapse of time has
enabled us to contemplate dispassionately the case on which he had to
decide, it will, probably, be thought that his justification of his
conduct in recommending a creation of peers is fairly made out. That,
under any pressure short of that, the peers would have again rejected
the Reform Bill, or at least would have pared it down to much smaller
proportions than would have satisfied the popular demand for Reform, may
be regarded as certain; and equally certain that such a line of conduct
would have led to a renewal of disgraceful and dangerous tumults. The
minister, therefore, as has been said before, had to choose between two
evils. It was a grievous dilemma; but those who had to deal with it
(even while it may be admitted that they cannot be held wholly free from
blame, as having themselves contributed by their own language to the
popular excitement and irritation)[220] may be excused for thinking the
wound inflicted on the constitution, by thus overbearing the voice of
one House of Parliament on a single occasion, less formidable in its
immediate fruit, and more capable of being remedied and retrieved, than
that which would have followed from a renewal of insurrectionary
tumults, even if they should have come short of actual civil war.
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