Page:History of the Radical Party in Parliament.djvu/173

 i822.] Death of George III. to the Death of Castlereagh. 59 existing conditions, was office without the ability to carry out any of the principles to which they professed adhesion. By the secession their prospect of any alliance with moderate Conservatives was destroyed, and they were made the more dependant on the other or Radical wing of their own party. This in the end was good for themselves and for the country. It gave them the strength of popular support, whilst they on their part could offer to public opinion the advantages of an experienced and organized Parliamentary party. This ap- proach of the two sections was gradual, but it was certainly promoted by the alliance of the Tories and Grenvilleites, and was further accelerated by the Liberalism, in one or two directions, of Canning and his friends. Another ministerial change which was made at about the same time was the appointment of Peel as Home Secretary, in the place of Sidmouth, who retired from the office, but remained in the Cabinet. Little importance was attached to this appointment, as it indicated no alteration of policy. The " Annual Register " did but echo the general opinion of the country when it said, " Mr. Peel's political predilections, sym- pathies, and prejudices were very much the same with those of Lord Sidmouth, so that the substitution of the one for the other could have no effect in the course of administration." * We know how after events falsified this calculation, but for some time it was justified by Peel's adhesion to the whole Tory creed, and especially by his opposition to Canning on those very points, the Catholic question and the policy of protection, on which afterwards he sacrificed his party to the cause of his country. The Parliamentary session of 1822 was marked by events which illustrated the various party relations and tendencies which have been adverted to, and which were soon to affect the fate of Governments and the fortunes of the people. The ministers resisted all change, except one, which touched the interests of the landed class. Canning continued to represent whatever of Liberalism there was in the Tory party ; Lambton
 * "Annual Register," 1822, p. 6.